Who lives in the trees in the Masai Mara? Birds, of course. Extra points if you answered leopards. How about humans, though? As of last month, that answer isn’t a silly one, thanks to one safari camp offering perches for people amid the upper boughs of the ebony trees.
Just opened by Great Plains, the eco-tourism company founded by National Geographic explorer-filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, Mara Toto Tree Camp in Kenya’s Masai Mara, features four luxurious tented suites installed in the treetops of a secluded location overlooking the Ntiakitiak River within the 150,000-hectare Masai Mara National Reserve. The camp comes with private access to the 26,000-hectare Mara North Conservancy. Dereck Joubert says he wanted to design a camp in the treetops to catch the cool breezes, a kind of Tarzan meets Robinson Crusoe rustic designed and decorated hideaway in the Mara.
“It feels like a movie set from each of those references, with rare melanistic bush babies living at the same elevation and in total acceptance of us being at their level. Right along the river’s edge and tucked into the canopy of some of the most spectacular ebony trees, its position creates a hidden haven to retire to between exciting safari drives. Leopards are often seen, and lions are heard almost every night.
” Robinson Crusoe didn’t have it this good, though. Inside the tented suites, there are en-suite bathrooms with double-vanity basins, copper baths and huge brass showers. In-room accoutrements include high-quality binoculars and a professional Canon camera for loan while on safari.
Guests will also find a yoga mat, hand weights and an exercise bike in their quarters. The experience is augmented by the camp’s central lounge, with a dining and wine room and an outdoor terrace with a fireplace. Located in East Africa’s big cat territory, Mara Toto Tree Camp safari drives are in two Land Cruisers designed to be totally open-sided, which Great Plains says is “a rarity in the Mara” and which affords 300-degree viewing.
As well as viewing big cats, which are of special interest to Great Plains – the company has instigated many habitat projects to protect the various species – Mara Toto Tree Camp offers a vantage point for the famed annual southern migration of more than one million animals from the Serengeti, typically in July and August, and the green season migration from Loita Plains in spring, during which more than 100,000 zebras and wildebeest arrive from the northwest. From $1445 a person a night all-inclusive. See greatplainsconservation.
com.
