Hemingways Ol Seki Mara Camp — Hotel in Siana ward

Absolutely wonderful place. We were picked up at the airstrip by Mike, who would also be our guide on our upcoming drives. He was so knowledgeable and had eyes like a hawk, if you end up with him you can’t go wrong. Fifteen minutes to Ol Seki and we were met by Debbie. Wow she works hard, she’s always about, particularly at mealtimes, making sure all is going well and checking up that we had a good drive or that the food was satisfactory or if we wanted to go on any activities. On this occasion it was a quick registration and then handed over to William who showed us our tent and would do our housekeeping for our stay. ||The tents are huge and well appointed. One shower indoors, one outside (my favourite - look out over the plains while showering) a bath, a WC and plenty of storage. We were very happy with it. It was then time for lunch. Lunch set the scene for all the meals, the staff are excellent and so friendly, the food was of the highest quality. Lunch was a buffet with various options over the days we were there but always various salads, meat items (chops or tuna etc) and a vegetarian option. Dinner was served to you (you chose your options at lunch) and was again out of this world. Breakfast was a combination of buffet for cold items with hot of your choice served to you. ||We then then sat out on our patio until our first drive, we were tired from travelling so other days we sometimes went to the sun beds by the pool at this time. The hyrax were everywhere and kept us entertained. We did a number of morning and evening drives and one night drive. There were many highlights of these which included elephants hippos, being very close to lions and a large number of various grazers. The elusive leopard was ‘caught’ due mostly to Mike’s perseverance, but all the guides talked constantly to each other to ensure everyone saw what they wanted. Sundowners or beer o’clock near the end of the evening drives was always well received. ||A busy spotting, such as a pride with two male lions just sitting there, might have five vehicles turn up. This is the advantage of a conservancy. We had a balloon ride in the national park next door and sightings were followed by sixty vehicles and allegedly at times this becomes hundreds. It was carnage. We went on one bush walk with Sydney, well worth it and was a stretch of legs that was really appreciated as there is a lot of sitting on this type of activity. ||We loved this place and were sorry to leave. The tents, the food, the animals but mostly the staff were all top notch. We may come again but there is so much of the world we haven’t seen so we shall see. We will though have plenty of lasting memories. Thank you to...

Finding a luxury safari camp can be tricky and very confusing for the inexperienced traveler who is planning to visit the Masai Mara safari. There are plenty of options and camps in various locations such as in a private conservancy or in the main national Kenya Mara Park. There are also a big variation on the budget and also what’s on offer from various camp sites. We spent a lot of time exploring various websites and finally decided on Ol Seki. This was purely based on a hunch and their website. And guess what it exceeded our expectations and turned out to be one of the best decisions. The Camp has 8 suites and 2 family villas if I remember correctly. I have put some pictures of their main dining room and also of the individual rooms/ with their own terrace and they all overlook the Mara Plains / in Naboisho conservancy. Attention is very individual, the manager Debbie knows how to look after the guests and give them tailored trips and adventures. The rooms are spacious, have a free standing baths/ all have big terraces and all overlook the forest. There is 24/7 heated water and showers/ daily rooms are cleaned and even has daily turned down service. All rooms have a mini bar / we went for a drinks included package so all drinks were available in the restaurant and in mini bar too. There is a decent selection of wines and house spirits all available in the package. Now coming to the restaurant, food was excellent and the menu changed daily while we were there. 3 meals / 3 courses all excellent, great chefs and food was delicious. Julius looked after the catering and was excellent. They even made exceptional curries and amazing spicy omelette which was very impressive for me. The manager Debbie looked after all the guests very well. Coming to game drives, everyone gets 2 game drives a day ( am and pm ), we had Mike as our driver and he was excellent. The last morning of our stay we were treated to a bush breakfast which was a great idea and super cool surprise. Overall we loved our trip and can’t highly recommend Ol Seki Mara Camp. They also have a spa and a swimming pool as shown in the photos. The pool isn’t heated so although it was Aug / Sep the water was quite cold for a dip / swim. They have a good lounge area for sun bathing too. For more information please visit my instagram...

WOW! We went to Africa on our honeymoon and started our trip with a safari, where we stayed 3 nights in Ol Seki Hemingways. Where do we start… the food was exceptional and the service was outstanding. The staff go above and beyond and are so extremely friendly, we have never stayed anywhere quite so breathtaking.

As the camp is small, we were able to get to know the staff and our other camp mates which we loved, it was so intimate and we really enjoyed hearing about everyone's experiences in the bush. Our daily game drives beat our expectations as we saw all the amazing animals we had hoped to see, including lions, lionesses and their baby cubs, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, pumbas – the list goes on!

Our top highlights during our stay were: Visiting the village (which we would say is an absolute must, please don’t leave without a visit!). It is such an eye opener and is so inspirational to meet the women and their children and learn about their lives. For any females visiting – get ready to dance! Watching the lionesses and their cubs playing in the reserve. This was a very surreal experience and cant quite believe we were able to see them play with one another and even climb into trees. They were so playful! Our private bush dinner, where we watched the sunset drinking G&Ts and eating popcorn. Unfortunately our meal ended abruptly after we turned around in our chairs to find two lion cubs staring right at us in the dark! Although we were scared at the time, we laughed a lot after and this was such an experience and one that we will never, ever forget.

We want to say a special thank you to Debbie who made our stay so perfect, she is so friendly and helpful and we enjoyed being able to talk to her during our meals in the camp. Secondly to Patrick (our guide) for our unforgettable game drives and for taking us to the village. We learnt so much about the animals from Patrick and we had so much fun on our game drives – we loved drinking Tusker beers whilst watching cheetahs during sundowners! We are already thinking about when we can next return, we have been missing the bush life ever since we left.

Thank you for making our 3 day safari an experience we will never forget. Ami & Alex Cox...