Reviews of Hemingways Ol Seki Mara
(93%) From 3 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Amazing wildlife sightings
The wildlife in the vicinity of this camp was amazing. I think we were lucky, but we saw cheetahs, lions (including two sets of cubs and three of the four male lions in the conservancy), a leopard kill, lots of hippos, plenty of giraffes (including lots of babies), and too many other things to mention. Our guide Mike was brilliant, he always seemed to know where to position our jeep in order to get the best sighting. On several occasions he parked in a different place to another jeep, and I thought to myself why is he parking so far away, only for the leopard/ cheetah/ lion to end up walking within touching distance.
I would highly recommend the day trip to the Masai Mara, Richard recommended this and included it in our trip, and it was phenomenal. Yes it does mean quite a lot of driving, but what a shame to miss out on lunch by the river, close to hippos, crocodiles, elephants and buffalo for the sake of a couple more hours in the car. We saw the five cheetah brothers hunting warthog babies (a bit sad as the babies were so cute!), as well as a prolonged leopard sighting. The sheer scale of the reserve is amazing, at one point we drove for two hours without seeing anyone else. Having said that, at the leopard sighting, we were soon joined by about 30 other jeeps, which made us appreciate our stay in the conservancy even more.
Ol Seki offers night drives for free, and we did two. Don't miss these, we saw nocturnal species, and a leopard on a hunt.
The tents are comfortable and large, and there is a view of the watering hole from the deck. the camp is not the most luxurious, but the staff are very friendly and the sightings were amazing.
Would also recommend the trip to the village, our guide took us to his village, so we got to meet his beautiful wife and daughters (who we had heard lots about already). It was really interested to learn about the Masai culture and compare it to the village we visited in Samburu. Take money for local crafts, they were very reasonably priced.
Fantastic safari at Hemingway Ol Seki
We have not been on safari before so had nothing to gauge our experience on .
What we did experience was simply fantastic in every respect .
We arrived on a small plane from Wilson which gave us the first views of the country and animals below . As we landed there were giraffes at the end of the runway, a really special start for the next four days that just got better.
Out tent was as spacious and well positioned looking out over the plain that we could have hoped for .The room was well equipped and comfortable . The shower was fine and toilet facilities as good as home .
We were made very welcome by Debbie and her staff on arrival and the standard of service, attention for our comfort and experience was paramount at all times .
Debbie explained how she is introducing further changes to customer care , and whilst we were more than satisfied , this will only make the whole experience better .
The atmosphere around the camp was relaxed and we enjoyed the small groups and meeting other people .
Our safari guides Raffi and Issac were exceptional in their knowledge of the country ,animals , local ways etc .They were very patient in tracking the animals and obviously knew the best time of day to seek out the best sightings.
What surprised us was the large number of animals on the plains and shrub areas , so every trip out we were delighted by new animals , chases,kills .we were lucky to see leopards in the conversancy and in the national park .
We had some heavy rain at night which caused some of the river crossings to be partially washed away ,as what was a quiet small river/ stream one day was a torrent the next .
Meal times were a great time for us all to catch up what we had seen that morning or evening .One of the staff would welcome us and would announce the menu .The food was very good , varied ,with sensible portions .In the evenings we would be escorted by one of the warriors to and frm the dining tent .The sundowners out on safari then pre dinner drinks was always a pleasure as a large gin and tonic was certainly that !
Hemingways is luxury in the Mara
Excellent in every respect and a superb view and a great location. Ol Seki Mara conservancy is such a beautiful place to be. It's like a condensed version of the main Mara National Park - and only an hour or so away from there.
The guide was superb, Rafi Rotokin, so knowledgable and so thoughtful as well as an exceptional spotter.
The food and atmosphere at the camp was outstanding. The shared dinning and lounge area made for great connections and great stories.
This really is the place to stay - look no further.
