Porini Locations
Maasai Mara, Ol Kinyei, Olare Motorogi & Mara Ripoi Conservancies
Camps & Itineraries
| Porini camps in the Maasai Mara ecosystem | Porini Lion Camp, Porini Mara Camp, Porini Cheetah Camp, Porini Leleshwa Camp, Porini Ol Kinyei Safari Cottages |
| Porini safari itineraries including the Maasai Mara ecosystem | Maasai Mara Big Cat Safari Porini Maasai Safari Savannah Safari Simba Safari Twiga Safari Laikipia & Mara Safari Porini Big Five Safari 6 Nights Porini Camps Safari Porini Wilderness Experience Porini Birds & Big Game Safari African Splendours Safari |
The Maasai Mara ecosystem
Africa’s most celebrated safari paradise
The Maasai Mara ecosystem is one of the greatest wildlife destinations on Earth and its profusion of plains game and stealthy predators has made it synonymous with the safari holiday. For decades the Kenyan game reserve has been a favorite location for filmmakers producing nature documentaries as well as feature films.
This is a diverse landscape harboring varied habitats within its majestic plains, rocky outcrops, ancient woodland, and life-giving rivers. It adjoins the northern sweep of neighboring Tanzania’s Serengeti plains thus forming one huge ecosystem.
The Great Migration
The Mara lands are famous for the annual Wildebeest Migration (one of the Natural Wonders of the World) which occurs from June to October when the Mara becomes host to an almost unimaginable half a million wildebeest seeking the grasses raised by the Spring rains of April and May. Having exhausted the grazing in the northern Serengeti the wildebeest head north en masse. This is an awesome sight in the true meaning of the word which, when coupled with the sound of thousands upon thousands of hooves pounding the earth, makes it an unforgettable spectacle.
Kenya’s game reserves also host a Wildebeest Migration from Kenya’s Loita Plains to the Mara which moves into Ol Kinyei Conservancy earlier, usually by January, and the calving takes place there during February and March when the plains of the conservancy are teeming with wildebeest before they move through Naboisho Conservancy and into Olare Motorogi Conservancy.
The Wildebeest are not the only tenants of the land. The Mara is also the home to among others, zebra, elephants, and big cats; cheetahs, lions, and leopards. Hyena, jackal, buffalo, eland, topi, impala, gazelle, and warthog add to this huge diversity of wildlife.
Exclusive, Private, Authentic
The Maasai Mara Conservancies
The Maasai Mara region does not only comprise the Maasai Mara National Reserve (the state-run park) but also a vast area to the north with a growing number of private conservancies set aside for wildlife and habitat conservation. These areas of pristine wilderness exert strict controls on the number of visitors and vehicles permitted. In each Conservancy there are normally just a handful of small safari camps with their guests gaining exclusive access to thousands of hectares of prime game-viewing land.
Nature doesn’t recognise borders and as a result the Mara conservancies have provided an additional area of sanctuary for many animals wishing to disperse beyond the National Reserve where there may be higher volumes of tourists and safari vehicle traffic especially in the peak season months.
Read MoreOl Kinyei Conservancy
This 18,700 acre Kenyan wildlife conservancy is on a tranche of land belonging to a Maasai community who leased it to Porini/Gamewatchers, almost 20 years ago, to be set aside for the purposes of wildlife conservation.
Ol Kinyei Conservancy is included on the prestigious IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, one of only about 60 in the world. Ol Kinyei has been recognised by IUCN for its efforts in providing safe habitat for wildlife as well as tangible benefits to local communities. The IUCN is comprised of government and civil organisations and is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
Sites on the IUCN Green List are certified as being effectively managed and fairly governed, with long-term positive impact on people and nature. Every five years, they are evaluated against a set of demanding criteria defined by the IUCN Green List Standard. These criteria include the quality of protection of natural values and the effectiveness of actions against threats. It provides an international benchmark for quality that motivates improved performance and achievement of conservation objectives. By committing to meet the IUCN
Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas Standard, site managers must demonstrate and maintain performance and deliver real nature conservation results.
Olare Motorogi Conservancy
The Olare Motorogi Conservancy (comprised of the former Olare Orok Conservancy and Motorogi Conservancy) is 33000 acres of outstanding natural beauty and ecological importance.
The conservancy directly borders the Maasai Mara National Reserve and it contains the lower valleys of the Olare Orok and Ntiakitiak rivers, riverine forest, the Ntiakitiak Gorge and a 12km escarpment below which are large areas of acacia woodland.
Read MoreMara Ripoi Conservancy
Gamewatchers Safaris is one of the founders of this newly formed 13,500 acre wildlife conservancy which is on a tranche of land belonging to about 1,600 Maasai individuals from the community who have leased it for 25 years so that the area can be conserved as protected habitat for the teeming wildlife. The conservancy has a large abundance of wildlife, especially Maasai giraffe and is an important area for wildebeest and the big cats. The conservancy connects onto Siana conservancy and then directly to the Mara Reserve, allowing free movement of wildlife from the Reserve as well as across a wildlife corridor along the Ripole River to Ol Kinyei Conservancy. This has made Mara Ripoi a critical protected habitat connecting important and large wildlife areas and allowing free movement of elephants, lions, cheetah, herbivores and many other animals.
Mara Ripoi Conservancy is home to only three small safari camps making this not only an exclusive experience but one that respects the principles of eco-tourism. Apart from our small eco-camps, no other tourist vehicles are allowed into the
Conservancy so our guests have the thousands of acres in the conservancy to themselves.
Located within the Mara-Serengeti eco-system, Mara Ripoi is renowned for its diverse landscapes and abundance of wildlife, including being excellent lion habitat. The local Maasai make first class guides and are on hand to share their
experience on what to see and do.
Biodiversity
Maasai Mara Ecosystem
The Maasai Mara ecosystem is home to approximately 25% of Kenya’s wildlife. It hosts more than 95 mammal species besides being a recognized Important Bird Area (IBA) with 550 bird species. Presently, about 70 per cent of this wildlife is living outside the gazetted conservation area -the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Adjacent land owned by local communities form key dispersal and diversity areas.
Map
Ol Kinyei Conservancy
Olare Motorogi Conservancy
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery
