Mara North Conservancy Safari Holidays
Mara North Conservancy
Holidays
The Maasai Mara's most exclusive wilderness — a 74,000-acre private conservancy bordering the national reserve where game drives are uncrowded, off-road driving is permitted and the Big Five roam freely across community-owned land
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Flight Time
8–9h to Nairobi (NBO), then 45min domestic flight to Mara North airstrip
Best Time
July to October (Great Migration & dry season); January to February (dry, excellent predator activity); June is quieter but good value
Country
Kenya
Suppliers
our travel partners ·
Mara North Conservancy Holiday Guide
Mara North is the ideal choice for travellers who want the full Maasai Mara wildlife experience with the added benefits of exclusivity, off-road driving, night drives and walking safaris that the national reserve cannot offer. It is more expensive than staying inside the reserve (conservancy fees of approximately $100-150pp per day are added to camp rates) but the quality of the wildlife experience is significantly higher.
How to get there: Fly from Nairobi's Wilson Airport to one of the Mara North airstrips (Ol Kiombo, Kichwa Tembo or Mara North) on a scheduled or charter flight (45 minutes, from approximately £150 one way). Most camps include airstrip transfers. Driving from Nairobi takes 5-6 hours on a mixture of tarmac and rough dirt road — possible but tiring; flying is strongly recommended.
Combining with other areas: Mara North combines naturally with a beach stay at Diani Beach (2-3 nights safari, 3-4 nights beach) or with other Kenyan parks — Amboseli (elephants and Kilimanjaro views) or Samburu (rare northern species) — for a classic Kenya safari circuit. Most operators can arrange seamless connections between parks by light aircraft.
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Popular Areas in Mara North Conservancy
Average Temperatures
Jan
26°C
Feb
27°C
Mar
25°C
Apr
22°C
May
21°C
Jun
20°C
Jul
20°C
Aug
21°C
Sep
23°C
Oct
24°C
Nov
23°C
Dec
24°C
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Call 01282 960 460Top 8 Things To Do in Mara North Conservancy
The off-road game drives, night drives, walking safaris and exclusive wilderness experiences that make Mara North one of the finest private conservancies in Africa.
Off-Road Game Drives — No Tracks, No Limits
The single greatest advantage of staying in Mara North over the national reserve is the freedom to drive off-road — following predators through the bush, positioning the vehicle for the perfect sighting, and getting within metres of lions, leopards and cheetahs without the restriction of staying on designated tracks. In the national reserve, vehicles must stay on defined roads and off-road driving is strictly prohibited; in Mara North, your guide can take the vehicle wherever the wildlife leads. This makes a profound difference to the quality of sightings — particularly for predator behaviour such as hunts, kills and cub-rearing. The conservancy's strict vehicle limits (each camp has exclusive zones) mean you will rarely share a sighting with more than one or two other vehicles.
Night Game Drives — The Mara After Dark
Night game drives are one of the most compelling reasons to stay in a private conservancy rather than the national reserve — they are completely prohibited inside the Maasai Mara National Reserve but are a standard offering at Mara North camps. After dark, the conservancy transforms: leopards emerge from their daytime hiding places to hunt; hyenas and lions patrol the darkness; aardvarks, genets, civets, porcupines and bush babies appear in the spotlight. The nocturnal soundscape — lions roaring, hyenas whooping, nightjars calling — is extraordinary. Most camps offer night drives as part of the standard game drive programme (morning and evening drives, with the evening drive continuing after dark). A spotlight operated by the guide illuminates wildlife without disturbing it.
Walking Safaris with Maasai Warriors
Walking safaris in Mara North are guided by armed Maasai warriors who have grown up in this landscape and have an intimate knowledge of its wildlife, plants and ecology. Walking in the African bush — reading tracks, identifying dung, approaching game on foot — is a completely different experience from a vehicle-based game drive: the sounds, smells and scale of the landscape are immediate and visceral in a way that a vehicle cannot replicate. Walks typically last 2-3 hours in the early morning (the coolest part of the day and the most active time for wildlife) and focus on tracking, bush craft and the ecology of the savannah rather than simply ticking off species. The Maasai guides' knowledge of medicinal plants, animal behaviour and the history of the land adds a cultural dimension that enriches the experience enormously.
The Great Migration Through the Conservancy
From July to October, the Great Wildebeest Migration passes through Mara North on its annual journey between Tanzania's Serengeti and the Maasai Mara. Vast herds of wildebeest and zebra — numbering in the hundreds of thousands — move across the conservancy's open plains, grazing the short grass before pushing south to the Mara River crossings. Witnessing the migration from a private conservancy is a very different experience from the national reserve: the herds are spread across a much larger area, the vehicle density is a fraction of the reserve's, and the ability to drive off-road means you can position yourself in the middle of a moving herd — an experience of extraordinary scale and intimacy. Predator activity during the migration is at its peak: lion prides, cheetah families and leopards all take advantage of the abundance.
Black Rhino Tracking
Black rhino are critically endangered — fewer than 6,000 remain in the wild — and the Maasai Mara ecosystem is one of the most important strongholds for the species in Kenya. Mara North Conservancy has a small but established black rhino population, and dedicated rhino tracking experiences (on foot with an armed ranger and a specialist rhino monitor) offer one of the most extraordinary wildlife encounters in Africa. Black rhino are notoriously shy and unpredictable — tracking them on foot, reading their signs and approaching carefully through the bush, is a very different experience from a vehicle sighting. The conservancy's anti-poaching programme (funded in part by conservancy fees) has been instrumental in protecting the rhino population. Sightings are not guaranteed but the tracking experience itself is remarkable regardless of outcome.
Wild Dog Sightings — Africa's Most Endangered Predator
African wild dogs (painted wolves) are the most endangered large predator in Africa — fewer than 6,000 remain in the wild — and the Maasai Mara ecosystem is one of the few places where packs are regularly seen. Wild dogs are nomadic, covering vast distances, and sightings in the national reserve are unpredictable; in Mara North, where the conservancy team tracks pack movements, sightings are more reliably arranged. Wild dog hunts are among the most thrilling spectacles in the African bush — the pack operates with extraordinary coordination, communicating through high-pitched calls and maintaining a relentless pace that exhausts prey over distances of several kilometres. A wild dog hunt and kill is one of the rarest and most sought-after wildlife experiences in Africa.
Hot Air Balloon Safaris at Dawn
A hot air balloon safari over the Mara North Conservancy at dawn is one of the most extraordinary experiences in Africa — drifting silently over the savannah as the sun rises over the Oloololo Escarpment, watching herds of wildebeest and zebra from above, with the Mara River glinting to the south and the Serengeti plains stretching away to the horizon. Balloon flights last approximately one hour and are followed by a champagne bush breakfast served in the savannah — a white-tablecloth meal in the middle of the wilderness, with the sounds of the waking bush all around. Flights depart at first light (approximately 6am) and must be booked in advance through your camp. The balloon perspective — seeing the scale of the Mara ecosystem from above — is unlike anything achievable from a vehicle.
Maasai Community & Cultural Experiences
Mara North Conservancy is owned and managed in partnership with the Maasai communities whose ancestral land it occupies — the conservancy model means that local families receive a direct income from tourism, creating a genuine alignment between wildlife conservation and community wellbeing. Most camps in Mara North offer visits to neighbouring Maasai villages (manyattas) — meeting families, watching traditional dances, learning about Maasai culture, livestock management and the relationship between the Maasai and the wildlife they have coexisted with for centuries. The Maasai guides and rangers who work in the conservancy bring an extraordinary depth of knowledge and cultural perspective to the safari experience. Buying beadwork and crafts directly from Maasai women's cooperatives supports the community income directly.
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