Reviews of Kicheche Mara
Wildlife sightings and reviews
97 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kicheche Mara and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Kicheche Mara review"
The guiding and sightings were amazing as was a full Christmas dinner including a whole roast turkey. Andrew and the team made me feel so welcome and provided an incredible stay.
As with all Kicheche properties this is your home away from home and it did not disappoint. The accommodation, hospitality, and food and drink are amazing.
The whole experience was superb with sightings and scenery that were spectacular.
I have stayed at all the Kicheche properties and they all have unique identifies whilst retaining the core values that make them such wonderful additions to any itinerary.
I cannot praise the lodge, staff, and my experience highly enough it and I aspire to return soon." See all these reviews: 18n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
"Kicheche Mara review"
Fenceless site in the middle of forest, a stream hidden but behind the camp area, large tents, attention to details about everything, eager willingness to meet out requests (if there were any) ... were all apparent during all three days.
Kitchen staff met our group's vegetarian and vegan needs with enthusiasm. They even created a special vegetarian entrée with both meals even as the menu for the day would have other vegetarian accompaniments. Food quality was simply outstanding. The rest of the support staff was equally courteous as kitchen and dining area team.
Our guides were seasoned veterans and real fun to communicate with, hang out with and learn from. Our safari trips were leisurely and went far beyond just tracking and seeing the animals around us. The guides were genuinely interested in answering all of questions, their depth of knowledge about the area, wildlife, and even stars during night drive were all amazing. If and when we return, we will be sure to look them up.
The conversations with all staff members conveyed genuine warmth. It created a personal touch that one would not find in most places.
The camp manager was great, a seasoned veteran in the safari industry as well as deeply knowledgeable about Africa, wildlife, flora and fauna, and host of other things. His camp assistants were eager to take care of our inquiries and needs.
The camp's "back operations' tour" including its own garden and us planting trees in memory of our family members who aren't with us were two great "gravy on the cake" experiences. We also took about 150 charcoal seed balls and scattered them along a ditch; hopefully to grow into yet another series of trees for wildlife to shelter within.
The camp manager and his team's responsiveness during a minor medical emergency was remarkable and sincerely appreciated.
Hats off to Kicheche organization, because we had precisely same experience at Kicheche Mara as well." See all these reviews: 10n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
We enjoyed all the meals, especially the picnic breakfasts and curry night. Pre dinner drinks around the fire with Charles entertaining us with Maasai stories and proverbs were good fun.
We couldn't have had a better guide than Jimmy, especially as we were lucky enough to have the vehicle to ourselves. He and my husband quickly discovered a mutual love of photography and birds in particular, and we had some amazing sightings, and chances to takes photos of often overlooked but beautiful little birds.
Jimmy persuaded us to set off at 5.45am on a couple of mornings to catch the sun coming up an and even managed to 'arrange' for a group of eland to parade along the horizon at exactly the right moment!" See all these reviews: 10n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
"Kicheche Mara review"
"Kicheche Mara review"
The camp staff were friendly, they looked after us well and all of the food was high quality and delicious. This was a more formal camp than the previous camp we stayed at, with the management being less visable.
Our guide Dixon was excellent, extremely knowledge of both mammels and birds and knew how to position the vehicle to us to view the behaviour of the wildlife. We managed to see a cheetah take down a thompson gazelle, he also spotted lions hunting a baby giraffe for us and we saw leopards mating. We saw the big 5 for this area (they don't have rhino), we were extremely lucky with our sightings and we didn't think each day would be better than the previous day but some how it was.
We had an experience of a lifetime here, it was fabulous!" See all these reviews: 13n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
"Kicheche Mara review"
We saw the big 5 (except rhino) and two cheetahs over the course of three days. A highlight was packed breakfasts set in the conservancy and overlooking the Mara River or sweeping views.
The food at the camp was truly excellent with the chef providing going above and beyond to serve innovative meals. The service was very good, but now and then things had to be asked for twice. A minor quibble in an otherwise excellent stay." See all these reviews: 8n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
Staff was impeccable, food amazing, game drives awesome! We saw so many animals: Elephants, Lion, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Cheetah, Leopard, Hippos, Zebra. So many! We even saw a Mama Elie and baby, plus some Giraffe, from our tent.
Watched a Lioness hunt and kill a Thompson Gazelle. The Gazelle was laying in the tall grass. All we could see were the tops of its horns. The Gazelle never even saw the Lioness coming. Took her about 15 minutes to sneak up on it.
The first male Lion we saw had no tail. He apparently has 2 brothers. They tell them apart as such: one is missing his tail, one is missing an eye, and one is missing a testicle.
Also saw a Leopard protecting her kill, another Thompson Gazelle. She had dragged it up a tree. She had cubs hidden away near the kill site, but we didn't see them.
Days were hot, early mornings and nights were cool. When our tent steward came to do turn down and close all the window flaps, he put hot water bottles in our bed. The bedding was light but kept us warm during the night.
Laundry service was quick. How they do it when washing by hand and line drying, I don't know, but they return your clothes dry and folded by evening. Because of this efficiency, pack very light! You don't need a lot. And truthfully, no one pays attention if you wear the same thing 2 days in a row. Really! They don't do "womens smalls" but there is powder and an indoor line to dry on.
The meals were incredible. Not sure what else to say. The food was so good.
Kicheche Mara would def be on our list were we to do another safari.
***Please note: when grading the aspects of the camp, I gave activities an average rating as there aren't a lot of activities per se." See all these reviews: 13n in Kenya
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