Mara Plains Camp: Information from the owner
General information
- Type
- Safari Lodge
- No. of rooms
- 7
- Check-in time
- 12:00pm
- Check-out time
- 09:00am
Facilities at Mara Plains Camp
- Property facilities
- 24-hour Security, Bar, Communal Dining, Eco Friendly, Internet Access (Complimentary), Kiddies Club, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Library, Mobile Connectivity, Private Vehicle Available, Restaurant
- Room facilities
- Balcony / Deck, Bath, Complimentary Wi-Fi, Dressing Gowns, Electrical Outlets, En-Suite, Fan, Hair Dryer, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Lounge Area, Mini Bar (Complimentary), Pure Cotton Linen, Safe, Shower, Tea / Coffee, Verandah
- Activities on site
- Big 5, Bird Watching, Game Drives, Game Viewing, Game Walks, Massages, Night Drives, Practice Green, Safaris, Walks (Guided), Wildlife Tours
- Nearby activities
- Big 5, Bird Watching, Cultural Tours, Game Drives, Game Viewing, Game Walks, Hot-air Ballooning, Safaris
- Languages
- English, Swahili
Room types at Mara Plains Camp
Suites
Each of the five suites has deep canvas canopied ceilings, rough hewn wood floors and accents of East Africa’s rich safari history. Thick Lamu wood doors, deep purples, and brass accents – these small details transport guests to a time and land far away. The well-appointed en-suite facilities (including a deep copper bath) plus the extensive private verandah complete what is genuinely a stunning concept. These stylistic elements coupled with thoughtful environmental elements such as solar power and an absence of cement make Mara Plains Camp a modern-day safari retreat.
Activities at Mara Plains Camp
Cultural Experience
The Naboisho Women's Group cultural experience is supported by the Great Plains Foundation, enabling the group to purchase raw materials in bulk including a tailor hired to work on leather products. Available to guests staying at Great Plains Conservation camps all profits from the sale of their wares are ploughed back into the women's business training to ensure this group is self-sustainable. Items available for purchase include, but are not limited to, beaded & leather products, coasters, bracelets, necklaces, belts, dog collars, earrings, and decorated dawa sticks for example.
Hot Air Balloon (Additional Cost)
Hot air ballooning is available, but should be booked in advance and is subject to availability and additional cost. Departures are very early in the morning to allow time to transfer to the nearest launching point.
Photography
Each of Mara Plains’ guest suites has a professional camera set, including a camera body and lenses. Photos will be downloaded to a memory stick on guest’s departure. Each suite comes with a pair of high-quality binoculars for guest use as well. Photographic tuition can be arranged for guests (at an additional cost) and we recommend prior booking if possible. Tuition can be either on company cameras or own guests’ personal cameras.
Safari drives (day & night)
Safari drives (day & night) take place in some of the Mara’s most coveted vehicles. Each of the four Toyota Land Cruisers is open-sided, canopied and customised for photographers (fold-down screens, raised roofs, photographic bars, multi-plug invertors). With just four to six guests each, the Cruisers also have fully-stocked fridges stocked with drinks and snacks. No two days are the same on safari. Safari drives typically start at sunrise, returning for lunch and depart again in the mid-afternoon before returning just after sunset. However, very often we will go out all day, deep into the Reserve or Conservancy with a packed breakfast and lunch. One visit per guest per 3-night stay
included, additional visits subject to park fees. Very often, our safaris will continue into the night, a possibility because of our location on a private conservancy. Night drives are particularly prolific in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, and while they take patience, sightings commonly include lesser-known nocturnal mammals and even lion and hyena hunts.
Young Explorers Programme
Safaris with kids are much the same – a time to stimulate all the senses. Safaris open up a whole new world to us all, but for kids it is magical. While new animals are a huge part of the excitement of safari, stepping away from everyday life in favor of spotting animal tracks and practicing your newly learnt traditional bush survival skills is an experience that kids and parents alike will cherish.
The Great Plains Young Explorers Program blends fun with conservation learning. On arrival each child receives a Young Explorers pack full of all that is needed for them to become a Conservation Ambassador. The pack includes an activity book full of interesting information including animal tracks, seTswana or Kiswahili vocabulary, facts on flora, fauna and stars, word games and a safari journal. Great Plains guides and staff seamlessly modify the level of activities according to age.
Other lodges in Maasai Mara Conservancies
Alternative places to stay in this same area.
Kicheche Bush Camp
Kicheche Bush Camp is a smart and intimate tented camp with a relaxed atmosphere and the perfect base in the Mara for keen photographers.
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara Camp has just ten tents and a rustic and comfortable feel. It is set by a stream in a pretty area of the Mara ecosystem's Mara North Conservancy.
Kicheche Valley
Kicheche Valley is a boutique tented camp in a wooded district of the Mara ecosystem's Naboisho Conservancy, with plenty of wildlife in the area.
Naboisho Camp
Naboisho Camp is one of the most luxurious of the handful of camps in the Naboisho Conservancy. It offers day and night game drives, game walks and full creature comforts in the bush.
Offbeat Mara
Offbeat Mara is a small traditional camp that appeals to safari traditionalists, located in one of the Maasai Mara’s quiet conservancies.
Encounter Mara
Encounter Mara is located in the private Naboisho Conservancy – a game-rich area of the Mara ecosystem – and offers a contemporary take on the traditional, low-impact luxury safari camp.
Elephant Pepper Camp
Elephant Pepper Camp is a small 10-tent bush camp, put together in the traditional "campaign" style, and including a large honeymoon/family tent.
Serian
Serian is a luxury tented camp on the east bank of the Mara River in the Mara North Conservancy. It is the sister camp of Ngare Serian, on the west bank.
Kicheche Fly Camp
Kicheche Walking Wilderness Fly Camp is a temporaray dome tent camp set up for participants in Kicheche's two-day walking safari between Kicheche Valley and Kicheche Bush Camp.
Basecamp Eagle View
Basecamp Eagle View is a community-focused safari camp in the Naboisho Conservancy, with a strong emphasis on responsible tourism and a spectacular location.
Hemingways Ol Seki
Magnificently located tented lodge on a bluff looking south across the Naboisho Conservancy toward the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Saruni Wild
Saruni Wild is a rustic and traditional safari camp in the Lemek Conservancy, with just three tents and limited electricity.
Porini Lion Camp
Porini Lion Camp is a pioneering, community focused eco-camp, with excellent guides and game viewing, in the predator-rich, Olare Motorogi Conservancy.
Offbeat Ndoto
Small and intimate, Offbeat Mara is set in a valley above the (often dry) Olare Orok River within the Mara North Conservancy.
Porini Mara Camp
Porini Mara Camp is a small, pioneering eco-camp in the first private conservancy in the Mara region, with comfortable accommodation and a range of activities.
Ngare Serian
The luxurious Ngare Serian and its sister camp Serian face each other across the Mara River on the western side of the Mara North Conservancy
Basecamp Leopard Hill
With six beautiful tents, Basecamp Leopard Hill is a smart safari camp in the Naboisho Conservancy in the Maasai Mara ecosystem.
Karen Blixen Camp
Karen Blixen Camp sits on a meander of the Mara River in the Mara North Conservancy, just beyond the northern boundary of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Cottars 1920s Camp
Cottar's 1920s Camp is a classic, luxury tented camp with a 1920s safari theme, located in its own conservancy on the southeast border of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Leleshwa
Leleshwa was a delightful, boutique safari camp on the picturesque banks of a tributary of the Talek, with an extensive, little visited game area on its doorstep.
Mahali Mzuri
Mahali Mzuri is a strikingly modern tented camp in the Virgin Limited Edition group, in a remote part of the Mara ecosytem's Olare Motorogi Conservancy. It has lovely views and all the luxuries of a five-star hotel.
Saruni Mara
Saruni Mara is a luxurious permanent lodge, on the remote northern edge of the Mara North Conservancy, with stunning views, good guiding and very private and comfortable rooms.
Mara Nyika
Mara Nyika is one of the newer additions to the Naboisho Conservancy and offers a luxurious and exclusive safari.
Basecamp Wilderness
Basecamp Wilderness Camp is a simple, traditional tented camp, set in a remote valley in the Naboisho Conservancy in the Mara ecoystem.
Mara Bushtops
Mara Bushtops is a luxury safari hotel on a private concession, outside the Maasai Mara National Reserve, with the emphasis on comfort, relaxation and good food and wine.
Mara Toto Tree Camp
Mara Toto Tree Camp is located on a wooded bend of the Ntiakatek River, 1km south (as the pied crow flies) from its sister camp, Mara Plains. It's the offspring of the original "Mara Toto" which was swept away in floods.
Cottars Private House
Cottar's Private House is one of the few truly luxurious, modern private houses in the Mara ecosystem, spoiling its guests with first-rate staff, a swimming pool and wonderful views.
Entumoto
Entumoto is a high-end tented camp, with a swimming pool, situated in a very pretty location on the east side of the Maasai Mara ecosystem.
