Governors’ Camp (Masai Mara)

Governors' Camp

Governors’ Camp possibly occupies the best wildlife viewing location in the Masai Mara Reserve. It is nestled in the riverine forest along the winding banks of the Mara River. Its waters teeming with bird life, hippo and crocodile. Governors’ Camp is perfect for couples, families and friends wanting to experience the best of what a safari in the Masai Mara has to offer. It is Africa’s first permanent luxury tented camp, remaining in its original site since 1972.

The entire camp is under canvas with all of the comforts of a luxury hotel. There is a bar tent with a deck overlooking the Mara River and a dining tent with amazing views over the plains. A Spa tent offers a range of treatments including facials, massages, manicures and pedicures.

For a really private family or multi-generational group, ask us about the new Governors’ Private Camp. This camp can accommodate up to 16 people (in 8 x tents) on an exclusive-use basis. But you only need to book 6 of the tents to have the exclusivity.

Governors’ Camp has been awarded a Gold Eco Rating from Eco – Tourism Kenya due to their sustainable tourism practices in place.

Skip to Governors’ Camp Rates or Specials and Packages

Governors' Camp
Mara River

Governors’ Camp Accommodation

There are a total of 25 tents at Governors’ Camp.

Classic safari tents (32m2)

Governors’ Camp has 16 x classic safari tents (twins and doubles). The tents are big, bright and allow in lots of natural light. All tents have verandahs. Some with views across the sweeping plains of the Masai Mara. Others look over the banks of the meandering Mara River. All tents are classic safari style each with en-suite bathrooms and a private verandah.

Masai Mara accommodation
Classic Tent

Five of the classic safari tents have ramps for wheelchair access. The flooring inside the tents is level and the tents are spacious enough to be able to maneuver a wheelchair around comfortably. One tent has both a ramp and a specially modified bathroom to offer complete bathroom assistance.

Kenya disabled safari
Wheelchair accessible tents

Family Tents (40m2)

There are 8 x family tents at Governors’ Camp. They are the same as the classic safari tents except they have an extra children’s bedroom area. There is an en suite bathroom with a shower at the back of the tent. There is also a verandah overlooking the Mara plains.

Kenya family safari
Family tents

Justus Suite (56m2)

There is 1 x suite that is perched on a bend of the Mara River. This is a lovely suite for honeymooners.

Kenya honeymoon
Honeymoon suite interior
Masai Mara honeymoon
Honeymoon suite exterior

Family Safari at Governors’ Camp

Children of all ages are welcome at Governors’ Camp. You are never too little to experience your first African safari together with the family! Cot beds, high chairs and baby sitting service are available. Family tents sleeping up to four persons and a cot, are also available on request. Child rate on accommodation is available for children under the age of 16 years old. Infants under the age of 3 years are accommodated free of charge.

Special children’s meals and earlier mealtimes available. We can also book exclusive-use safari vehicles for the family to do their own private game drives. Let us know in advance if you would like this.

Governors' Camp
Family safari
Governors’ Mongoose Club - Kid's Club

A brilliant little kid’s club, is aimed at keeping your children happily entertained while on safari at Governors’ Camp.

The idea behind this club is to educate and inspire the youngest visitors. In ways that they would never have access to in their mainstream schooling systems abroad. Game drives are, of course, wonderful experiences in themselves to be shared with family. But there is so much more for your children to take away from their Kenyan safari.

Kids will get a green Mongoose Club branded water bottle, pencil and a bird and mammal checklist in a kanga bag. The activities are designed to be fun and informative. Providing your children with lifetime memories. You, as the parents, can take some well-deserved timeout. Enjoy a spa treatment, read a book or just have a siesta while the “chief Mongoose” who is a local Masai guide, and the rest of the friendly team keep your children as entertained and educated as they would like to be. Whilst of course, ensuring their complete safety at all times.

Some of the activities of the kids club:

Conservation and Environment

Unleash your children into the world of conservation! They can learn all about the importance of ecosystems, tree planting, Masai culture and visiting a local Masai school. For an environmental aspect, they’ll enjoy identifying animal tracks and footprints (they can make a plaster of paris mold too if they get lucky with a clear footprint!). Identifying birds and their different sounds and nests. Nocturnal animals and the easy use of the camera traps around camp. As well as learning all about the night sky and constellations through our telescope and laser star pointer!

Governors' Camp
Kids club activities

If your children are the competitive sort (most siblings are!) – why not send them off for easy stroll around camp, accompanied by one of our Mongoose guides and armed with one of our specially designed kid’s nature booklet and checklist, to see how many birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and plants can be found during their stay with us. They should be able to spot most on the list just by simply exploring around camp. Governors’ Camp is in the best location after all! Keep up the fun by encouraging them to continue with ticking the boxes on their game drives too!

Just for FUN

Of course, there’s a just for fun section too and this includes easy cookery:
make your own pizza using one of our charcoal Eco-ovens. Or roasting popcorn and marshmallows over an open fire (a delicious pre-dinner treat to be shared on your family sun downer). They can also try their hand at target practice using handmade wooden bows and arrows. As well as making their very own piece of Masai beaded jewellery with the help of a Masai ‘mama’.

Kenya family safari
Bow and arrows

Governors’ Camp Activities

Masai Mara Wildlife and Cultural Activities

Game Drives

Governors’ Camps are located in a superb location in the Masai Mara and therefore the game viewing is tremendous. They use custom designed vehicles and exceptionally highly trained and experienced guides to give clients unmatched game-viewing and photographic opportunities in one of Kenya’s most prolific wildlife areas. If you’d like to stay out on your game drive for longer, the team will organize a delicious packed breakfast to take with you.

Having operated in the Masai Mara for 50 years now, the driver-guides have an unparalleled knowledge of the reserve combined with a deep understanding and respect for this precious wilderness area, its flora and its fauna.

Governors' Camp safari
Leopard
Masai Mara safari
Rhino and buffalo’s

Photographic Safaris

Three of the Landrovers have been modified into superbly designed photographic safari vehicles. They offer same-level seating throughout, cut out side panels in the middle row (to get those much desired low angle shots). Plus high roofs, fully folding windscreens and wide side paneling. The perfect place for resting a beanbag and long lens. These photographic safari vehicles are available on an exclusive use basis.

Kenya photographic safari
Photographic safari vehicle

Walking Safari

Governors’ Camp Collection offers guided walking safaris in a private concession area adjacent to the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Guided walking safaris enable you to leave your vehicle behind and take a walking safari with one of the experienced and qualified naturalists. For the true thrill of the bush.

Down on the same level as the animals you will experience the untamed beauty of the Mara. Here the scenery differs from inside the Reserve and picturesque acacia trees dot the hilly landscape. You will also be accompanied by one of the Masai Scouts, who provide a wealth of information on the traditional medicinal uses of plants and Masai folklore. You will track game, unsure what waits round the next corner: giraffe, buffalo, hyena, zebra or even lion.

While out on a walking safari, you can catch the scents and sounds of the wild Africa. And uncover a hidden, fascinating and interconnected world of plants, tracks and insects. At the end of it all waits a sumptuous bush breakfast complete with sparkling wine. You can enjoy some game viewing as you are driven back to the camp through the Masai Mara. Walks are at an extra cost and take around 3 – 4 hours.

Walking safari in the Masai Mara
Walking safari

Birding

Over 500 species of birds have been recorded in the Mara and it’s not long before you have a surprisingly lengthy list of recordings yourself! Governors’ Masai Mara camps are hidden amongst towering riverine trees which line a small stretch of the Mara River. There are “forest islands” which provide refuge for a stunning array of species that are considered almost impossible to find elsewhere in the Masai Mara ecosystem. The wetlands are home to scores of wetland birds such as herons, storks (saddle-billed & white), kingfishers, painted snipes, ducks, geese and crakes.

Strict forest dwelling species such as Schalow’s and Ross’s turacos, black-and-white casqued hornbills, African paradise and African blue flycatchers, olive pigeons, violet-backed starlings, double-toothed barbets, meyers parrots and narina trogons are often seen within the camp grounds.

Out on the open plains, a variety of raptors (African fish eagles and tawny eagles to name just a couple), vultures (ruppell’s griffon, white-backed & lappet-faced), bustards, secretary birds, starlings, oxpeckers, lapwings, ground hornbills, coucals and cuckoos, seed eaters and bee-eaters can be found.

Birding safari
Ground Hornbill
Kenya birds
Little Bee-eater

Hot Air Balloon Safari

The adventure begins just before dawn. Departure is from a perfect natural launch site behind Little Governors’ Camp, and flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. The first pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies as the hot air balloon fills, then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow colored canopy, you’re off for a wildlife viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. What amazes most first-time balloonists is the absolute stillness. The silence as you float above the plains, the forest and the rivers of the Masai Mara.

Even if you’ve flown elsewhere, this is a unique experience. A hot air balloon safari when the wildebeest migration is on; is perhaps the best way to really grasp the enormity of this mass movement. Soar gently over seemingly infinite herds below, watch predators stalking their prey and look out for critically endangered vultures feeding their chicks on the tree tops.

The flight lasts an hour or so, drifting wherever the air currents take you, and with ample opportunities for photography and video filming.

After about an hour or so, your balloon safari finishes with a flourish. In the time-honored tradition of balloon flights the world over, toast your return to earth with sparkling wine while enjoying a delicious breakfast at a very special spot. The experience ends with a game drive back to your camp.

Governors’ Balloon Safaris offers the best flight path in the Masai Mara, following the natural winding course of the Mara River.

Kenya hot air balloon
Hot air balloon safari

Masai Cultural Visits

Just outside the Masai Mara National Reserve is a Maasai community called Mara Rianda. There is a cultural homestead or Manyatta which consists of 48 x traditional houses surrounding a cattle enclosure. The Maasai community welcomes guests who would like to visit the manyatta and see a tribal way of life that has remained quite unchanged for centuries. Visitors are always struck by the grace and beauty of the Masai people. There is also a bustling curio market where guests can buy Maasai beaded wares.

Governors' Camp community upliftment
Masai community

In order to visit the Manyatta guests must pay for an entrance ticket. This money is extremely important to the community. It helps the community members to buy food, pay for secondary school for their children, and pay for cows. Cattle are the mainstay of the Maasai economy. During times of drought when their cattle suffer, the money earned from tourism helps the community to stay on their feet. Overall this revenue supports 98 different families comprising 300 individuals.

There are also cultural talks on Maasai culture and Governors’ community work. Culture includes the background of Maasai culture and customs, including their dress, diet, dance, food and ceremonies. Community work includes support given to the local primary schools, health care center and the monthly food drives during COVID19.

Community and sustainability tourism
Community projects

Best time to visit Governors’ Camp

Governors’ Camp is open throughout the year. Really, anytime is great to visit. However, if you want to see the wildebeest migration, then between the months of July and October is best. Although, there is abundant wildlife all year. The rainy seasons transform the scorched landscapes into an immediate green flush. This makes it great for photography. Rivers and waterholes are full and there’s new life in the form of baby animals and migratory birds. Birding is great all year round.

The driest months are from late June to October. The long rains in the Masai Mara are from April to May. While November (and the start of December) is known as the short rains. The warmest month is February with an average maximum temperature of 28°C (82°F). The coldest month is July with an average maximum temperature of 24°C (75°F).

Due to the altitude, the climate in the Mara is slightly colder and wetter than might be expected this close to the equator. Daytime is pleasant with temperatures in the mid to upper twenties, while it cools off significantly at night. Mornings are chilly.

Wildebeest Migration

Situated right inside the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Governors’ Camps are ideally placed to let you be at the heart of the Great Wildebeest Migration. On many occasions, we have seen the wildebeest cross the Mara River right in front of Governors’ Camp.

Between the months of July and October, one and a half million wildebeest accompanied by vast numbers of zebra and gazelles, make the long and dangerous trek from Tanzania’s Serengeti, northwards towards this corner of Kenya.

Lines of animals stretch as far as the eye can see across the open plains. They come to give birth to their young and the grasslands echo with the sounds of the new-born. It is a time of plenty. But it is a time too, when the predators are drawn from all around; high above on the hot winds, the carrion birds, vultures and eagles soar. In the long grasses lion, cheetah, leopard and hyena prowl.

Most dramatic of all is the moment when the migration arrives at the Mara River; they must cross it to reach the rich grazing areas on the other side. It takes the bravest to plunge first into the swirling currents and thousands follow. Meanwhile, keen crocodiles cruise the waters.

Kenya Wildebeest migration
Perilous river crossing during the Wildebeest migration

Governors’ Camp Accommodation Rates

Please use below as indicative

2024 Luxury Tent Governors’ Camp Rates

Per person sharingSingleChild
1st July to 31st October$891$1114$580
1st November until 15th December$605$393
16th – 31st December$891$1114$580

2025 Luxury Tent Governors’ Camp Rates

Per person sharingSingleChild
1st January until 31st MarchUS$623US$404
1st April until 31st MayUS$424US$276
1st – 30th JuneUS$623US$404
1st July to 31st OctoberUS$936US$1170US$609
1st November until 15th DecemberUS$623US$404
16th – 31st DecemberUS$936US$1170US$609

2024 Suite Governors’ Camp Rates

1 x Guest2 x Guests3 x Guests
1st July to 31st OctoberUS$1235US$1903US$2794
1st November until 15th DecemberUS$723US$1328US$1933
16th – 31st DecemberUS$1235US$1903US$2794

2025 Suite Governors’ Camp Rates

1 x Guest2 x Guests3 x Guests
1st January until 31st MarchUS$736US$1,359US$1,982
1st April until 31st MayUS$537US$961US$1,385
1st – 30th JuneUS$736US$1,359US$1,982
1st July to 31st OctoberUS$1,286US$1,988US$2,924
1st November until 15th DecemberUS$736US$1,359US$1,982
16th – 31st DecemberUS$1,286US$1,988US$2,924

Rates include accommodation, meals, drinks including house wine, beers, soft drinks, local spirits and water.  Laundry, and air strip transfers.
Up  to 3 activities per night.  From safaris into the Masai Mara National Reserve and surrounding areas, to local Masai Villages (Manyattas). Or local schools and other community and conservation projects.

Rate excludes:
Imported spirits, fine wines, premium drinks, liqueurs and champagne,
Personal expenses,
Manyatta entrance fees and Masai Mara Park Fees.

Governors’ Camp Accommodation Special Offers and/or Packages

View our Governors’ Sky Safari for an incredible itinerary including all flights and accommodation at Loldia and the Masai Mara. Valid all year.

Below offers & packages are valid from 1st January to 31st May and from 1st October to 15th December 2024 & 2025. Unless specified otherwise.
Flights must be booked with Governors Aviation (minimum 2 legs).
Park fees, community fees and conservation fees are payable for all nights.
Cannot be combined with any other offers.

Stay 4, pay 3 in the Masai Mara

Stay at Governors’ Camp or Little Governors’ Camp or Governors’ Il Moran Camp for 4 nights and only pay for 3 nights.
Applicable to adult and child rates.
For individual travel and small groups only and subject to availability.
This offer is available for travel anytime between 1st November to 15th December 2024.

Governors’ Camp Family Offer

Come on safari as a family of four or more and the first child receives complimentary accommodation at Governors’ Camp in the Masai Mara.
Applicable to children under 16 years and when sharing accommodation with adults in a Family Tent.

Packages

Combine your stay in the Masai Mara with other Governors’ Camps in Kenya. All are 3 nights at the Masai Mara Camps (either Little Governors’ or Governors’ Camp) and combined with Mugie House and/or Governors’ Loldia House:

Stay 6 Nights And Pay For Five

3 nights at Mugie House or Governors’ Loldia House and 3 nights Masai Mara

Stay 8 Nights And Pay For Six

2 nights at Loldia House, 3 nights at Mugie House and 3 nights Masai Mara OR
4 nights at Loldia House and 4 nights Masai Mara.

Stay 10 Nights And Pay For Eight

3 nights at Loldia House, 3 nights at Mugie House and 4 nights in the Masai Mara OR
2 nights Governors’ Loldia House, 4 nights Mugie House and 4 nights in the Masai Mara.

The above offers T&C’s:
Applicable to adult and child rates.
Free nights are calculated on lowest priced property in the itinerary.
Must combine a minimum of two Governors’ Collection properties, with a minimum of two nights in each property.

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