Ngare Serian: Our full report
On the west bank of the Mara River, tucked between the river and the escarpment on its own 16-square-kilometre ...
... private conservancy, Ngare Serian is the sister camp of Serian, and faces the main camp, which is sited 100m upstream on the east bank within the Mara North Conservancy. The camp is owned by a veteran of the East African safari scene, Alex Walker.The introduction to Ngare Serian is unusual: the camp is accessed by a 50m-long, single-file, suspension bridge from the parking area. Walking across, several metres above a fast-flowing and usually shallow stretch of the Mara River, is completely safe, but the bridge does bounce and wobble a little, hence the notice requesting “One at a Time" – a recommendation for your comfort rather than a safety rule. For children and many adults, Serian's footbridge is a joy, but if you suffer vertigo or simply know this kind of thing is not for you, then the main Serian camp will suit you better.
Immediately across the river, an imposing dark-wood-floored dining and lounge tent (usually known as the “mess tent") stretches along the bank to your left. There are comfy sofas and armchairs here, a nicely informal drinks table and a large deck overlooking the river, with recliners and more seating and a brazier for evenings around the campfire.
One end of the lounge and dining tent is occupied by a large dining table that easily seats ten or more. Although meals are often taken out in the bush, or on the deck, this the default location for Ngare Serian's hosted dinners.
Ngare Serian's four capacious guest tents – they call them marquees, and that aptly suggests their size and appeal – sprawl along the riverside to the north of the bridge and dining-lounge tent. Widely spaced apart, they are mounted on relatively high-level platforms of chestnut-coloured, polished hardwood, and each tent faces out across the Mara River. The furthest tent, #4, faces a broad pool in the river, where the local hippo pod is usually to be seen slumbering and snorting through the day. The hippos sometimes graze around the tent at night. Tents #3, #2 and #1, closer to the central areas, are closer to the rapids section of the river.
The tents are very comfortably furnished in a classic style that stylishly sets off the beige and khaki canvas and soft, fawn drapes and ceiling liners. All have large, four-poster beds, with full mosquito nets, cane-woven luggage stands, armchairs and carved tables, oriental rugs and vases of local foliage. The tents open fully on three sides, giving views over the river and into the neighbouring bush at every turn, and offering plenty of space to discover your inner explorer. Staff arrive late every afternoon to close the tents before dark. There's 24-hour electricity from bedside lamps, and torches/flashlights are provided for the escorted walks in the evening between your tent and the mess. You're never in any doubt at Ngare Serian that you are in the realm of the wildlife.
The spacious bathrooms – located under canvas on the deck, but outside the bedroom area – have plumbed-in water (always hot in the mornings and evenings), standard flush toilets, twin basins and stone bathtubs as well as showers. Naturally sourced toiletries are provided by Kenyan company Cinnabar Green.
The Serian camps share a team of fourteen driver/guides, all at bronze level or above. One of the most unusual features here is the provision of a private driver/guide and vehicle to every party of guests. Depending on how full the camp is, guests will either have their own vehicle with a driver/guide as well as a guide/spotter or just a driver/guide. You will, however, be looked after by the same main driver/guide throughout the course of your stay. A private vehicle and guide has inherent advantages – allowing you to do exactly what you want and allowing your guide to understand what you want to do, especially after getting to know you for a day or two. In most camps, exclusive vehicle and guide use can be pre-booked, but at an additional charge. Drives usually take place in the extensive and varied landscapes of the Mara North Conservancy, but you can also opt to drive into the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which is most popular during the wildebeest migration season between July and October.
The other main activitiy at Ngare Serian is guided bush walks in Serian's private, 16km² concession on the west bank of the Mara. These are available for all ages. On these short walks, your armed escorts will be equipped with traditional weapons. For longer walks guns are carried. You can also do some great night drives in the Mara North conservancy.
An optional extra is a night in The Nest Treehouse a comfortable elevated fly camp a short walk north of camp. Subject to availability, a night here is included at no extra charge if requested, and you don't give up your tent at Ngare Serian.
Our view
This is one of the Mara ecosystem’s most individual and attractive camps, with lovely river views and high levels of personal attention. With its four, huge marquee-style tents, the seclusion provided by its footbridge access and the exclusive vehicle and driver/guide made available to every party of visitors, Ngare Serian is the Mara North Conservancy’s top camp.
Kenya expert
Geographics
- Location
- Maasai Mara Conservancies, Kenya
- Ideal length of stay
- 3 nights-plus
- Directions
- Mara North airstrip is about a one-hour drive from the main camp.
- Accessible by
- Fly-and-Transfer
Food & drink
- Usual board basis
- Full Board & Activities
- Dining style
- Group Meals
- Dining locations
- Indoor and Outdoor Dining
- Further dining info, including room service
- Like the main Serian Camp, food at Ngare Serian makes great use of the camp salad, herb and vegetable garden. Otherwise food is flown in from Nairobi.
Both camps serve excellent and copious meals. Full breakfasts are served in the morning, while lunch is a buffet of chilled soup, salads, cold meat, pastas and quiches. The three-course dinners are slightly more formal. - Drinks included
- All drinks are included except for Champagne and premium wines and spirits.
Special interests
- Honeymoons
- With excellent, very attentive service and an exclusive vehicle and guide for each group of guests, honeymooners will feel particularly well looked after on their Kenya honeymoon. Enjoy the exclusive feel of this small camp and its beautiful, large and very private tents.
- See ideas for Honeymoons in Kenya
- Luxury
- The extremely spacious tents at Ngare Serian are set atop hardwood platforms. At this luxury safari camp each party of guests has their own private guide and 4x4 vehicle. Features in each guest tent include an indulgent bathtub on the veranda, with views of the river and its hippos.
- See ideas for Luxury in Kenya
Children
- Attitude towards children
- As long as parents understand the need to supervise their children, Ngare Serian will happily accommodate families, though the family tent at the main Serian camp is probably the most convenient option.
- Property’s age restrictions
- There is no minimum age and under-fives stay free of charge.
- Equipment
- No cots or highchairs are currently available, but these could easily be obtained if requested in advance.
- Generally recommended for children
- With its provision of an exclusive vehicle and driver/guide for the use of each party of guests, Ngare Serian, like its sister camp Serian, removes one concern of a family safari, namely that other guests will be disturbed by your children on shared game drives. With the caveat that Ngare Serian is unfenced, and feels very much part of the local bush – so little ones will need constant supervision – we think this is a good choice for a high-end family stay in the Mara.
Our travellers’ wildlife sightings from Ngare Serian
Since mid-2018, many of our travellers who stayed at Ngare Serian have kindly recorded their wildlife sightings and shared them with us. The results are below. Click an animal to see more, and here to see more on our methodology.
100% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
100% success
75% success
60% success
40% success
40% success
33% success
25% success
20% success
0% success
Communications
- Power supply notes
- Back-up generator with inverter. Hot water is plumbed in and boosted by wood-fuelled kuni boosters morning and evening. There are charging points in the rooms.
- Communications
- There is no Wi-fi, but Internet access is available for guest use in case of urgent need. The camp has patchy mobile phone reception.
- TV & radio
- There’s no TV for guest use.
- Water supply
- Other
- Water supply notes
- Ngare Serian’s water supply comes from the Mara River, and their own spring. It is pumped to settling tanks and drinking water is then filtered and bottled for guests’ use.
Health & safety
- Malarial protection recommended
- Yes
- Medical care
- Staff and managers have had some first aid training. There is a basic clinic at Mara Rianta, about half an hour’s driver from camp.
- Dangerous animals
- High Risk
- Security measures
- Maasai askaris escort guests around camp after dark.
- Fire safety
- The river acts as a natural fire break. All the tents have fire extinguishers.
Activities
4WD Safari
Birdwatching
Cultural excursion
Fly-camping
Guided walking safari
Hot air ballooning
Night drive
Extras
- Disabled access
- Not Possible
- Laundry facilities
- Laundry service is included, and clothes are hand-washed and line-dried. For cultural reasons, no underwear can be accepted. Soap powder is provided for guests to wash underwear.
- Money
- There is a safe in the office for guests’ use. The camp doesn’t offer foreign exchange.
- Accepted payment on location
- Credit cards are not accepted. Only cash (Kenya shillings, US dollars, pounds sterling or Euros) are accepted in payment for any extras, and the crafts and curios shop at the main camp only accepts cash.
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.
Mara Plains Camp
Mara Plains is one of the very best camps in the Mara ecosystem. Located in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, just outside the Mara reserve, it has access to three wildlife-viewing areas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Basecamp Mara Houses
Basecamp Mara Houses consists of three private houses located in the northernmost part of the Mara North Conservancy.
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.
