Ol Seki Mara Camp
Location - in eastern part of Koiyaki community area, north of Mara GR
Accommodation - 6 standard tents and 2 huge new suites
Experience - stylish seasonal tented camp
Price Guide - $580 - 730 pppn
Ol Seki is immediately striking, with its white circular and immaculately designed canvas tents, set on a low ridge at the northern end of the Mara Conservation Area. However, the picture of Ol Seki is incomplete without including the owner, Sue Allen who is the heart of this very unusual camp. When you hear that Ol Seki is the product of one man's creativity - Jan Allen, Sue's son - it explains how, despite its Conde Naste appearance, Ol Seki manages to have such a welcoming and down to earth feeling. Read more?
Ol Seki is set in the eastern part of the Koiyaki conservation area, an area populated with Maasai, but also home to good game, particularly when the Loita migration comes in from the north east. Between June and July the Aitong plains to the north and west team with migrating wildebeest and Zebra and, of course, numerous predators. For the rest of the year, resident game is ever present, although not in such large numbers as in the Mara National Reserve.
Don't be mislead by the amazing photos of Ol Seki into thinking it's a spa hotel, this is a wonderful bush home where Sue lives for the most part of the year, so there's a good chance she'll be around when you visit. As well as being an excellent place to come for game viewing, Ol Seki is a great place to kick back and enjoy just being in the bush. Kenyan families like the Allens have been living like this for generations, so there is an unselfconscious competence to the way that they do things.
This is still a seasonal camp and as such retains the 'mobile feel' that permanent camps can quickly lose. Decoration, though beautiful, feels natural and uncontrived - in many ways this defines what the Kenyan safari experience is about. Few other countries manage this easy style. While you're here, you might like to take a short walk from camp - more of a leg stretcher than a game experience, then finish up with a drink watching the sun set and the stars come out. The pace here is relaxed, the team are fantastic and, although a management couple will normally handle the day to day, if you get the chance to meet Sue you'll find her wonderfully self deprecating for someone who has done safari proper for most of her life (she recently crossed the Sahara) and is easy and very amusing to be with.
As well as the six spacious standard tents, Ol Seki has recently added two large 'suite tents', perfect for families in particular or even two couples travelling together. Each of these suites has two Nina sleeping tents (each with both a double and single bed) with their own ensuite bathrooms, joined together by a shared sitting and dining area where the group can retain complete privacy within the camp.
Location - Maasai Mara Conservation Area
The Mara Conservation Area surrounds the main Maasai Mara National Reserve. This land is owned by a series of different Masai communities and differs from the main reserve in a couple of important ways.
First, the masai to whom this is home are allowed to use this area to graze their cattle. Second, because it lies outside the main reserve, walking is allowed in this area.
While many of the camps located here - the likes of Kicheche Mara Camp, Ol Seki Mara Camp, Richards Camp and Elephant Pepper Camp are within relatively easy reach of the main reserve, we would council against using this area simply as a dormitory for visiting the main park.
Like Loliondo in northern Tanzania the Conservation Area really offers another side of the Mara ecosystem. It's probably worth recognising that the game viewing may not be quite on the scale of the main park - and that for the major river crossings you'll need to visit to make the journey. However, in our experience, game viewing here rarely disappoints and the added dimension of the Masai involvement makes this an excellent place to spend a few days. Jump to page?
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