Wilderness Mara

By light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport to the Kichwa Tembo airstrip in the Mara Triangle, about an hour in the air. Safarilink and AirKenya Express each fly the route twice a day, often touching down at other Mara strips on the way. The camp lies about two kilometres from the strip, so the transfer is short and usually turns into the first game drive of the stay.

The aircraft take soft bags only, fifteen kilograms a person with hand luggage counted in. After very heavy rain Kichwa Tembo is sometimes closed for a few days and flights use a neighbouring Mara strip instead, which we watch for you. For your own timings we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, flying straight to Kichwa Tembo.

It stands on the same site and replaces it. Little Governors' Camp ran for decades on the west bank of the Mara River; it was taken down, rebuilt from the ground up and reopened as Wilderness Mara in 2026, with twelve tented suites, one of them for families, a pool, a gym, a spa and a photographic studio.

It is not Governors' Camp, a separate camp across the river on the Musiara side that still keeps its old name, and it is not Wilderness Mara Villas, a sole-use house on its own stretch of the river that was once Governors' Private Camp. Anyone who knew Little Governors' will recognise the setting: the tents still look over a seasonal marsh where elephant, buffalo and hippo come down to drink.

The west bank, in the Mara Triangle, the part of the Masai Mara National Reserve between the river and the Oloololo Escarpment. The camp has its own footbridge over the river, so the guides can work either bank rather than being held to one side, which counts for most from July to October, when the herds may gather to cross at points reached from both banks.

The Triangle is run by the Mara Conservancy, a not-for-profit body, and its rangers keep sightings orderly: when more than five vehicles are waiting at an animal, each gets ten minutes with the rest held a hundred metres back. Days are built around morning and afternoon drives, with a hot-air balloon flight at first light as an extra.

Yes. The camp takes children of all ages and sets no minimum age, and one of its twelve tented suites is a family unit, so parents and children stay under one roof rather than in separate tents. The pool is a useful break in the middle of the day between the morning and afternoon drives.

With young children we would add a private vehicle to the stay, because it lets the drives run at their pace and end when they have had enough. Tell us their ages at enquiry and we will plan the days around them, including whether a balloon flight suits the family.

Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria and recommends antimalarial tablets, with only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres rated very low. The American CDC uses the same 2,500-metre line and includes the game parks. The whole Mara lies well below it, the Triangle and the river included, and the advice does not change with the seasons.

We are travel planners, not doctors, so whether to take tablets, and which suit you or a child, is a decision for you and your own doctor or a travel clinic. On the practical side, the camp sits beside a marsh and a river, so long sleeves and trousers from late afternoon and repellent on bare skin make sense.

January and February for big cats, when the grass is short after the short rains and lion and cheetah are easy to follow on open plains. The camp is open all year and the resident lion prides, elephant herds and black rhino of the Triangle stay put in every month.

The migration herds are usually in the Mara from July to October, the busiest months on the reserve. November and December are underrated: green plains, fewer vehicles, clear light after the storms and lower rates. The long rains from late March into May, April the wettest, are the months we would steer most people away from, because the game spreads out and the driving gets heavy.