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Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara
Kicheche Mara

Reviews of Kicheche Mara

Wildlife sightings and reviews

84 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kicheche Mara and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Aug-2018, 56 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Kicheche Mara.
Lion

100% success

Leopard

66% success

Cheetah

89% success

Wild dog

5% success

Buffalo

100% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Spotted Hyena

100% success

Wildebeest

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Eland

93% success

Striped Hyena

8% success

Black Rhino

6% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 51-60 of 84
Duration
Arrival date
Sandra
Ottawa

"Kicheche Mara"

3 nights Arrived 3 Nov 2019
"Enjoyed our stay here!" See all these reviews: 12n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

9 sightings

Cheetah

3 sightings

Eland

3 sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

9 sightings

Hippo

3 sightings

Lion

5 sightings

Spotted Hyena

6 sightings

Wildebeest

9 sightings

Zebra

9 sightings

Lynn H
Edmonton

"Mara Camp"

3 nights Arrived 3 Nov 2019
"Mara Camp was a great place to begin our adventure!

The tents were lovely -- we saw lots of wildlife "just outside" our doors, from buffalo to monkeys, dik diks and bushbucks, and one wandering hippo! Our hosts Caris and Bonny were great! We so enjoyed every moment!

Our guides were David and George and they were really terrific! We enjoyed meeting other guests and sharing stories of sighting at dinner. :)!" See all these reviews: 12n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

6 sightings

Cheetah

4 sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

5 sightings

Hippo

4 sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr S & Ms B
UK

"Excellent Camp"

4 nights Arrived 8 Sep 2019
"Kicheche Mara has a beautiful setting along a small river. The tents are very well designed and well spread out. The camp is extremely well managed and run and Cerys is an excellent host. The whole staff team appeared to be very well trained and professional; they gave the impression that they genuinely wanted their guests to have a good experience.

Although the camp is very comfortable, the central focus remains on wildlife viewing; we really enjoyed having a bush breakfast each day, for example, rather than having to return to camp as with some other operators. The guiding was excellent and our guide (Saruni) was also very good at anticipating an animal's behaviour and so getting us in a position where the animal was walking towards us (rather than us chasing along behind, getting pictures of bottoms). He also understood the best angles for photography including the importance of light. The wildlife viewing was excellent.

The food was excellent and they were exceptional in how they coped with our complex dietary requirements. It became apparent that their team had discussed how they might do this in advance of our arrival. The chef at Kicheche Mara even phoned the chef at our next camp (Kicheche Valley) to advise him. All of this was very much appreciated.

We loved our stay at Kicheche Mara." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

5 sightings

Eland

8 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

6 sightings

Hippo

4 sightings

Lion

7 sightings

Spotted Hyena

6 sightings

Wildebeest

4 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mrs L
Suffolk

"Kicheche Mara review"

3 nights Arrived 4 Sep 2019
"Very good camp and an excellent guide.

My room could have done with a separate table and chair and it was quite small." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

6 sightings

Cheetah

2 sightings

Eland

4 sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

8 sightings

Hippo

5 sightings

Lion

4 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wildebeest

5 sightings

Zebra

8 sightings

Mr & Mrs F
Derbyshire

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 19 Jan 2019
"This camp is in a most lovely setting. It has a great atmosphere and the staff are very well-integrated, friendly and most welcoming. The relief manager, Peter Cadot, was really excellent. He was extremely knowledgeable, about birds in particular, and came with us on one game drive.

The food - picnic breakfasts on game drives, very varied salad-type lunches and 3 course dinners - was delicious, beautifully presented and always interesting.

Our game drives with Richard were fantastic. We were lucky to have him to ourselves for the whole time. He was very patient, had a great sense of humour, and we learnt a lot from him. Every day we had exciting and varied wildlife sightings." See all these reviews: 8n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

5 sightings

Cheetah

7 sightings

Eland

4 sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

4 sightings

Hippo

5 sightings

Lion

6 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wildebeest

6 sightings

Zebra

8 sightings

Mr N & Ms S
Zambia

"Mara minus the Madding Crowd (2)"

5 nights Arrived 24 Dec 2018
"I make no apology for recycling a title we used for our previous trip to a private concession outside the Masai Mara NP, as part of the purpose of opting for the North Mara Conservancy was to enjoy the area's superb wildlife without encountering the sort of numbers who are generally to be found inside the NP's boundaries. We were certainly not disappointed on either count, ie the wildlife or the relative absence of other parties.

For some years now, 'safari' for us has generally meant out-of-the-way places and 'non-mainstream' wildlife (especially, but far from exclusively, the birds), in particular now that we are based in Zambia. But the past quarter saw something of a shift back to 'the old days', culminating with arguably the most conventional safari destination of all, ie the Mara! And largely not about birds as we shared most of our time with friends from Europe for whom this was a first safari experience.

For us, this was a fantastic reminder of some of the things - megafauna, rolling savannah etc - which make this continent very special indeed.

In this we were greatly aided by our excellent guide, Saruni, whose skills include an outstanding knack of anticipating an animal and pre-placing his vehicle in absolutely the best photography spot (though whether this is cause or effect of the work he has done with celebrity wildlife photographer Jonathan Scott was not clear to us). He also proved himself to be a good walking guide when we quit the truck on a couple of occasions. Thanks to his efforts we ID-ed 32 mammal species in all and over 130 bird.

As for the camp itself, it is comfortable and well-run. We actually changed tents during our time there in order to help out other guests who wanted an easier walk to the communal areas. Our first accommodation, Punda, was spacious as well as well-appointed; but we preferred the slightly smaller Twiga, which we moved to, for its location in a wooded area well-populated by birds.

We were pleased to see lots of fruit with breakfast, whether in the camp or out in the bush; and plentiful salads with lunch. Dinners were better than decent too and the staff reacted quickly and appropriately to any special requests as far as we could see.

All the staff we had dealings with were friendly and helpful; we would single out particularly co-manager Tony and also make special mention of the team in housekeeping, not least for quickly sorting out a minor problem for us at 2200 one evening.

--

Extra comments about our guide at Kicheche Mara:

By any standards, Saruni is a very good guide indeed. Personable, enthusiastic and knowledgeable with a real knack for pre-positioning his vehicle perfectly for photography or just enjoying the best possible view of a star attraction.

We took a private guide for our final day so we could walk, rather than truck, and devote our attention primarily to birds. It was money very well spent." See all these reviews: 12n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

5 sightings

Eland

8 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

8 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

10 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

alessandra
Frankfurt

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 24 Dec 2018
"Kicheche is top place for families, staff is very friendly and always trying to accommodate your desires.
They can improve a bit on the cleaning side in the tents and in the common part. There were not so much effort ..." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

3 sightings

Eland

4 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

5 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

5 sightings

Spotted Hyena

10 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mrs C.
Beaconsfield

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 15 Sep 2018
"Our first safari experience exceeded all expectations on every level. The camp was delightful, tents were very private and we had a great view from our tent entrance. The communal areas were well maintained and we felt welcome to use these at any time.

Camp organisation was excellent. We were warmly welcomed on arrival. Staff were always ready when we set off and one of the managers (Ray and Thorburn) were always waiting to meet you on your return and hear about your experiences - a very nice touch.

The kitchen and front of house team (Wellington, Charles and Michael) were brilliant. Food was consistently good and my dietary requirements taken care of. There was always someone ‘there’ when you needed anything. Meals were communal, outside for lunch and under cover in the evening. With an ever changing group of visitors, Ray and Thorburn were brilliant at making sure everyone was comfortable and included. Early morning drinks (and biscuits!) arrived on time. Breakfasts and lunch out on our drives were really good too and we were always provided with nibbles to go with our sundowners.

The security team were always on hand to escort us to/from our tent and the communal areas.

We were fortunate to have our guide, Saruni, to ourselves. His skills and knowledge were outstanding and we were very comfortable in his company. We saw so much more wildlife than we had expected and were so incredibly close to the animals. The conservancy scheme certainly seems to work well. We were often the only vehicle watching and were very rarely with more than 2 or 3 other vehicles. We had one long days drive to the Masai Mara national park where we saw a much higher number of vehicles.

Animal sighting highlights - many but include a cheetah- lioness ‘face off’, witnessing a kill (crocodiles getting a zebra that couldn’t get up the river bank), being close enough to see very young elephants suckling, seeing tiny lion cubs play and watching a satiated lion drinking from a water hole, so close that we could hear him.

All in all a most amazing experience that we will never forget." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 5n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

3 sightings

Eland

5 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

10 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr & Mrs H
Cheshire

"Kicheche Mara review"

4 nights Arrived 1 Sep 2018
"This camp is just a bit on the big side for us. We did not welcome a family tent." See all these reviews: 9n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
Ms N
London

"Kicheche Mara review"

3 nights Arrived 27 Aug 2018
"Kicheche Mara feels the most like a bush camp of the Kicheche camps in its somewhat simpler tents and decor and and there are always animals close by or passing through in the night (including the occasional elephant preventing you getting to your tent after dinner). It is set in beautiful green country and is part of a huge conservancy with the whole range of landscape and thus animals.

The staff are exceptionally friendly, welcoming and attentive. I stayed there briefly 3 years ago with my grandson and every staff member who was there then remembered us and our time with them and asked about him. The relief manager was excellent and went out of her way to be inclusive and helpful and the permanent manager was terrific in celebrating the honeymoon of two of the guests. The food was delicious.

Our guide was excellent in his knowledgeable tracking and positioning - several times amazing us with where he drove off to only to find the animals heading straight in our direction. He felt very committed to giving us the best animal viewing and at the same time to the welfare of the animals. There was a great variety of animals and we saw many lions and cheetahs (though we missed the leopards)." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Showing 51-60 of 84
98%
84 reviews of Kicheche Mara by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
78
5
1
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0
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