Olumara Camp

The Olare Orok River winds along the northern edge of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in the Aitong area, forming the natural boundary between the national reserve and the Mara North Conservancy — a community-owned wildlife area whose private land tenure permits night game drives and activities unavailable inside the reserve proper. The river corridor here is productive, intimate, and far less trafficked than the busier routes near Talek and Sekenani gates. Elephant come to the river at dusk. Leopard use the fig trees along the bank. The Mara plains begin immediately south of the waterway and the conservancy grassland opens to the north — a camp positioned here sits between two of the ecosystem’s most distinct wildlife habitats simultaneously.

Olumara Camp was designed from the outset to belong to this specific place rather than impose on it. During construction, not a single tree was cleared — the tents were placed around the existing forest, and the camp’s elevated position on the higher riverbank was accessed by a rope suspension bridge across the Olare Orok, an entrance that has become the camp’s most immediately memorable feature. The tents sit in the shadow of the canopy, cooled and screened by the indigenous forest, with extended balconies that face the river and the bush beyond.

Inside the tents, the beds are hand-carved from fallen trees — a design choice that, like the suspension bridge, reflects a camp whose builders spent time in the landscape before building in it. The interiors are functional and well-kept, with hot and cold shower, flush toilet, dressing area, and mirror. The unfenced camp means wildlife — elephant, buffalo, and smaller species — moves through the grounds at night; the sounds of the Olare Orok and its resident hippos provide the camp’s ambient soundtrack through the hours of darkness.

The camp is 5.6 km from the Maasai Mara National Reserve’s centre and 18 km from Ol Kiombo Airstrip, making it accessible on both fly-in and drive-in itineraries. Day game drives enter the main reserve; night drives operate in the adjacent Mara North Conservancy. The camp has developed a specific reputation among wildlife photographers for the quality of light along the river, the leopard activity in the riverine trees, and the uncrowded game-viewing conditions in the conservancy.