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Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

Saruni Camp

This is our "go to" lodge in the Mara for some of the wetter months of the year due to its permanent structured rooms. We love its small size, large permanent rooms and remote location.  — Mango's view

Saruni is a new, deluxe and intimate lodge set in a private conservation area outside the Masai Mara National Reserve, the most famous game park in Africa. With accommodation for only 12 guests in six spectacular cottages, it is set in a remote valley at the heart of the most exciting wilderness of Kenya. Saruni offers a new concept of African safari: a real African adventure lived in harmony with the Maasai warriors coupled with high standards of style and comfort.

Designed and built by Kenyan architect Mark Glen, Saruni has 6 large cottages, where one can experience both the elegance and safety of a permanent accommodation with the thrill of sleeping in close contact with nature. The rooms are furnished with colonial antiques, Persian carpets and African art. The atmosphere at the camp is informal but elegant. Each cottage has hot and cold running water, 220 volt electricity, elegant Italian bathroom fittings, polished wooden floors, and large bathrooms where the canvas front can be totally open to offer you an amazing "shower with a view." Décor is unique for each cottage and from the large verandahs one enjoys a unique view of the Mara plains and can watch the many wild animals that come to the waterhole. Your safari actually starts on the massive cedar beds, from where you can see in total privacy elephant, leopard, waterbuck, bushbuck and impala traversing freely and peacefully on the grounds of the camp.

Karo House is the common dining area and is a mixture of old-fashioned Africa and modern design. Its huge fireplace is the focal point of life at Saruni and it is here that guests exchange memories of the day's safaris. While reminiscing, you can start to savor the exceptional cuisine that is served around the long table and uses fresh, locally grown and organic produce in inventive ways. Alternatively meals can be taken in the bush among the wild animals, with birdsong and animal calls as a backdrop. By separate arrangement a candlelight dinner can be served on your own verandah.

A unique feature of Saruni is its collection of books and its library, the most beautiful in the African bush. With thousands of rare books and its very private location, Saruni's library is a place to meditate, to rest, to think.

For your safari, Saruni uses comfortable, fully-open Land Rovers, specially designed to give guests maximum visibility over the landscape and the animals. On foot safari guests walk on the plains and in the mountains and hills that surround Saruni. Saruni boasts some of the most knowledgeable and qualified guides in Kenya who will not only take you to the famous spots but also to the secret corners where you never meet another vehicle. It is the Masai Mara without the minibuses, as the first hunters and explorers discovered it.

Includes: All meals, soft drinks, beer & house wine, one massage per cottage, laundry & safari activities