This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more

Skip to main content

Talk to an expert 1-800-242-2434 Lines open now

User menu
Sand River Camp
Sand River Camp
Sand River Camp
Sand River Camp
Sand River Camp
Sand River Camp

Reviews of Sand River Camp

Wildlife sightings and reviews

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Oct-2019, 6 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Sand River Camp.
Lion

83% success

Leopard

67% success

Cheetah

40% success

Wild dog

20% success

Buffalo

100% success

Eland

100% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Spotted Hyena

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Wildebeest

83% success

Black Rhino

20% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Striped Hyena

0% success

Showing 1-6 of 6
Duration
Arrival date
Rhodes Family
London

"Sand River Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 18 Jul 2023
"Sand River camp is a beautiful, romantic camp situated next to the Sand River. Close proximity to the river meant that we saw quite a lot of wildlife from the camp itself, for example, we saw elephants whilst having lunch. The tents are styled as old fashioned “colonial” and have a lovely historical feel, perhaps somewhat like Cottars. It was romantic and extremely comfortable. In particular we enjoyed the four poster bed with drapes, the roll top bath and the very hot water. You feel close to the animals in the tent and we saw baboons and monkeys from our room. It was a proper canvas tent so it did feel rather cold in the morning but that is to be expected.

The food at camp was a little variable, sometimes we had excellent meals and other times less so but we felt the hospitality was very genuine and the staff tried their utmost to provide a five star experience with management and the chef coming to speak to us every evening.

The main criticism would be in the overall experience we had with our guide. Overall we were happy with the game we saw (we were very lucky to come across 2 leopards on 2 separate days). However our guide was a rather fixed in his itinerary and probably needed to show more flexibility and communicate more. Our biggest issue was being taken on a very long and rather uncomfortable journey to Mara River even though we had advance notice there were no wildebeest crossings happening that week. Our guide insisted we should still go to see other animals and in retrospect we should have argued harder against that but the experience as a whole showed there needed to be clearer communication between the guide and client.

Despite this issue, overall the camp is good for migration, we saw huge amounts of wildebeest and we saw them cross the Sand River (which was quite dry so it wasn't a dramatic river crossing but still impressive). Unfortunately we were unlucky with the Mara River crossing as the timing was not right but in the right circumstances we suspect it would have been fantastic as there were plenty of crocodiles there. We got the impression the game is harder to find in the Sand River terrain, there is a lot of long grass so we did spend quite long periods looking for cats but ultimately saw a few lions and a leopard (we saw the second leopard on the way to Mara River, close to the Tanzania border).

Overall I would recommend the camp but advise that people will need to be patient when looking for game and also be clear about what they want to see/do when working with their guide." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

N & J Lancs
UK

"Sand River Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 29 Jan 2023
"A very exclusive, upmarket lodge with views over the river.

We were there for two nights only and in this time we saw 35 lions and maybe only 5 of those did we see twice. On a couple of occasions we watched them eating what was left of a kill. On a morning drive we had 2 big male lions walking on the track towards us and then just standing inches away from the vehicle before carrying on.

We were fortunate enough to see a serval cat out in daylight." See all these reviews: 14n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

10 sightings

Eland

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

6 sightings

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

10 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr. & Mrs. O
London

"Sand River Camp review"

4 nights Arrived 25 Dec 2022
"Sand River is a very different experience to Loisaba, so offers a great contrast. Again, fantastic team looking after us (kudos to Arnold for his service throughout our stay, to Robert (the barman!), Erik (the chef) to Andrew, Nicolene and Lindah and the rest of the team). Food and service were good, but not as good as at Loisaba (which set a very high standard to match or beat) - some rough edges here and there but nothing serious at all.

Enoch, our guide, was fantastic - huge respect for the job that he does, his knowledge and understanding of the Mara environment. We has a fair amount of rain during our stay but this did not really impact on our activities - just created a lot more mud for Enoch to drive through!

You need to consider the size of the Mara vs a private conservancy such as Loisaba. You are covering a lot of distance to find animals and whereas a morning game drive in Loisaba is ~3 hours, in Sand River, its ~6 hours! So there is a lot of sitting each day!

Fantastic hot air balloon ride - high recommend that, and a lovely bush breakfast on our way over to the Mara Triangle area." See all these reviews: 8n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Black Rhino

1 sighting

Buffalo

10 sightings

Cheetah

2 sightings

Eland

2 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

4 sightings

Lion

6 sightings

Spotted Hyena

3 sightings

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr B
London

"Such a gem!"

1 night Arrived 17 Nov 2021
"Our stay at Sand River Camp was fantastic, and exceeded expectations. When we were there in November, we hardly saw any other vehicles. It felt like there were very few camps in this part of the Mara.

Really top notch guiding from Anthony - we had a wonderful Leopard sighting. He was really good at sensing what we were most interested in and adapting, particularly pointing out amazing birds and wildflowers too. Really outstanding. Absolutely fantastic sundowner set up with other interesting guests from camp around a camp fire, a definite highlight.

Beautifully appointed tents, and very friendly staff. We enjoyed a dip in the pool after lunch, which overlooks the river. It would be amazing to be there during the migration." See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Eland

3 sightings

Elephant

3 sightings

Giraffe

2 sightings

Hippo

4 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Wildebeest

5 sightings

Zebra

5 sightings

Mr B.
Colorado

"Magical location"

4 nights Arrived 12 Feb 2021
"Sand River Camp was the culmination of 3 of the Elewana collection, and by far the most spectacular. We were completely stunned by the room and the area. It was by far the most wonderful vacation stay we have ever had. Words do not describe this amazing place. we watched elephants and baboons from our deck overlooking the sand river, and were aware of the elephants that wandered through camp at night. it was like being Robinson Caruso. The staff was outstanding and we regretted that we were not able to tip more than we did, they truly deserved far more than we were able to leave, we felt that thankful and impressed. Joel was our driver and he was great. From the airport on we saw amazing things. A leopard in a tree was our first sighting and it went on from there. we were even graced with a little Valentine day loving lion style on Valentine's day. It was great." 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

10 sightings

Cheetah

2 sightings

Eland

5 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

5 sightings

Lion

7 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

6 sightings

Scotty
Scotland

"Africa's beating heart"

3 nights Arrived 12 Oct 2019
"While it is hard to rate the camps i visited in order of preference this one sneaks to the top" See all these reviews: 14n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Sightings Report

Buffalo

8 sightings

Eland

8 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

2 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Lion

6 sightings

Spotted Hyena

3 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Showing 1-6 of 6
97%
6 reviews of Sand River Camp by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
5
1
0
0
0
Filter by month

Holiday styles & special interests in Kenya

From birdwatching breaks to walking holidays, find great ideas for your trip in Kenya.


Beach holidays

Beach holidays

Discover Africa's coast and tropical islands.

Birdwatching

Birdwatching

Diverse habitats, discreet hides and superb guiding.

Cultural experiences

Cultural experiences

Get an insight into Africa's cultures and history.

Family holidays

Family holidays

Hand-picked camps for an incredible family safari.

Honeymoons

Honeymoons

Romantic safaris and castaway island retreats.

Luxury

Luxury

First-class service, scenic vistas and unparalleled comfort await you during these carefully selected luxury holidays. 

Photography holidays

Photography holidays

Great holidays to suit the keen photographer.

Private villas & houses

Private villas & houses

Enjoy Africa with just your friends & family

Riding holidays

Riding holidays

Explore Africa's wilderness on horseback.

Solo Travel

Solo Travel

Trip ideas ideally suited for a solo traveller.

Walking

Walking

Explore Africa's most scenic trails on foot.

Walking safaris

Walking safaris

Explore Africa's untouched wildernesses on foot.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing

Wellness escapes in stunning locations

Wildlife safaris

Wildlife safaris

These trips include hard-hitting game and fascinatingly elusive species alike, as well as superb guiding and a variety of diverse ecosystems.

Other lodges in Maasai Mara National Reserve

Alternative places to stay in this same area.


Little Governors' Camp

Little Governors'

Little Governors’ Camp sits by a swamp (an old oxbow of the Mara River) in the Mara Triangle sector of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. It has its own balloon-launching site.


95% (30 reviews)
Rekero

Rekero

Rekero is an unpretentious, high-end safari camp, for travellers who take their wildlife watching seriously and are prepared to pay for an exceptional location.


98% (28 reviews)
Tangulia Mara

Tangulia Mara

Tangulia Mara is a rustic and traditional safari camp on the border of the Maasai Mara National Reserve owned by Jackson Looseyia of Big Cat Diary fame.


99% (14 reviews)
Governors' Camp

Governors' Camp

Governors' Camp is a large tented camp on the Mara River and one of the oldest in the Mara region, dating from 1972. Although unfenced, and regularly visited by elephants, the whole compound is always busy with human activity.


96% (11 reviews)
Serian Nkorombo

Serian Nkorombo

Serian Nkorombo is a luxury bush camp in the Musiara sector of the Maasai Mara National Reserve on the east side of the Mara River.


100% (7 reviews)
Sala's Camp

Sala's Camp

Sala’s Camp is a comfortable and intimate tented camp, with seven tented rooms, located on the banks of the Sand River, in the far south of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


96% (5 reviews)
Governors' Il Moran Camp

Governors' Il Moran

The smallest and most expensive of the three camps in the Governors’ group, Governors’ Il Moran Camp hugs a meander of the Mara River just 1km north of the main Governors’ Camp.


95% (4 reviews)
Angama Mara

Angama Mara

Angama Mara is a top-end luxury tented camp on the Siria-Oloololo escarpment of the Maasai Mara ecoystem, just above the Mara Triangle sector of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


100% (2 reviews)
Mara Ngenche Safari Camp

Ngenche Safari Camp

Mara Ngenche is a non-hosted, luxury tented camp with an antique style, which is perfect if you're looking for private dining while staying somewhere small and personal.


90% (2 reviews)
Mara Expedition Camp

Mara Expedition Camp

Mara Expedition Camp is a small luxury camp located in a slightly elevated area of bush and woodland, just outside the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


100% (2 reviews)
Basecamp Maasai Mara

Basecamp Maasai Mara

Basecamp Maasai Mara is a family-friendly, award-winning eco-camp on a U-bend on the north bank of the Talek River, on the boundary of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


70% (2 reviews)
Ilkeliani Camp

Ilkeliani Camp

Ilkeliani Camp is a smart elegant camp overlooking the Talek River, on the edge of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


100% (2 reviews)
Tipilikwani Mara Camp

Tipilikwani Camp

Tipilikwani Mara Camp is a larger, mid-range tented camp offering good value from its base on the Talek River just outside the Mara National Reserve.


100% (1 review)
Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Mara Serena Safari Lodge is a large safari hotel with views of the Mara River, in the Mara Triangle sector of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.


No reviews yet
Mara Explorer Camp

Mara Explorer Camp

Mara Explorer is a smart tented camp is in a scenic location on a bend in the Talek River.


No reviews yet
Governors' Private Camp

Governors' Private Camp

Located on a secluded bend of the Mara River, Governor’s Private Camp has just eight tents and is booked on an exclusive basis.


No reviews yet
Entim Camp

Entim Camp

Entim Camp is well located in the heart of the Mara National Reserve, offering traditionally styled tented accommodation.


No reviews yet
Naibor Camp

Naibor Camp

Naibor has a great location in the Mara reserve, and offers accommodation to suit different budgets, with stylish high-end tents and some simpler ones too.


No reviews yet
Ishara

Ishara

Ishara is a highly luxurious safari camp in the Maasai Mara, located on the Talek River, which is one of the best areas in Kenya for wildlife.


No reviews yet

Login to Expert Africa

Sign in with password

Sign in with email link


New to Expert Africa? Create an account

Forgotten your details?

It's free & quick to set up

  • Save your wish-list
  • Send us an enquiry
  • Pay online for your trip
  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Give us feedback on your trip
  • Full site benefits of the site

Need some help? Talk to our team

Newsletter background

Stay in the know with Expert Africa

Join our newsletter. Get the latest on new camps and lodges, insights from our team, uplifting conservation stories and more...

A few more details and you're subscribed

Thanks!

Almost there! We've sent you an email to confirm your subscription. Just click on the link and you'll soon be receiving our newsletter in your inbox.

In the meantime, take a look at our previous Bush Telegraph newsletters.
Africa