Offbeat Ndoto

100% (7 reviews)

Full review Our view Geographics Food & drink Special interests Children Wildlife sightings Communications Sustainability Health & safety Activities Extras

Offbeat Ndoto: Our full report

Opened in September 2021, Offbeat Ndoto is set in a picturesque valley in the Mara North Conservancy.

Simple yet tasteful in design, it is entirely unfenced, with just four tents, attentive staff and a very flexible approach.

A sister camp to Offbeat Mara, Ndoto is just a five-minute drive from its slightly larger sibling, but is largely independent, with its own friendly team of staff and an excellent chef.

The camp lies in a picturesque valley, with its four tents well-spaced on a slight slope facing almost east towards the rising sun. Seriously spacious yet unfussy, the tents are identical, each with a big veranda at the front, set with a couple of directors’ chairs and a small table. In the afternoons this is a great spot to watch wildlife, from bushbuck in the trees near the river to impala wandering across the open plain and birds seeking sustenance from nearby trees.

Zipped canvas and mesh “doors” open into a good-sized living area, with a big bedroom immediately behind. Shade screens are in place between the tents to ensure full privacy until the newly planted vegetation matures.

Huge mesh “windows” on three sides of each tent ensure there is plenty of natural light, with roll-up blinds in place should you wish to be cocooned after dark. There’s good internal lighting, including smart lights on a shelf above the king-size bed. Tasteful touches – a turquoise panel of distressed wood on an upcycled chest, chevron-patterned rugs on the sealed canvas floor picked up by cushions on the cream sofa and armchair – add stylish touches.

Tucked away at the back, but with equally good lighting, is the bathroom, where twin basins beneath a large mirror are flanked by the toilet and a good hot shower, both protected by heavy canvas curtains. There are plenty of shelves and hanging space, with the warm bathrobes welcome on cooler nights.

In practical terms, umbrellas, wellington boots and ponchos hint at the rainy spells that can hit the Mara in almost any month of the year. Good toiletries, hand sanitiser, tissues and insect repellent are supplied for each tent, but you’ll need to bring your own mosquito repellent.

Just a short walk brings you to the open-sided main area co, similar in style to the rooms and equally spacious. Attractive tables of reclaimed wood sit on big Persian rugs. A half dug-out canoe does duty as a bookcase, with a range of travel guides and glossy photographic books. Squishy cream sofas and armchairs are pulled up around a coffee table dotted with wildlife magazines. Hand-beaded bottles, redolent of Maasai jewellery, add mini pops of colour, the theme picked up on stems of glasses and table mats.

At mealtimes, especially in the evenings or if the weather isn’t great, individual tables are laid in the other half of the mess tent, where a cabinet serves as a bar, and a sideboard awaits the chef’s latest creations. Friendly yet very good service combines with an overriding sense of informality that is instantly appealing.

For activities, Offbeat Ndoto shares a team of six guides with Offbeat Mara, all of them with at least silver accreditation. If you have a particular interest in birds, the camp will try their best to allocate you to the most knowledgeable guide. Vehicles normally take no more than four guests unless requested, perhaps by a family. The vehicles, which are open-sided, with roofs that roll back in part to aid game viewing, also have blinds to help fend off at least some of the rain if the weather turns, while brightly coloured shukas, or Maasai blankets, can help against the early-morning chill.

Typically guests enjoy two activities a day, one in the early morning until around 11.00am, the second starting at around 4.00pm and returning in time to freshen up for dinner. Flexibility is key, though, so if you’re watching a cheetah hunting, for example, that will take precedence. Guides are permitted to drive off road in the conservancy, but there's a limit of five vehicles around any animal sighting.

Guided walks, to see the detail that is easily missed on a game drive, are usually incorporated within a game drive, with guests driven onto the plateau near camp, then walking with their guide for an hour or so, the vehicle in discreet attendance for safety purposes. Please note these walks are not undertaken with an armed guide. Walks in less open areas with an armed ranger can also be arranged on request, at extra cost. Afternoon drives typically return after dark, but you can also organise a night drive after dinner, when you’ll be joined by a spotter to search for nocturnal animals such as genet and spring hare.

Wildlife aside, Ndoto offers the option of visiting a local market or school, or the Koiyaki Guiding School where many camp guides train. Visits to a local Maasai village, day trips into the adjoining Maasai Mara National Reserve and balloon flights can be arranged at additional cost. And if your safari fantasy includes jogging in the bush, this is the place to try it - accompanied by a guide jogging along with you.

Our view

With attentive staff, well-informed guides, a simple yet tasteful design, and an overriding sense of informality, Offbeat Ndoto is a place to revel in a wilderness environment. Although comfortable and well thought out, it eschews the luxuries of many exclusive camps in favour of light, space and tranquillity, enhanced by the benefits of being in the Mara North Conservancy: walking, night drives and the opportunity for off-road driving. For safari enthusiasts it is a winning combination.

Tamara Hoskyns-Abrahall

Kenya expert

Geographics

Location: Maasai Mara Conservancies, Kenya
Ideal length of stay: 3- 4 nights
Directions: Guests normally fly into Mara North Airstrip, from where it’s a game drive of around 1½-2 hours to camp. To drive direct without stopping takes around 30-45 minutes.
Accessible by: Fly-and-Transfer

Food & drink

Usual board basis: Full Board & Activities
Food quality: Meals at Offbeat Ndoto are varied and interesting, prepared with plenty of fresh vegetables, salads and fruit, and a real attention to detail. Vegetarians and those with other dietary requirements can be catered for on request, as can children’s menus. Mealtimes are particularly flexible to work around your chosen activities.

Guests are woken before the early-morning game drive with a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits brought to their tent.

Breakfast may be taken in camp or – more typically – out in the bush as part of the morning game drive. Although presentation is of course very different, in both settings you can expect bacon, sausage and eggs (hard boiled or omelette in the bush, to order at camp), with various vegetable options – perhaps beans in a tomato sauce, mushrooms or stir-fried vegetables, or boiled arrowroot. Toast and excellent cinnamon pancakes add further variety, along with cereals and fruit, cafetière coffee, tea and fruit juice.

A light and varied two-course lunch is typically served at around 1.00pm. Chicken, or perhaps vegetarian/meat pizza, or homemade noodles with meatballs (very warming on a cold day!), will always be accompanied by home-made rolls and a selection of salads, from fresh green leaves to quinoa, potato or a particularly tasty coleslaw. Desserts, too, change daily, from apple crumble to strawberry cheesecake, though the highlight for us was a delicate mango mousse served with a straw; we’d have liked a long spoon to savour the last morsel!

Afternoon tea at around 4.00pm is accompanied by small sandwiches or other savouries, and usually a cake, with snacks offered during sundowners at the end of the afternoon game drive.

Before dinner, drinks and bitings (pre-dinner snacks), such as sweetcorn with garlic mayo may be served around the campfire. Dinner itself is a three-course meal showing more of the chef’s creativity. After a starter that could be a cheese and tomato pastry with a beetroot coulis, or an aubergine and couscous stack, we particularly enjoyed an exceptionally good steak in a spicy sauce with beans, potatoes, asparagus and carrots, while another favourite was a light and tasty chicken curry. Rounded off with a chocolate éclair, or apple crumble, this is good food, lovingly prepared and well presented in sensible portions.
Dining style: Mixture of group dining and individual tables
Dining locations: Indoor and Outdoor Dining
Drinks included: Most drinks are included, with the exception of premium spirits and Champagne, which may need to be ordered in advance. Drinking water is served at mealtimes, with glass bottles of purified water supplied in the bathrooms and bedrooms, and personal flasks on game-drive vehicles refilled daily.

Special interests

Wildlife safaris: At Offbeat Ndoto in the Mara North Conservancy, wildlife safaris in Kenya are exceptionally personal. Discover the famed big cats of the Mara on day and night drives and safari walks, with no more than four people to a vehicle.; See ideas for Wildlife safaris in Kenya

Children

Attitude towards children: Children are welcome at Offbeat Ndoto, though families may prefer nearby Offbeat Mara Camp.
Property’s age restrictions: None.
Special activities & services: Flexible timings for activities and meals, with different menus available on request, make life easier for families with children. Children can learn beading with Maasai women, as well as making arrows and playing football, with cooking another possibility. Babysitting is available with ladies from the housekeeping team, whether during dinner or if a child is having a daytime nap.
Equipment: No specific family tents, but up to two two children’s beds can be added to each tent. Cots and highchairs are available on request
Generally recommended for children: While there is no doubt that children are welcome at Ndoto, this is a very open camp and we do not feel that it is appropriate for younger children who may not understand the importance of staying close to camp.
Notes: The presence of dangerous wildlife close to camp means that children must be under constant supervision at all times.

Our travellers’ wildlife sightings from Offbeat Ndoto

Since mid-2018, many of our travellers who stayed at Offbeat Ndoto 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.

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Leopard

100% success

Lion

100% success

Spotted Hyena

100% success

Wildebeest

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Buffalo

83% success

Cheetah

83% success

Eland

83% success

Pangolin

17% success

Aardvark

0% success

Black Rhino

0% success

Striped Hyena

0% success

Wild dog

0% success

Communications

Power supply notes: Guests may charge batteries in their tents, in the main area and on game-drive vehicles.
Communications: There is normally both Wi-Fi access and cellphone coverage throughout the camp.
TV & radio: None.
Water supply: Transported in
Water supply notes: All bathrooms have plumbed-in showers and flushing toilets.

Sustainability

The Tristan Voorspuy Conservation Trust

Set up in memory of the founder of Offbeat Safaris, the Tristan Voorspuy Conservation Trust aims to support small, cost-effective charities that already work to improve conservation in Kenya through a focus on sustainability. These include CHASE (Community, Health and Sustainable Environment) whose work incorporates family planning, primary healthcare and, in turn, environmental sustainability. In the frontline of conservation, they also support For Rangers, which raises funds to support rangers – including many in Kenya – whose work is hampered by lack of appropriate kit, training and support.

See more great sustainability projects in Kenya

Health & safety

Malarial protection recommended: Yes
Medical care: The nearest doctor is at Mara Rianta, a small roadside community, about an hour’s drive south. There is a large district hospital at Narok, a three-hour drive away. In an emergency, Offbeat Ndoto has links to the flying doctor service.
Dangerous animals: High Risk
Security measures: Askaris patrol the property between sunset and sunrise. During these times, guests are escorted to and from their tents.
Fire safety: Fire extinguishers are dotted around the main areas and between the tents. Staff are trained to use them.

Activities

4WD Safari
Birdwatching
Cultural excursion
Guided walking safari
Hot air ballooning
Night drive

Extras

Disabled access: Not Possible
Laundry facilities: Laundry is included, with the exception of women’s underwear, for which washing powder is provided in the bathrooms. Items are hand washed, but not ironed, and are normally returned the same day. Helpfully, a washing line with pegs is strung outside each tent.
Money: Each tent has a small safe. Currency exchange is not possible.
Accepted payment on location: Any extras must be paid in cash, either in Kenyan shillings or in US dollars. Credit cards are not accepted.