Borana Conservancy & Maasai Mara, Kenya

• More about your Oliver Guide: Courtney Leary
• Trip type: Desert, Mountains
• Activity level: easy
• Ideal length of trip: 6-10 days

to & from

Travel to Africa, especially to areas where the safaris take place, is not easy. We added Rwanda to our itinerary (see guide here), but even without Rwanda we would have had 7 flights– 2 flights to get to Nairobi and 3 flights on bush planes within Kenya. We booked everything through Indagare travel and it was seamless. We flew Qatar airlines which I would recommend for business class but not for economy. We had a short layover in the Doha airport — and wished it were longer– it is a gorgeous high-end shopping mall built only 10 years ago.

Where to Stay

We worked with Indagare to plan this trip– sending them our desired locations to start  and then they found us lodging that would provide a range of safari experiences. I would not plan a safari vacation without a vetted travel agent and highly recommend Indagare for this large task.

When we arrived in Nairobi we spent our first night at Villa Rosa Kempinski which was comfortable, friendly and a bit quirky as it should be because, after all, we were in Nairobi! The breakfast buffet was great and then we were off. Our main stops in Kenya were:

Lengishu– Absolutely stunning property located in the Borana Conservancy; a private home (estate) with the warmest staff of 25+ who appeared to know all of our names upon arrival. The guides/ drivers were excellent. The food was incredibly delicious and all dietary needs were more than met. Every need or desire was attended to promptly. They had fun little surprises here and there for us. We loved it here! Lengishu will always have a special place in our hearts. (Note, this is especially great for a group– we had two families- we would have felt a little funny here if it were just the 5 of us.)

Angama Mara– A semi-tented camp (some walls + windows but tented roof) located on the edge of the Maasai Mara National reserve. They have 15 tented suites in the North Camp and 15 in the South Camp with a common area but separate dining rooms. The views were stunning and the guides were great. It was also extremely nice to have a doctor on staff as we had some minor rashes and stomach issues which are common when traveling in Africa.. Because the Maasai Mara is so vast, our morning game drives were longer here and usually included breakfast picnics. The staff was very friendly and helpful in coordinating all of our logistics. Food was great (but not as good as Lengishu in my opinion.)