Food – Kenyan Cuisine & Safari Food at Angama Mara

What to Expect

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We serve ‘classical safari food’ — simple yet delicious, fresh and filling, with more than a nod to local Kenyan cuisine (and a bit of Yotam Ottolenghi)

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Our menu changes every day and is always à la carte. Not a buffet in sight. And the best freshly baked bread on safari — anywhere!

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We cater to just about all dietaries: vegan, vegetarian, celiac, religious and cultural

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For those interested in tasting some of our team’s favourite foods, you’ll enjoy our Kenyan platter: nyama choma, ugali and kachumbari

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If you’re peckish between meals, there’s always a stash of Maasai honey biscuits in your Tented Suite and a variety of ‘bitings’ (a lovely East African word for snacks) in the evenings — samosas, chicken skewers, crudité and crisps

Eat Where and When You Like

There’s no lack of food and no shortage of places to dine either, from your Tented Suite to out and about in the Mara Triangle.

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In-tent breakfast on your deck, at the lodge, or a picnic in the Mara Triangle amongst the herds

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Amble over to the Guest Area for brunch, lunch or tea — or have it pool-side at the Pavilion

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Enjoy dinner in a lantern-lit forest, on the baraza overlooking the Mara, in the Library, or a candlelit meal in your Tented Suite

Safari Picnic

Nothing can compete with a picnic in the middle of nowhere, served under a lone tree on the short-grass plains of the Maasai Mara with only giraffe, elephant and buffalo as your dining companions.

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Enjoy your specially-packed tiffin box filled with freshly-made breakfast along with passionfruit lemonade, coffee or tea

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Taking a picnic with you allows you to stay out longer and drive further, you could even do a breakfast and lunch picnic

Shamba-to-Table

Pick your own salad vegetables from our beautiful one-acre kitchen garden. Served along with crusty bread, local cheese, chilled rosé and the Mara as a backdrop — what could be better?

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The Shamba Keeper will walk through and explain the wealth of produce around you

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Pick and taste along the way: a sprig of mint, tomatoes and more

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The Shamba is also the perfect location for sundowner drinks and bitings

Out of Africa Picnic

Out of Africa was filmed on the same site where Angama Mara now stands, the lodge offers intimate private picnics for two on the Out of Africa kopje. The setup is the ideal setting for your own romance story.

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Ideal for two, these picnics can be set up for a maximum of four guests

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The kopje is reached by taking a short walk up the hill, escorted by a Guide

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Picnics can be enjoyed any time of day — breakfast, lunch or just before sunset

Eat Local

Kenyan cuisine is deeply influenced by Arab-inspired Swahili dishes from the coast and Indian food, from the significant community that has called this country home for many generations. In turn, we are inspired by and create our meals from the finest ingredients from all over Kenya.

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Beautiful vegetables from the highlands

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Tropical fruits a-plenty from the coast

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Prawns from Malindi

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Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria

Forest BBQ

Angama Mara’s signature family-style barbeque is where chefs grill to perfection fat juicy steaks, prawns or Swahili-spiced kuku (chicken is Kenya’s most-loved dish) and our famous bread cooked on sticks. In a lovely forest near the lodge, lit with lanterns and serenaded by a hyena chorus, it’s ‘out there’, it’s relaxed and most of all, delicious.

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The Forest BBQ location is just a few minutes’ drive from the lodge

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Guests dine family-style at long, wooden tables, off enamel plates with dishcloths for napkins

Out of an African Kitchen

As so many guests request recipes, it seemed much simpler just to publish a cookery book, featuring Angama’s best-loved dishes. Drawing inspiration from that beautiful movie, Out of Africa, Out of an African Kitchen celebrates our lodge, our chefs, our guests, our setting overlooking the beautiful Maasai Mara and the stories that bind us. It is also a quirky anthology of reminiscences, anecdotes and stories from a bush kitchen set high up on the edge of the Great Rift Valley.

Our Chefs

It is a daunting challenge to prepare food in the middle of nowhere, for guests who come from all four corners of the world, different culinary cultures and who, quite rightly, expect the best of the best when it comes to choosing where to stay on their next holiday. In creating our ‘classical safari food’, our chefs are inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi, chef, restauranteur and food writer – known at Angama as Chef O, but also the wonderful flavours of Kenyan cuisine and produce sourced from across the country.

What Are Your Requirements?

Gluten free? Easy. Vegan? No problem. Low sodium, kosher, no garlic, Chinese, food allergies, Halaal and food preferences are all in a day’s work. The children only like fish fingers. Done. Soy milk, almond milk? In the pantry. Nearly a third of our menu is vegetarian, for those who can’t get enough of the abundant fruits and vegetables Kenya has to offer.

Kosher Food and Preparation

For our kosher guests, Angama Mara has a small kosher stand-alone kitchen which is completely separate to the lodge kitchen and is fully equipped with everything needed for the preparation of kosher meals. This includes kosher crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, pots and pans, charcoal grill, cooking top, refrigeration and washing-up facilities. The kitchen is kept locked at all times other than when in use for kosher guests or by a kosher chef. The kosher kitchen can prepare meals for up to 12 guests.

A Menu for Children

When it comes to family safaris, we cater for our young guests by offering children’s menus, along with gastronomic adventures. Children can be a ‘Baker for a Day’ in the Angama Mara kitchen, where they’ll learn how to make something delicious for the rest of the family.