Governors’ Camp is situated on the banks of the Mara River in the west of the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Created in 1972, it set new standards in luxury as a tented camp, putting particular emphasis on comfort and service, complemented by excellent food, which would have been impossible in the bygone days. Maintaining these unique qualities as a tradition, the camp has been refined and improved through the years.
Special care has been taken to preserve an atmosphere in which today’s traveller can share the same elemental landscape that inspired Hemingway and magnetised adventurers the world over.
The site and size of a safari camp is critical to its vitality. Governors’ Camp, with its 37 tents set amongst the trees along the Mara river, also has unrivalled views over the plains and is visited and re-visited by guests who find its continued excellence, personal style and family feeling quietly reassuring.
ACCOMMODATION
All guest facilities are under canvas and keep the authentic, traditional safari atmosphere. All guest tents have en-suite bathrooms with shower and basin, running cold and hot water as well as a flush toilet. Gas and paraffin lamps are used for lighting.
The privately located Justus Suite is perfect for honeymoon couples, as is tent 37 which has incredible views over the Mara plains and its wildlife.
The dining tent, campfire and the bar tent are the centre of the camp. Next to the reception is a small gallery with local paintings and handcrafts as well as a small souvenir shop. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet style, alfresco. Dinner is served in the dining tent. For dinner the menu offers a choice of four courses, including a choice of main courses. A traditional campfire is lit at sunset every evening and after dinner guests enjoy sitting around the campfire, reminiscing about their safari in its evocative light.
The Masai Mara is a unique area with a constant and unrivalled flow of wildlife throughout the year. From July to October the Mara becomes a backdrop for one of the last great natural wonders of the world, when 1.5 million wildebeest and zebra surge up from the Serengeti plains in their annual search for the seasonal grasses that sustain them. The spectacle as the vast herds cross rivers and sweep through the golden grasses, is punctuated by individual struggles with the predators, which are in turn drawn to take their part in this dramatic event. Whilst the migration is spectacular, game viewing at all other times of the year remains almost unrivalled anywhere in Africa.
There are various activities on offer: game viewing excursions in open Landrovers, game walks or balloon flights over the wide plains of the Masai Mara. Day excursions to the Lake Victoria are also on offer. However, we recommend booking these excursions well in advance and combining the Lake Victoria trip with an overnight stay. All meals, three game viewing excursions daily as well as laundry is included in the price. Park entrance fees, drinks as well as other activities (such as walking, ballooning, Lake Victoria excursion, a visit to a Masai village) are to be paid separately. Please let us know special dietary requirements in advance.