Mara North Conservancy

Mara North Conservancy is a 74,000-acre private wildlife conservancy directly north of the Masai Mara National Reserve, owned by approximately 800 Maasai landowners who receive monthly lease payments funded by tourism revenue. This pioneering community-conservancy model limits the number of beds to approximately 12 per 1,000 acres, ensuring exceptionally low visitor densities that make game drives feel like private wilderness experiences. The conservancy's open grassland and scattered acacia woodland support resident populations of lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, buffalo, and giraffe year-round. During the Great Migration (July-October), the herds pass through Mara North en route to and from the Mara River, and the conservancy's flexible driving rules — off-road permitted, no vehicle time limits at sightings — allow for intimate, unhurried wildlife photography that is not possible within the national reserve. Night drives reveal nocturnal species including aardvark, genet, bush baby, and African wildcat. Walking safaris with Maasai guides add a cultural dimension, traversing the same landscape their families have inhabited for generations.