Angama Mara

Welcome to Angama Mara. It is a remarkable owner-run safari lodge. The name is a Swahili word for suspended in mid-air. The lodge is located high above the floor of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. Angama Mara overlooks Kenya’s Maasai Mara. It is the loveliest game reserve on the continent. Here guests will find a lodge where everything is as it ought to be. There are 2 intimate camps of 15 suites each. Angama has a private airfield and access to the Mara below. Angama Mara is in the heart of East Africa. It is easily accessible from major international airports. This combines perfectly with the safari highlights in the region.

About Angama Mara

Welcome to a remarkable new safari lodge, and a project more than ten years in the making. Balanced on the rim of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Angama Mara is the brainchild of Steve & Nicky Fitzgerald, and draws on their considerable experience from developing and operating safari lodges whilst at the helm of &Beyond. More than anything, Angama brings together a fresh approach to both the safari experience and lodge design.

There is little that is conventional about the creation of Angama Mara, with views that stretch for miles across the Maasai Mara 300 meters below. It has two totally separate camps of just 15 tents each, every one with magnificent 180° views. The 2 camps are alongside one another, each with its own guest area, and kitchen. Each camp has two sets of interconnecting tents, perfect for families. The dramatic guest areas are for dining, drinking and lounging, and include a handsome brick-clad library. The Pavilion, set between the two camps, is home to the Safari Shop, a swimming pool, and the Fitness Room – guests never need to walk more than 10 minutes to go anywhere. The lodge is serviced by a private, hard-top airfield – just a 5-minute drive away.

Tented suites

A great safari is also about great food. Almost more important than the food itself is where it is served. Inspired by what Denys Finch-Hatton’s camp chef might have cooked way back in the early days of being on safari, Angama Mara’s chefs prepare classic safari food. Our Kenyan chefs use only the best and freshest ingredients, celebrating the finest local produce for which the country is renowned: grass-fed beef, green beans, prawns from the coast – amongst many others. The result is food which is simple yet delicious; unfussy but oh-so-good to look at; and always generous and joyful and sometimes surprising.

Something for everyone

Angama Mara’s experienced guides tailor-make their guest’s safari days: first-timers to Africa will be guided differently to old-timers, and there are over 570-recorded species of birds which will keep birding enthusiasts busy. First and foremost, the guides are storytellers, and interpret the Mara in a way that immerses their guests in the surroundings: a safari at Angama Mara is about an overwhelming sense of place. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy the knowledge and companionship of more than one guide as their desired safari experience changes from day to day, and the guiding team will endeavour to match like-minded guests with each other: birders will go on safari with fellow birders, as will those with a keen interest in photography or another special interest.

A day on safari

Guests could leave the lodge at dawn, or decide to go on a game drive after breakfast. Safaris are conducted in the lovely Mara Triangle, open from sunrise to sunset, and are in completely open game-viewing vehicles. Because the weather is so mild in the Mara, there are no constraints as to when to go on a game drive, and Angama Mara guests tailor-make their safari days: out early and back for breakfast; out early with a picnic breakfast and back for lunch; out after breakfast with a picnic lunch and back mid-afternoon; a post lunch game drive and back at sunset; or very best of all, spending a whole day exploring the Mara Triangle – with a picnic breakfast and lunch down at the Tanzanian border without a soul in sight – that’s an all-time favourite and a grand way to spend the day.

A rocking safari chair

Guests at Angama Mara can also enjoy the wonders of a safari without leaving the comfort of their deck: the views of the Mara from the tented suites are staggering – the sky never sits still and there is always something to spot 300m below – elephant families melting in and out of the forest, a thousand buffalo lazing about, giraffe stepping daintily down from the escarpment or a pod of hippo moving from one water body to the next. All the tents are equipped with binoculars and there is a spotting scope in the guest area. There are heaps of resident game around the lodge: eland, zebra, giraffe, topi and impala; and watching the raptors soar effortlessly above and below you is a great way to while away the hours.

Hot-air balloon

Enjoy one of the iconic experiences of Africa. Wake before dawn. A quick and straight-forward pre-flight briefing, and before you know it, the balloon is airborne. The soft, early morning breeze takes the balloon southwards towards the Tanzanian border, with the typical flight path along the Mara River and its adjoining forest, and over the open plains beyond. This is an unmatched safari – even the lions look up in surprise as one sails on by – and all the animals of the Mara are visible from the air. A flight normally lasts around one hour, and ends with a sometimes-bumpy landing amidst the termite mounds, all part of the adventure. Once you’ve settled back to earth, toast the morning’s activities with a celebratory champagne breakfast – specially prepared under a tree in the middle of nowhere. The perfect start to any day in the Mara, and for many, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Walking safaris

Many guests choose to discover the Great Rift Valley on foot. Maasai Naturalists offer guided walks. The birding up here is especially rewarding. Guests learn the traditional ways of the Maasai people from the Naturalists: local legends, fables, traditions, customs, the medicinal use of plants, and are often treated to singing and dancing along the way. All the while, lovely views of the Mara 300m below offer glimpses of great herds of buffalo, or a solitary elephant melting into the forest. Walking safaris at Angama Mara are tailor-made for every guest, and every fitness-level is taken into consideration. Depending on the time of day, and the length of walk, they can include picnic baskets, blankets, or even a lift back to the lodge. From a gentle 2-hour stroll to a full day’s walk, guests can choose exactly how they would like to discover the Rift Valley on foot.

The shamba

Shamba is a much-loved experience. it is within easy walking distance of the lodge. The shamba keepers welcome guests at the passionfruit arbor which forms the entrance and guide them through the 1-acre kitchen garden encouraging them to pick and taste along the way. The layout is reminiscent of snakes and ladders and the shamba keepers share the story behind its unique design. This is no ordinary vegetable patch. The lodge offers private shamba-to-table lunches in the garden under towering shady moth trees. Guests are free to pick their own ingredients which are then washed and readied for the freshest salads imaginable. Butlers prepare a wicker basket filled with loaves of bread, local cheese and chilled rosé wine to accompany the salads. Guests are left to while away the afternoon taking in sweeping views of the Mara below whilst watching the butterflies dance through the garden.

Photography

There is something about being in the Mara Triangle that simply forces you to grab your camera and catch that fleeting moment of beauty. The only real challenge here is to know when to put your camera down and just take in the moment, or snap it and keep it for always. Taking great pictures as an amateur photographer in the Mara is easy and fun thanks to the open rolling grasslands and the abundance of game throughout the year. And for guests who are either expert photographers or just passionate about taking wonderful images, the lodge will provide guides who understand photographic needs: where to place the vehicle for both the best light and the best angle; how to approach the animals so they don’t scare; and of course the patience needed to  capture that one iconic photo of a male lion yawning in the early morning light.

Out of Africa

As a nod to the romantic tale that was filmed on the site of Angama Mara, the lodge offers intimate picnics for two on the crest of the Out of Africa kopje that is featured on the movie’s poster. A Maasai naturalist escorts guests up the hill to discover an old-world private picnic scene: checked blankets, comfy cushions, canvas safari chairs, a wicker picnic basket, sparkling wine on ice, coffee in a Stanley flask, elegant picnic food and of course, that view. Picnics can be enjoyed anytime of day: for breakfast soon after sunrise, or with evening sunset drinks as the sun sets behind. This experience is unique, and only to be found at Angama Mara. For those guests who love the movie or are hopeless romantics, this is surely the highlight of any stay.

Special moments

Maasai culture

You can interact with the Maasais. Every evening at sunset, Maasai warriors perform in the lodge’s traditional bush-packed boma. In Angama Mara’s craft studio, guests can try their hand at Maasai craft, as skilled ladies bead bespoke items onto pieces of clothing, and we have also had the privilege of hosting Maasai weddings, vow renewals, Olympics, and even a Maasai Mitzvah for one lucky young guest. In the heart of Maasailand, Angama Mara is surrounded by many traditional homestead manyattas that welcome travellers. Here, guests enjoy a rare opportunity of gaining a deeper understanding into the every day lives of the Maasai, their ways, their fascinating culture and what daily challenges they face in maintaining the fine balance between preserving their ancient ways and embracing the new. Guests may freely photograph the family and their homesteads and buy beautiful traditional jewelry directly from the ladies who craft it.

The Maasai Mara

The Mara is affectionately known as Africa’s loveliest game reserve. It forms the northernmost limit of the greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Here roams an abundance of Africa’s game. Mara is a year-round destination. It has a temperate climate and seasons dictated by rainfall. The Mara never fails to deliver. It is a breathtaking setting for wildlife photographers and safari enthusiasts. First-timers and seasoned travellers like them too. Maasai Mara is named in honour of the Maasai people. They call this corner of Africa home. The Mara is world renowned for its exceptional populations of lion, leopard and cheetahs. Herds of buffalo, the rare black rhino and of course the thriving elephants are also in abundance. In approximately July of each year, the Great Migration arrives. It stays on for an about four months.

The Mara triangle

There is an area west of the Mara River. It is situated beneath the Oloololo escarpment. The place is known as the Mara Triangle. Not only is this the most productive part of the entire Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in terms of grass nutrition, but it is also spectacularly scenic. In places, the grassy plains are dotted with widely spaced Balanites trees. This give the landscape an almost manicured look. The Mara Triangle has been most efficiently managed by the Mara Conservancy for the past 15 years.

Safari philosophy

The pace is a little slower here. They might start their safari in the Mara and want to do many game drives; they might come here in the middle of their journey and do a little less game viewing; or they might end their adventure at Angama Mara and only go down into the Reserve to find something they might not have seen. One fact for certain is that the Mara Triangle consistently delivers twelve months of the year – so one can afford to take things a little slower, and enjoy a much more flexible day on safari no matter what time of year.