Mara Nyika

“Nyika” means “Large Plains or Great Plains” and as such Mara Nyika is the perfect sister camp to Mara Plains in Kenya. It rings with the romance of the vast open plains of East Africa from a time when light canvas flapped in the light breeze across those plains as wildebeest and zebras call to each other and at twilight, “simba”, the great lions roar across the Nyika.

“I spent over three years circling the site of the camp, identifying one site and then another, looking for light or noise pollution and finally settling on a very special place. One where each time we visited we saw a male leopard or a lioness and cubs. A site where no one else will see our lights or canvas. A safari is about creating a story, an ideal dream and we want to create our own without eroding someone else’s.”

Typical of the Maasai Mara’s ancient Nyika are the flat-topped Acacia kirkii trees. The Dereck Joubert designed guest tents take advantage of these umbrella thorn tree’s shade. Whilst the camp is in a valley, actually straddling a small stream, the light-coloured canvas tents are set up high under the tree’s canopy to be offer guests awe inspiring views out over the bush.

Many may think of Mara Nyika as a tree top camp, with the walkways from tent to the main area giving a feel of a tree house under canvas but the camp’s ethic and inspiration is still one of exploration and adventure – a sense of impermanence in this ever-changing world.    

Privacy in this camp is the key to understanding it. Privacy to live, think, explore, be romantic and be pampered – all the while with one of the most spectacular backdrops Africa can provide.    

Mara Nyika is unique in that it allows guests to explore the private and exclusive 50 000-acre Naboisho Conservancy in which it is located and further afield with safari drives into the Maasai Mara Reserve. Guest’s stay enables us supporting over 500 Maasai families with a sustainable livelihood through the payment of conservation fees and which ultimately ensures the conservation of the wildlife in this vital corridor of the Maasai Mara eco-system.

Many of our guests would spend a few days in Mara Nyika combined with a stay at either our Mara Expedition or Mara Plains Camp to get exposure to all three wildlife areas, namely the private Olare Motorogi and Naboisho Conservancies and Maasai Mara Reserve. Each wildlife experience from our camps is unique and thus offers different faces of the Mara which is an unbelievable bonus.