Mara Plains Camp: safari chic in Kenya’s Maasai Mara

By Roxanne Reid
You’re on safari in the Maasai Mara. You’ve already seen lions, elephants, wildebeest and zebra on your way to camp. Your head is buzzing and your pulse racing. Now relax, submit to the unruffled safari chic, the friendly warmth of Kenya’s Mara Plains Camp.

Pretend you’re an explorer-adventurer as you cross a wood-and-rope suspension bridge over the river to get to the camp. Walk up a small slope and mount the stairs to the main area; the view of the open Mara plains will unfold before you, disrupted only by a lone acacia. It’s a classic Kenyan view and one you’ll remember long after you’ve returned home.

​Here at Mara Plains Camp, you can sink into a comfy leather couch in the lounge, browse a library stuffed with books about natural history, or enjoy lunch with a view from the wide deck that overlooks the plains. 

For dinner on our first night we had a table for two near the fire pit on the lawn and a honeymoon couple had the library to themselves. It’s part of a plan to make each meal special, different, memorable.

With a huge reception area and just seven tents, the vibe could have spilled over into exaggerated extravagance, but it doesn’t. It’s quietly classy without flaunting its assets, almost as though the camp knows not to try to rival the lustre of the Mara plains and the wealth of its wildlife.

​Mara Plains Camp is one of only five camps in the 14 000-hectare Olare Motorogi Conservancy, with easy access to another 152 000 hectares of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Great Plains Conservation and the other camps lease the conservancy from the Maasai; together with conservation fees, this gives some 1000 local families an income and ensures the protection of its wildlife.

The camp is built on raised decks for low impact on its surroundings, and you’ll look in vain for cement or bricks. All the canvas, wood and cables could be whisked away and nature would reclaim the space within a month or two. 

Our tented home
To get to our tent, we walked along a path where birds fluttered in the bushes. The tent was enormous, with a king-size bed, red rugs, brown leather armchairs and writing desk, old chests as coffee and bedside tables, and a folding steamer chest for a wardrobe – all authentic old pieces that have been refurbished. Manager Ben Porter mentioned a woman who used to go on safari in the early 20th century, with porters lugging a vast battery of bags and kit, thought to be the source of some of the travelling boxes in camp.

​A bathroom with a view had huge mirrors reflecting the light. It was open plan but with a curtain you could pull across for privacy. Copper basins, a free-standing copper bath and a carved Arabian-style door from the island of Lamu to support the brass and copper shower pipes all added to the sense of old-fashioned grace.

​Although the effect was of understated luxury, a lot of thought and work went into details like long rows of beads as curtain tiebacks, leather and beaded cushions, the cotton-lined tent canopy, insect netting on all tent flaps so you could still enjoy the view and the light. I loved that, because I hate a gloomy tent. 

Surrounded by riverine forest, our tent had an expansive deck of recycled railway sleepers overlooking the Ntiaktiak River in front and, to the right, the plains beyond. It was such a special space that we blew off the afternoon game drive on our second day just to submit to its spell. 

​I chilled in a safari chair listening to the breeze rustle the leaves, birds chirp and trill, hippos snort and snuffle in the river below. From the plains came the grunts of wildebeest as a counterpoint to the tuba-notes of hippos.

Romantic private dinner 
On our last night we enjoyed a romantic private dinner on our deck, a joyous surprise. A fire pit flickered, paraffin lamps and candles shed a golden glow, and spotted hyenas serenaded us from the plains.