Reviews of Kicheche Mara
Wildlife sightings and reviews
98 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"
They can improve a bit on the cleaning side in the tents and in the common part. There were not so much effort ..." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
Camp organisation was excellent. We were warmly welcomed on arrival. Staff were always ready when we set off and one of the managers (Ray and Thorburn) were always waiting to meet you on your return and hear about your experiences - a very nice touch.
The kitchen and front of house team (Wellington, Charles and Michael) were brilliant. Food was consistently good and my dietary requirements taken care of. There was always someone ‘there’ when you needed anything. Meals were communal, outside for lunch and under cover in the evening. With an ever changing group of visitors, Ray and Thorburn were brilliant at making sure everyone was comfortable and included. Early morning drinks (and biscuits!) arrived on time. Breakfasts and lunch out on our drives were really good too and we were always provided with nibbles to go with our sundowners.
The security team were always on hand to escort us to/from our tent and the communal areas.
We were fortunate to have our guide, Saruni, to ourselves. His skills and knowledge were outstanding and we were very comfortable in his company. We saw so much more wildlife than we had expected and were so incredibly close to the animals. The conservancy scheme certainly seems to work well. We were often the only vehicle watching and were very rarely with more than 2 or 3 other vehicles. We had one long days drive to the Masai Mara national park where we saw a much higher number of vehicles.
Animal sighting highlights - many but include a cheetah- lioness ‘face off’, witnessing a kill (crocodiles getting a zebra that couldn’t get up the river bank), being close enough to see very young elephants suckling, seeing tiny lion cubs play and watching a satiated lion drinking from a water hole, so close that we could hear him.
All in all a most amazing experience that we will never forget." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 5n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
"Kicheche Mara review"
We loved how the emphasis here is on game drives and everything else is secondary, well it was in our jeep anyway (I'm sure you can chose to be out for less time if you want to?). Most days we left at 6am and didn't return until just before lunch, taking breakfast with us. In the afternoon we went out from 4pm until just before dinner, enjoying a sundowner every night wherever the viewing was at its best. The first night we spend it next to a pride of 20 lions.
Our guide George was brilliant, he made sure we saw everything we wanted. He was an expert at predicting where the animals would go next so whilst everyone else were chasing the animals getting pictures of their backside, George had us positioned perfectly to watch the animal come to us. This happened on numerous occasions and it meant we got great pics. Not only was he a great guide but a very nice person who was a pleasure to spend so much time around and very knowledgeable.
We spend one full day in the reserve and surprisingly actually saw less animals than we had in the conservancy. It was also very very busy with Jeeps. We did manage after waiting patiently for 3 hrs to see a river crossing which was fab although a bit brutal. After visiting the reserve we were glad that we had chosen to stay in the conservancy and do most of our game drives there.
We enjoyed sitting around the camp fire for a pre dinner drink before enjoyable evening meals. The only small issue was no pre warning on what you were going to have for dinner so if you didn't like it tough luck. We had an enjoyable but slightly cringe worthy experience at dinner on our last night where all the staff came out singing and dancing to celebrate our recent nuptials. We all then enjoyed a glass of bubbly which was great." See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya
"Kicheche Mara review"
The staff are exceptionally friendly, welcoming and attentive. I stayed there briefly 3 years ago with my grandson and every staff member who was there then remembered us and our time with them and asked about him. The relief manager was excellent and went out of her way to be inclusive and helpful and the permanent manager was terrific in celebrating the honeymoon of two of the guests. The food was delicious.
Our guide was excellent in his knowledgeable tracking and positioning - several times amazing us with where he drove off to only to find the animals heading straight in our direction. He felt very committed to giving us the best animal viewing and at the same time to the welfare of the animals. There was a great variety of animals and we saw many lions and cheetahs (though we missed the leopards)." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
"AMAZING! We didn't want to leave!"
The setting, the animals, the accommodation, the food, but most importantly, the staff, made it the most memorable family holiday.
Even after 4 days of early mornings and off roading, we could have taken more! Just fantastic." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 5n in Kenya
"In the wild "
"Kicheche Mara review"
We saw many families of animals, including mongoose, hyena, lion etc., etc. Even say a lioness transferring her very young cubs to a new location. These last days on safari were truly magical.
I would also like to mention the 2 wondeful managers, especially Tony, who took the time to introduce me to the local expert in medicinal plants (a long standing interest of mine, which has taken me to other parts of Africa to study traditional medicine). Tony did an excellent job of simultaneous interpretation and it was a fascinating time.
The only negative with respect to Mara North was its size (many more people than we were used to) and this led to a loss of familiarity. Meals were served at a very long table which made conversation difficult and it was noisy. Having said that, I do understand that business is business!" See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
"Brilliant Kicheche Mara Camp"
Brilliant food. Amazing location and comfortable tents. Very well looked after throughout.
So many exciting wildlife experiences thanks to the knowledge and skill of Francis. Staying 6 nights again allowed for patience to wait, absorbing the atmosphere and letting situations unfold to generate a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the residents of this amazing corner of Africa.
Every visit seems to get better. I don't think I've ever seen so many lions!" See all these reviews: 12n in Kenya
"Happy experience"
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