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Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara

Reviews of Kicheche Mara

Wildlife sightings and reviews

94 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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Aug-2018, 65 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Kicheche Mara.
Lion

100% success

Leopard

68% success

Cheetah

91% success

Wild dog

4% success

Buffalo

100% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Spotted Hyena

100% success

Wildebeest

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Eland

92% success

Striped Hyena

6% success

Black Rhino

5% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 51-60 of 94
Duration
Arrival date
Mr V
Texas

"Kicheche Mara review"

3 nights Arrived 22 Jan 2022
"This was our third trip to Kenya and our third stay at Kicheche Mara, which pretty much sums up how we feel about this and other camps in the Kicheche portfolio.

The food is excellent, the staff is warm and friendly, the accommodations provide every comfort (while still managing to retain a low-key, bush-like feel), but the real emphasis here is on the wildlife. We appreciate the standard Kicheche schedule of early morning starts and breakfasts in the bush.

We’ve always enjoyed the relatively lush landscape and varied bird life in Mara North, but this time we also found predator action to be quite high, including multiple memorable sightings of leopard and cheetah, both with cubs. Our guide, Peter, was excellent, and our vehicle had one of its front seats removed in order to better accommodate low-angle photography, which was a thoughtful amenity that we found very helpful." See all these reviews: 17n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Cheetah

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Dr W & Dr D
Leeds

"Kicheche Mara review"

5 nights Arrived 12 Jan 2022
"This is a gem of a camp. It is located in a beautiful valley and you can view the animals from from your tent. The tents are comfortable and have charging facilities and solar-heated warm water showers.

The staff are very friendly, and efficient, and the food is very good.

The guiding is excellent with a maximum of four people per vehicle so everyone has a good view. The diversity, and numbers of animals, are amazing.

We love this camp and return as frequently as we can." See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

10 sightings

Eland

7 sightings

Elephant

8 sightings

Giraffe

8 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

8 sightings

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

9 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr BG
Newport Coast

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 25 Nov 2021
"Great camp, food and sightings. We had 9 (!) 1-3 month old lion cubs we saw multiple times, also leopard and other sightings. Good guiding and service, even had our covid test done while on a game drive!" See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Lola
Canada

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 2 Nov 2021
"Always brilliant game viewing in Mara North-this time was no exception." See all these reviews: 12n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
Andreas
Switzerland

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 12 Jul 2021
"We (2 adults, 2 teenagers) had a fantastic 4 nights at Kicheche Mara. The length of time gave us an opportunity to experience all facets of North Mara, gain deep insights through our guide, enjoy the camp and interact with the lovely staff. Great care was taken to use all the precautions against Covid.

The concept of this camp being embedded in wildlife is fantastic. On the one hand animals are roaming by and even through the camp which is why at night we were always accompanies by staff. On the other hand, it offers old-fashioned luxury making one feel very cozy and at home (even high speed WLAN).

Carys, the camp manager, is a very caring host with an interesting family history in Kenya and Tanzania. The staff struck us as polite and knowledgeable, and they are conscious and proud of their Masai heritage.

The North Mara is beautiful and being adjacent to the Serengeti gives an impression of boundless wilderness. While farmers are leading their livestock into the reservation, this is in line with traditions and ensures that the reservation's concept is broadly accepted.

Our guide was Saruni. He is very knowledgeable about wildlife and has a great sense of tracking animals. For example, on the last day he spotted a baby leopard on a tree. We went on to explore the park and returned to the spot in the evening in time for the mother to return and greet her child!

We very much appreciated the staff's motivation and attention to our welbeing. The general feel in our family tent and the main tents was excellent, and it was hilarious to see (or hear) the wildlife passing by. As a slight caveat, while we support the Eco concept it was unpleasant that cold days were coupled with cold water in the tent - we would have appreciated that the staff proactively checked.

We much appreciated the possibility of visiting the market on Thursday, especially as it gave us a genuine cultural experience. Other than that, the intense, varied safari schedule interwoven with sundowners and the occasional breakfast (at the rive with hippos, giraffes and crocs) where sufficient to make us sleep like a rock." See all these reviews: 14n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

8 sightings

Cheetah

3 sightings

Eland

3 sightings

Elephant

8 sightings

Giraffe

8 sightings

Hippo

3 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

8 sightings

Wildebeest

8 sightings

Zebra

8 sightings

Mr & Mrs B
Belfast

"Excellent comfortable camp"

4 nights Arrived 19 Feb 2020
"This was our first visit to the Kicheche Mara camp although we had previously been to other camps owned by Kicheche. The same level of service which we enjoyed at both Bush and Laikipia is immediately apparent on arrival at the camp.

The friendly welcome by Carys and the rest of the staff made us feel immediately at home. The accommodation was excellent and the hot and cold running water was an added bonus. No bucket showers here!! As expected the standard of the food was very impressive, watched over with a careful eye by Wellington, the chef.

Our guide, Saruni was impressive in his ability to locate the most elusive predators, finding a leopard on our first day at camp. The rest of the four night stay was equally impressive in terms of animal sightings. Given that the weather had been somewhat unusual in the weeks leading up to our arrival, Saruni coped extremely well considering the state of the "road" conditions. The long grass proved excellent cover for the cats and made sightings that more difficult but Saruni proved himself on more than one occasion in hunting them down.

Dinner in the evenings after the late afternoon game drive were communal affairs which we much prefer and Carys proved to be an excellent and attentive host.

One of the lovely things about the camp was the number of returning guests which in itself speak volumes for the style and manner in which Kicheche run their camps and for the staff on the ground who manage them." See all these reviews: 9n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

1 sighting

Cheetah

2 sightings

Elephant

2 sightings

Giraffe

2 sightings

Hippo

1 sighting

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

5 sightings

Striped Hyena

3 sightings

Zebra

1 sighting

Dr W & Dr D
Leeds

"Kicheche Mara camp - beautiful as ever"

3 nights Arrived 8 Feb 2020
"We love this camp as it is in a beautiful setting. The camp and the staff were as lovely as usual but the safari drives were a bit difficult due to the large amount of rain which meant access to some areas of the conservancy was not possible. However, we still had fantastic wildlife viewing as in this conservancy the wildlife is abundant.

Our only issue was with the wifi which remains slow." See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

3 sightings

Cheetah

2 sightings

Eland

4 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

2 sightings

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr V
Texas

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 30 Jan 2020
"This was our second stay at Kicheche Mara, and we’d happily return for subsequent visits.

The rains created quite a challenge for the guides and staff. The river at the entrance of the camp was flooded when we arrived, and we were given Wellington boots to help us navigate the considerable mud in camp. We were not able to cross back over the river for game drives for several days, but there was plenty to see on the camp-side, so we did not feel particularly constricted.

We saw a lot of interesting leopard and lion behavior, and Mara North is an excellent place for those interested in birds. The tents had been plumbed since our last visit 2 years ago, so no more bucket showers, which I kind of missed, but a hot shower on demand is also much appreciated. Kicheche’s emphasis on longer game drives and time in the bush makes me a loyal and returning customer." See all these reviews: 14n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Cheetah

1 sighting

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs A
Bridport

"A perfect partnership with Laikipia"

4 nights Arrived 22 Jan 2020
"This was the second camp we stayed at. Three days at Laikipia and 4 days here. We were concerned that it would simply be more of the same. However, although there was, inevitably, substantial overlap in the animals and birds seen, everything was fresh and different. There were animals we hadn't seen at Laikipia (Topi, Wildebeest, Leopard and more), but even the ones we had seen we saw in a new light. The country was different, the behaviour was different and we came to appreciate that EVERY sighting of an animal seen before brought new insight. The Mara is very different to Laikipia and just amazing in its variety. A drive of a few minutes will transform the landscape from vast flat plains to rolling scub-covered hills, to hidden magical valleys with rock strewn rivers. One plain will be completely empty of mammals, the next teeming.
Our guide, Soit, was as informed and incredibly knowledgeable as Josphat had been at Laikipia. He was Masai and we had fascinating conversations with him about the Masai way of life and culture. A lovely man." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Black Rhino

3 sightings

Buffalo

5 sightings

Cheetah

2 sightings

Eland

5 sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

4 sightings

Hippo

3 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

4 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wild dog

5 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr M.
Montreal

"Kicheche Mara"

3 nights Arrived 17 Jan 2020
"I had a great experience at the Kicheche Mara camp..All the staff were very friendly and helpful. The wildlife was plentiful and the game drives were all very interesting.

The area had experienced a lot of rainfall in the weeks prior to my arrival so the roads and paths were quite muddy and challenging to navigate in many locations. On the day I arrived the river that flows through the camp had overflowed it's banks and we were not able cross the river to get to the camp. Before the end of the day, the camp management arranged to have a small helicopter carry myself and two other guests across the river to the camp." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 51-60 of 94
99%
94 reviews of Kicheche Mara by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
88
5
1
0
0
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