The Camp

Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya
Number of Tents: 10

Important Note: Though this property is Distinctive in nature, it is Premier in pricing.

Cottar's 1920s Safari Camp lies within the Greater Maasai Mara, home to the largest concentration of terrestrial wildlife on earth. Recalling an era of rustic luxury and sophistication, nostalgic Cottar's evokes the original spirit of 'safari.' Ten authentic white canvas tents provide distinctive accommodations, including five double tents, one unique honeymoon suite and four family tents with fireplaces. All have private dressing rooms, verandas and en suite bathroom facilities with old-fashioned showers and flush toilets. Each tent, and the camp’s main areas, are furnished with original safari antiques from the 1920s, featuring period details such as dark wood furniture, canvas director’s chairs, oriental rugs, steamer trunks, old pictures, kerosene lanterns and a gramophone. Dining under canvas at the elegantly dressed table is a highlight. For a touch of indulgence in the bush, a full-time masseuse offers complimentary massage, manicures and pedicures.

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Facilities & Amenities

• En suite bathroom with shower
• Fireplace in the family tents
• 220v charging outlets in room
• Central pool
• Massage treatments (extra cost)
• Wi-Fi in main area
• Laundry included
• Local drinks included (house alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks)
• Credit cards accepted (Visa and MasterCard)

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Wildlife Viewing & Activities

While the Mara has the reputation of being over-congested with tourism, Cottar's Camp provides a glorious exception. Set in a quarter-million-acre private concession between the Maasai Mara, Serengeti and Loliondo reserves, the camp offers a rare encounter with the African wilderness—no mini-buses congregating around animals, no hot air balloons or low-flying aircraft disturbing the silence. The only other people in the area are a few members of the Purko Maasai clan. Cottar's guests enjoy privileges not available in the national parks: off-road driving (with very few vehicles, ecological damage is not an issue), night drives and bush walks with armed guides. Boundless game is the norm on safari, and each day holds a new discovery: track a rhino on foot with an Ndorobo tracker, sit quietly observing a pride of lions, or delight in the antics of infant cheetah cubs. Cottar's guides are the best in Kenya: of the 15 gold-level nationally certified guides, three work at Cottar's, with 2 additional silver-level guides.

The Maasai Mara is home to an abundance of resident wildlife year-round. The great migration of nearly two million wildebeest and zebra is at its peak between late July and early October, while the local Loita wildebeest migration typically arrives in June. Other typical sightings may include a number of antelopes, endemic birds and reptiles. Exact sightings will depend on rain patterns and wildlife movements.

Click here to view our Great Migration Map

Climate

Conservation

Cottar's Camp is situated in a private conservancy adjacent to Serengeti National Park and the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Olderikesi Group Ranch. The immense ranch owned by the Maasai is co-managed by Cottar's, which holds exclusive tourism rights, with the intent of keeping the land in a pristine state. The high-altitude rolling savanna is unbroken by fences or manmade structures for hundreds of miles, with endemic wildlife that has never been trans-located or manipulated by humans. Because of the untouched nature of this environment, Cottar's has one of the highest success rates of Big Five sightings in Kenya. The southeast sector of the Mara where Cottar's is situated holds the most vegetation for permanent wildlife in the entire ecosystem, attracting browsers such as giraffe and buffalo, which don’t migrate like grazers such as zebra and wildebeest, which travel annually to the Serengeti in search of new grass.

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