Maasai Mara Safaris & Game Drives

Wildlife at Every Turn

A game drive into the Mara Triangle is at the heart of your safari holiday. Shortly after leaving the lodge, you’re in vast grasslands dotted with acacias, surrounded by more animals than you can imagine: from Africa’s Big Five — lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo — to the massive herds of the Great Migration.

The question is often asked, ‘When is the best time to visit the Mara?’ To be truthful, there is not one correct answer, as safari travellers to the Mara are assured of astonishing and abundant wildlife sightings all year round. For guests wanting to experience the Great Migration and the dramatic crossings of the Mara River, July through September or October are the best months to visit. Others prefer a gentler time with fewer visitors and to have the Mara all to themselves — together with the numerous resident herds which quite rightly do not deem it necessary to leave this beautiful reserve by embarking on the annual trek to Tanzania.

What to Expect

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The word safari means ‘a journey’ in Swahili — our safaris happen in one of Africa’s most iconic, year-round Big Five destinations — the Mara Triangle

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Our safari vehicles seat up to six guests, with comfy seats, ample legroom, charging stations and canvas roofs for respite from the sun

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Thanks to Angama Mara’s private access road down into the exclusive Triangle, you are in the heart of the action in under 20 minutes

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Angama Safari Camp offers extended game drives in the Mara Triangle — from before sunrise to after sunset — meaning a head start for the best position at crossing sites during the Migration

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From sunrise to sunset, there are no constraints as to when you can go on a game drive at Angama

A Drive at Dawn

There’s nothing like waking up with the birds and animals, the day fresh before you. Leave the lodge at dawn and get back in time for a late breakfast or brunch. Or take a picnic breakfast with you to have under an obliging tree with the morning light spread out around you — and be back in time for lunch.

Late-Morning Drive

Fancy a lie-in? Do that, then go out for a lazy late-morning drive, without worrying about coming back for lunch — that will happen in a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere. With its endless grasslands and sweeping horizons and dappled forests, the Maasai Mara is medicine for the soul.

Golden Afternoons

Your afternoon safari is a post-lunch game drive. This is the ‘golden hour’ as the sun dips towards the west, and the shadows lengthen across the plains making for incredible photography. Return in time for sundowners in the Boma or on the baraza.

All-Day Safari

An all-time favourite is the full-day, double-picnic safari exploring the far corners of the Mara Triangle. Drive all the way down to the Tanzanian border for your picnic breakfast in the savannah, then take lunch under a desert date along the escarpment. This is one of the loveliest game drives of all, as you watch the landscape change along the way.

On Safari in the Mara Triangle

Angama’s experienced guides make every effort to deliver life-changing wildlife adventures for their guests, be it for first timers, birding enthusiasts, photographers of all skill levels, or safari devotees whose great joy is just to simply be amongst Africa’s creatures, both great and small.

The Mara Triangle is also home to more than 470 bird species, including almost 60 raptors such as vultures and martial eagles. Surely the loveliest of them all has to be the graceful crowned crane, always found in pairs, together with secretary birds, lilac-breasted rollers, long-crested eagles, superb starlings, pygmy falcons and endangered ground hornbills to name just a few.

Mara Wildlife Spectacular

It is in the Maasai Mara that you can truly hear the call of the wild. Renowned for its lion prides, the Mara is also home to the other members of Africa’s Big Five — leopard, elephant, buffalo and black rhino — which can be seen together with hyena, cheetah and bat-eared fox. The Mara River churns with numerous pods of hippo and some of Africa’s largest crocodiles. Everywhere there are photographic opportunities: topi perched on anthills, Maasai giraffe moving gracefully across the plains, and gazelles grazing peacefully amongst Coke’s hartebeest, impala and herds of lovely eland, Africa’s largest antelope.

The Great Migration Is Just That

It’s the largest land-based animal migration on Earth: more than a million wildebeest and 200,000 zebras in a year-long cycle en masse in search of nutritious grasses that grow after the rains — to the delight of the Mara’s hungry predators: lion, leopard, cheetah and massive crocodiles.

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July into October are the best months to see the Migration

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Angama Mara is just 45 minutes from the main crossing point, so you’re sure to be one of the first in position for the dramatic Mara River crossings

Life All Year Round

Regardless of when you visit in the year, expect a plethora of creatures large and small — and the unexpected.

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The famed Big Five can be seen all year round, with lion pride sagas keeping everyone wondering what will happen next

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There’s another migration: from November to April, birds from Europe and North Africa arrive for African summer, many flamboyant in mating plumage

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From February to May, the sights of newborns and fluffy youngsters are spectacular

Bonus Night

Stay 4, Pay 3

Our Best Offer

Stay longer with us: book three nights and receive a fourth night free at Angama Mara anytime from January through June, or October to the Festive Season.

4 Nights, 5 Days
From USD $1,238 nightly, per guest
Validity period and Ts&Cs apply

Rates:	2024	2025
Standard Season 5 Jan – 31 May 2024 1 Oct – 22 Dec 2024 5 Jan – 30 June 2025 1 Oct – 22 Dec 2025	USD $1,238	USD $1,331

Safari Guides

Angama’s guides are intuitive storytellers, interpreting the Mara in a way that immerses our guests in their surroundings. All members of the guiding team have a Bronze certification from the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association and five of them have completed their Silver certificate. During your game drives, your guide will delight you with their knowledge and stories while learning more about your interests to customise your safari experience.

Game Drive Times And Details

Game drives are crafted around the guest: where they have been; what they have seen; what their great passions are; what they would like to do and when they would like to do it; and for how long they would like to be on a game drive at any one time — and game drives are structured accordingly. There’s always food and drink, so you never have to worry about going hungry on a drive!

Private Vehicles

All game drives have a maximum of six guests (two per row) per vehicle — other than families or groups where we can accommodate up to nine guests per vehicle. Should you prefer, private safari vehicles can be booked in advance for half or full days. Please request rates when making an enquiry.

Game-Viewing Vehicles

Drives are in completely open game-viewing vehicles to which the animals are well accustomed — the vehicles are specially equipped and converted, offering comfy seats, ample legroom, charging stations and canvas roofs for respite from the sun or flaps that can be let down if it rains.

Above: A hot-air balloon floats peacefully over the chaos

James Tyrrell | 22 March 2022

This Is Africa at Its Very Finest

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Liz Morris | 12 April 2021

Field Notes from a First Time Visitor

You reach the gate to the Mara Triangle with the anticipation of a novice rollercoaster rider. The approach itself has been eventful, winding through the…