The Mara doesn’t whisper; it roars, trumpets and, at dusk, falls beautifully quiet. Ilora Retreats sits in the central part of the Masai Mara National Reserve, north of the Talek River, where the game country is among the richest in East Africa and sightings are shared with only a handful of vehicles. Here, lions laze in the grass, a resident leopard slips through the woodland behind camp and, during the Great Migration, the main river crossings are close by. Fourteen tented suites, private game drives with Maasai guides who grew up on this land, and a kitchen that cooks whatever you fancy: this is the wild, made wonderfully personal. Come for the wildlife; stay for the stillness.
Ilora was built by award-winning wildlife photographer Alankar Chandra, who spent twenty years photographing this landscape before building a single thing in it. Less than 5% of its 30 acres carries any structure, the rest is left as natural bushland, and the camp runs entirely on solar power, with purified water at every tap and no single-use plastic. It treads lightly, framed by a landscape that never stops performing.
Day visitors from the southern gates rarely make it this far, which is exactly the point: sightings are shared with four or five vehicles, not twenty. Expansive savannah, dramatic skies and extraordinary light, with cheetahs chasing the wind across the open plains, make it a dream for photographers and wanderers alike. And arriving is easy: Olkiombo airstrip is about ten minutes by road, a 45-minute flight from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.
There is no set menu at Ilora, only appetite. Eight chefs cook across six cuisines from a book of more than 600 dishes, shaped to your taste, with bread baked in camp, ice cream made on site and much of the produce picked that same morning from the camp’s own farm. Dine in the restaurant, on the Sky Deck, or out in the bush beneath a sky crowded with stars.
At Ilora, every day ends differently. Stargaze through telescopes under some of the darkest skies on earth, watch a film beneath the stars at the open-air cinema, or gather round the bonfire for stories from the guides. Sit for a portrait with the resident photographer, make beadwork with Maasai women, or lose yourself in a bush sound bath. Birdwatchers can tick off some of the Mara’s 470-plus species, and young explorers can join the Junior Rangers. And through it all, a largely Maasai team of around fifty looks after thirty-five guests, and their warmth is what visitors mention most.
Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Masai Mara - Kenya
(Direct booking)
or
(Usually reply within 24 hours)
© 2020 HIP Media Group Limited All Rights Reserved.
