Off-season in the Masai Mara - The fabulous Mara Plains Camp in the OMC.

[madaboutcheetah]

Angles part deux.........

[madaboutcheetah]

Just the little angel .........

[madaboutcheetah]

Found another decent image of the male cheetah walking through the Kicheche plains area -

[madaboutcheetah]

Stay Tuned ........ More to come (will need a few days to edit them; Narasha, her daughter, Lions etc etc.,) from Mara Plains ....... Thanks everyone for your interest in reading this report!

[TonyQ]

@@madaboutcheetah

Lots of Great pictures - and you have taken one or two of cheetah!

I love the one taken from the back where the cub is leaning across its mother - beautiful

I look forward to your practical comments at the end - very useful in planning!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @TonyQ

 

Will take a little more time for the rest of the images from Mara Plains, so will have some information that some of you have requested......

 

Dates for Mara Plains - March 29-April 3. I booked via Bush and Beyond based in Nairobi. They are the bookings reservations handlers for Great Plains Conservation Kenya in addition to a few more selected camps like the Asilia Kenya camps and a few camps in the Laikipia area (i'm not sure which ones, but, it's on their website). I got some excellent service from them right from the get go.

 

Mara Plains is located in the Olare Motorgori conservancy outside the Mara Reserve. The conservancy has atleast 4 camps that have exclusive traversing rights to the conservancy. The camps include Mara Plains, Porini Lion, Kicheche and Olare Kempinski. I would recommend either Mara Plains, Porini Lion or Kicheche Mara for anyone seeking to use the conservancy. Mara Plains is the luxury option(very high service standard- be it the small details, level of service, food and wine; most importantly total flexibility to meet your safari needs), while the other two will be your classic tented camp style. I have no idea about the level of guiding at the other two places (Mara Plains trumps in every aspect to the vehicle and guide in my book). In addition to this - Richard Branson's new lodge (forget the name-Mzuri Mbwane?) has access to traversing rights because of his ability to lease a huge bulk of land in Motogori from the Maasai community to add onto the conservancy. From the looks of it, it's ultra-luxurious.......

 

Mara Plains also can access the Mara Reserve and the Mara North conservancies. We did not venture into Mara North because the game viewing was phenomenal in the conservancy during my 5 nights. The camps were very quiet with may be 3 other vehicles out in total from the other camps at any given time .......... Mara Reserve was average game viewing this time of the year in comparison (more to come in my Entim section later on that will cover that).

 

Mara Plains has a quaint charming sister property inside the reserve called Mara Toto -

Edited April 8, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

PS- Could not edit above post......... Richard Branson's lodge in Motogori conservancy is called, Mahali Mzuri.

[PersonalPangea]

Thank you madaboutcheetah for an excellent trip report and photos of the animals of the OMC and around Mara Plains. This is exactly the sort of thing we need to show-off Kenya and the Mara outside of 'migration season', full of wildlife. There's a sad perception that there's no point in going to the Mara when the great migration isn't there. As your pictures show, there's every reason to go, from the greenery, the abundance of wildlife and the lesser known Loita Hills migration of wildebeest and zebra. Can we use some of these photos and text in our next Dispatches for Mara Plains on the Great Plains website with credit to you and SafariTalk?

So glad you enjoyed your stay at Mara Plains!

[madaboutcheetah]

@@PersonalPangea - It would be an honor to have some of the images on the next Despatches section for Mara Plains.

 

Mara Plains totally Rocks it!!! It really does set the bar for the Mara - not just the minute details in camp, the fabulous people(Amy and Sean and the entire team), the delicious food and wine, but , the whole experience - The wonderful Land Cruiser tailor made for photography, Daniel who doesn't jibber jabber on the radio and has a great work ethic etc etc.,

Yes, the off season was spectacular.... I enjoyed every minute of my time at Mara Plains.

 

On a side note - that home made Granola can't be matched anywhere in the world

Edited April 8, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

Another 5 minutes would have given me a better silhouette and maybe the wildebeest would have done a little something? ........ but, I packed up before what looked like a massive storm!!!

[madaboutcheetah]

A few more silhouettes .............

[madaboutcheetah]

WIth those big skies; even a nice tree helps!

[madaboutcheetah]

When these Topis mysteriously seemed to appear in the horizon against the pinkish hue - we raced to a decent spot to try and come up with something...............

[madaboutcheetah]

Topi on a mound on Patrol ........

[madaboutcheetah]

Fiesty Topis .......

[madaboutcheetah]

We saw this very secretary bird on the same plains out of camp on every single drive!

[madaboutcheetah]

This is Narasha ......... (I heard from Conservancy manager, Richard that she and the territorial male are currently in courtship so hopefully there will be another litter soon) .......

[madaboutcheetah]

Next three images are from the Youngsters of the Monico pride .........

[madaboutcheetah]

"This is our boxing ring" .........

[madaboutcheetah]

"Hey, that's your best shot?"

[madaboutcheetah]

Everyone needs a classic Oxpecker/buffalo shot!

[madaboutcheetah]

I know this sort of image is over-done; but - couldn't resist!!!

[madaboutcheetah]

A nice Kori-bustard that was always seen on one of the plains (can't remember specific area)

[Tdgraves]

Love the boxing lion cubs, it sounds like you had a fantastic trip. What is the price difference between peak and off peak seasons? (last time I was quoted for Kenya I nearly fell off of my chair....)

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @@Tdgraves - Not really sure of Peak season as I doubt I will ever go during the migration months to the Mara. I doubt there's a huge difference ala Botswana, Zambia etc etc., the main difference here would be the low tourist numbers ............ In Botswana, it could also mean some dodgy game viewing (if the rains are brutal)