Exceed our expectations – Our recent stay with “the Amani family” was one of the most humbling experiences we have had.
This camp has been created with the utmost respect for the Mara… read more and the environment whilst providing a luxurious base to take in the sounds and scenery after a long game drive.
The family is amazing, Sam and Sully are very knowledgeable and have a great welcoming friendly team.
The lodges have been creatively designed and furnished beautifully.
We are so glad we stayed here and can’t wait to return again, hopefully for longer next time!
The planting of a tree is a great touch, I left the camp with a very emotional connection to nature.
Thank you!

  Wild & wonderful!  – Beautiful place! Away from everything & yet we have everything we need! Stunning vista of the mara in the lounge. So wild, such a diff experience! The staff is great,… read more the food is amazing, even the warm roll of bread is yummy! Kudos to their chef! The dinner under the night sky w/ fire & Maasai dance, so wonderful! Shem, thank you so much for always attending to us & providing my food request!
It’s really a family-owned place, cozy & comforting! Samad & Soheil, pls keep it up!

  Lovely wild  – My goodness location is ideal position to hide from the noisy world.
Here is total silence and serenity.Hippos,jackals,lions make the base choir and the numerous bird species lights up… read more Lovely location for even honeymooners and you will enjoy.
Food is a la carte but excellent.You are spoilt for a choice.Picnic lunch box is out of this world.Rooms nice and great staff.

  Lo-ve-ly!! ❤️ 🦒 🐘 🦁 🦛 – We had the good fortune of staying here for 3 days, including New Year’s Eve. We were welcomed by the whole team with a delicious beverage and the pampering… read more never stopped. The rooms are beautiful, with a stunning view & spacious. The food is delicious, there is attention to detail, the team is helpful. They organized a “ sundowner” which was incredible (new concept for us, but love it!) , every meal was delicious, including our packed lunches for an all day outing. Our New Year’s dinner was outstanding & it included a Maasai dance. The Host family was friendly , engaging , and helpful. They shared great stories. It all culminated with a tree planting ceremony, before we left. We had an unforgettable stay, and we’re grateful to the whole team.

  Amazing Location!!! – Amani Mara is little Jem located in mesmerizing Masai Mara. Everything was spot on and five star from location,ambience, our suit, food to awesome service. We loved our 2 Nights… read more stay here so much and wish to come back here again in future. Definitely highly recommended you won’t regret it and promise you will have great time during your stay with Amani Mara !

  We had a great time during our time at Amani Mara. We were lucky enough to be the only guests at the time of our stay, which made the experience… read more very intimate, quiet, and enjoyable. Sam, Sully and the entire team made sure to make our stay memorable and unforgettable. The walking safari, followed by a sundowner was brilliant. We highly recommend Amani Mara, and we will always have great memories of the place.

  Brilliant  – Brilliant property Great location and very kind and Hospitable Staff and Owners. Chef and staff saw that our special food needs of vegetarian are met. Everything moved with precision and… read more was well organised. Should stay in this value for money property

  My first safari experience came at the tail end of a trip to Kenya to do some volunteer work. The non-profit I was working with ended their trips with taking… read more all of the volunteers to Amani Mara for an amazing 3 night safari experience in the heart of the Maasai Mara. We were so cared for by the owners and exceptional staff, with wonderful accommodations, excellent dining and of course safaris led by knowledgeable guides who filled every moment with great encounters with wildlife. I can’t imagine a more authentic safari experience, and am looking forward to sharing the Amani Mara with my wife, our children and grandchildren next year!

  AMAZING GEM!!!  – I have to say this place is an absolute gem!!! As soon as you step into the main building, the most beautiful view of the open wilderness appears with a… read more small river running at the base. Many Hippopotamuses play literally right in front of the view. The infinity pool also overlooks the same view. The rooms are fantastic and clean. Let’s get to the best part of the trip, the team!!!! Straight from the top, the owners Sam and Sully are literally there daily and checking on your every need. My daughter ended up with a stomach bug and Sully visited us in the room and made sure every thing was provided for us. Truly above and beyond. The tour guides and staff are also amazing!!! In long, I highly highly recommend this amazing hotel.

  Amani Mara – a top-notch luxury camp with a great staff!  – I’d like to give our heartfelt thanks and a big "shout out" to our host, Sully, and his team at Amani Mara!

Being the first stop on… read more our safari, we arrived in the dark with no idea of our surroundings. We were greeted by a lone but attentive staff member who had apparently waited up for us and got us settled us into our rooms (the architecture of which seems spun from stories of Tarzan and Swiss Family Robinson). This was followed by cold cocktails and a delicious dinner in the very impressive dining room. I would like to say we slept like babies but, being our first night and trying to acclimate to new surroundings, the sounds of animals grunting outside our room kept us a bit on edge. What a surprise awaited us the next morning when we awoke to a glorious view of the surrounding bush and a river below populated by hippos (the source of the night snorting). It made for a very memorable cup of African coffee.

Sully, a 5th generation Kenyan and self-described "bushman" was an excellent host. Having spent his childhood exploring the bush around the camp, has a formidable knowledge of all the creatures great and small and shared some pretty funny (if somewhat hair-raising) stories. A labor of love, he and his family have truly created a magical camp and cultivated a top-notch staff to accommodate his guests.

It was one of the highlights of our very excellent safari.

  Unique experience! – Hello everyone!!!
We stayed here from October 10-13 and we have no words to describe the wonder of this facility….
First of all we arrived late in the evening and… read more they waited for us by making dinner just for us,beautiful rooms with small terrace directly on the majestic savannah,change towels every day and in the evening after dinner they make you find the hot water bag in the bed to warm it up because in the evening temperatures drop …breakfast,lunch ,dinner and packed lunch super with food even for intolerant people like me to whom they made find soy milk!
Maximum care and attention to the customer,all the staff kind and helpful always and surprises that I can not list because it is right and I hope you discover them yourself!
A magical experience that we highly recommend,a heartfelt thank you to all the staff of Amani Mara!
Elena and Alessio

  What a gem of a place!  – What a wonderful rustic gem of a place! Very private, comfortable and spacious huts, welcoming family-run atmosphere, delicious food, great game drives, refreshing pool, and phenomenal views over the… read more valley (filled with hippos, giraffes, monkeys, and even a lion or two). Dinner under the stars was incredible, and everyone was so helpful and friendly. Each guest getting to plant a tree was a nice touch and educational.

  Amazing place with the most pleasant staff!  – What an amazing spot! We stayed for only 2 nights and I felt sorry I hat to leave.
We’ve had very nice game drives with Fred and Sully and we… read more saw so many wonderful things. I hope to visit this lovely place again to see how the tree I planted is doing and I will certainly stay longer then!

  Stunning setting and beautiful cottages  – Amani Mara is simply gorgeous! We had a fantastic stay in a stunning setting, with attentive staff looking after us. The cottages are beautiful and the views spectacular. We totally… read more recommend it!

  Amani Mara Lodge is the only place to stay while visiting Kenya  – This is our second time staying at the Amani Mara Lodge It is a beautiful boutique resort. The most amazing views. The rooms are wonderful. The staff are so… read more helpful and kind. The food is incredible. James was our driver for our game drives and every where else we went. He was beyond awesome. We saw all the animals and he was so tenacious making sure that we saw everything before our trip ended. We are coming back again next year. The only place to stay if you’re visiting the Mara.

  The Jewel In Maasai Mara’s Crown – I stayed at Amani Mara for 3 weeks solo with the intention of healing and finding peace in nature and it was truly transformative. As I was there for a… read more significant amount of time, I wanted to provide a thorough review for other travelers and to recommend at least a 3 night stay as a lot of the other guests I socialized with were really bummed they had such a short stay planned after seeing the place!

LOCATION:
Amani Mara feels very exclusive and is not near other camps- wonderful as you’re not seeing the lights from other camps and hearing them making for an organic bush experience that doesn’t feel “commercial.” They are only 15 minutes from Maasai Mara park, and I could never tell the difference as the drive there was a safari with as much wildlife as the park! When I first arrived to Amani Mara, they have an unmarked yet beautiful entrance, and I was greeted by the manager and other staff who welcomed me with a cold towel (that smelled of lovely essential oils), a welcome drink, and then taken into the perched main area with a jaw dropping view of the savannah and a river directly below with resident hippos, crocodiles, you name it. I hadn’t realized that I would be able to spot wildlife from my dining table (and the entire property)!

POOL:
Their infinity pool is really gorgeous and on the hillside overlooking the river with wildlife. I appreciated their comfy loungers and attentive pool service serving drinks, etc.

DINING:
Speaking of dining, this was one of the reasons that I initially chose Amani Mara as they offer a hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily at the property (with picnic options for game drives, of course). Most of the other camps I explored only offered hot dinner options. I was shocked at how amazing and artisan the food was- they have even hired a new pastry chef and the desserts are divine! They accommodated all of my food sensitivities with substitutions and made me feel very comfortable doing so as their wait staff is very kind and professional. TIP: Do not miss their “Dinner Under The Stars” and Bush dinner options- they are so gorgeous with the same great food.

ROOMS:
Overall loved how all of Amani Mara blended into nature and was very private. The way it was built, no one else will pass by your “villa” as there is a pathway that veers off onto each room. Also, all of the villas are facing the river with views and I could not see any other villas from my viewing deck outside. Rooms have a natural feel giving a “ safari experience” but luxury touches that make them very comfortable.

WILDLIFE:
A big differentiator between Amani Mara and other options I considered is that it is unfenced and the experience feels very natural. One of my favorite memories is of the zebras who stopped by my room daily to “say hello”. You are completely safe on your viewing deck to watch wildlife, and you are escorted to your room in the evenings by a true Maasai security guard. I always felt safe.

GAME DRIVES TIP:
I learned to use the drivers that Amani Mara recommended as they have been doing this for YEARS and really had the inside scoop for the best experience. For ex, the driver received a call from other Maasai friends who shared a leopard sighting and we ended up being the only other vehicle there to witness it.

SERVICE:

As someone who loves luxury hotels,their service was BEYOND 5 star hotel Ben by United States standards. Silly, but I remember thinking “this must be how celebrities are treated at hotels” HA!

I was so impressed when another guest shared that the staff had prepared an earlier dinner for her kids by the pool where they were swimming, and then watched the children in their guest room while the parents had a romantic dinner in the dining room— at no additional charge! I found the staff very open to accommodating to guests as opposed to being rigid about things.

There were several evenings when lions or a leopard were found not far from the camp, and upon getting word from their security, the owners came into the main area to invite everyone to hop on their safari vehicle to go and see them. This was not counted as a “game drive” or anything of that sort- this is just how passionate they are about guest experiences and how “above and beyond” they do things.

As it’s family owned and managed, the brothers, Sam and Sully, have somehow mastered socializing with guests and making them feel comfortable without ever imposing on anyone. The entire staff wowed me with anticipating needs -remembering my favorite beverages, bringing me my favorite snack when they saw me in the dining, etc.

Amani Mara and Kenya have my heart forever and I CANNOT wait to return someday. Thank you for all of your hospitality and the memories I’ll have forever.