Your entrance to Ol Seki Hemingways Mara couldn’t be more dramatic: flying in a tiny 14-seater Cessna from Nairobi, you coast above vast plains crisscrossed with animal paths, and then land in clouds of dust on a dirt strip in the wilderness, surrounded by zebra and buffalo. You get picked up in a spacious 4×4 with an open sun-roof and within minutes of heading off to the camp you are likely to spot white-bearded wildebeest, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, Maasai giraffes, elephants and olive baboons.
Set on a ridge overlooking a waterhole and wildlife-dotted plains, Ol Seki Hemingways Mara is an intimate luxury camp run by incredibly friendly, attentive staff – most of whom are from local communities – with just 10 tents linked by wooden walkways. Cavernously large and stylishly decorated (think antique wooden chests and African prints), the tents feature huge beds, ensuite bathrooms with hot showers and private decks from where you can gaze out over the expansive views. Lunches and dinners – simple but delicious food with lots of fresh vegetables and salads – are taken communally around a big table in the dining room to a natural soundtrack of roaring lions and cackling hyenas.
The camp is set on the Naboisho Conservancy, a 50,000-acre private wilderness area bordering an unfenced section of the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya’s flagship wilderness area and home to part of the annual wildebeest migration). While game drives in the Maasai Mara can get packed with cars, the Naboisho Conservancy only has six camps and doesn’t allow self-driving, so there’s a maximum of only a few vehicles per sighting — most of the time you don’t see another vehicle on game drives, where you’ll likely encounter an incredible number of animals, from cheetahs, hyenas and jackals to hippos and lions. After thrilling wildlife spotting, each game driving day ends with memorable sundowner drinks – gin and tonics or a bottle of Kenyan merlot-shiraz – with a backdrop of that quintessential red African sunset over the savanna.
Expert Review
Your entrance to Ol Seki Hemingways Mara couldn’t be more dramatic: flying in a tiny 14-seater Cessna from Nairobi, you...
Your entrance to Ol Seki Hemingways Mara couldn’t be more dramatic: flying in a tiny 14-seater Cessna from Nairobi, you coast above vast plains crisscrossed with animal paths, and then land in clouds of dust on a dirt strip in the wilderness, surrounded by zebra and buffalo. You get picked up in a spacious 4×4 with an open sun-roof and within minutes of heading off to the camp you are likely to spot white-bearded wildebeest, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, Maasai giraffes, elephants and olive baboons.
Set on a ridge overlooking a waterhole and wildlife-dotted plains, Ol Seki Hemingways Mara is an intimate luxury camp run by incredibly friendly, attentive staff – most of whom are from local communities – with just 10 tents linked by wooden walkways. Cavernously large and stylishly decorated (think antique wooden chests and African prints), the tents feature huge beds, ensuite bathrooms with hot showers and private decks from where you can gaze out over the expansive views. Lunches and dinners – simple but delicious food with lots of fresh vegetables and salads – are taken communally around a big table in the dining room to a natural soundtrack of roaring lions and cackling hyenas.
The camp is set on the Naboisho Conservancy, a 50,000-acre private wilderness area bordering an unfenced section of the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Kenya’s flagship wilderness area and home to part of the annual wildebeest migration). While game drives in the Maasai Mara can get packed with cars, the Naboisho Conservancy only has six camps and doesn’t allow self-driving, so there’s a maximum of only a few vehicles per sighting — most of the time you don’t see another vehicle on game drives, where you’ll likely encounter an incredible number of animals, from cheetahs, hyenas and jackals to hippos and lions. After thrilling wildlife spotting, each game driving day ends with memorable sundowner drinks – gin and tonics or a bottle of Kenyan merlot-shiraz – with a backdrop of that quintessential red African sunset over the savanna.