Masai Mara Safari Tour - Maiden Maasai Mara Safari Tours Tips, Guide, & Packages

The Mara is home to all the Big Five and several other wild animals. Even though the main event during the Migration is the actual crossing, you will also see several different animals and interact with nature.

The day starts at 6:00 am, and the game drives are well organized and run like clockwork. You can either choose an early morning drive, a later in the afternoon one from 3 pm, or a full-day one, but the management recommends a full-day if you want to see the Mara in its full glory.

The safari land cruisers leave the camps at precisely 5:45 am during the Masai Mara safari tours, so you had better wake up early to catch some coffee before you go. On day one, we got up at 5:00 am, got ready, and gathered for hot coffee, tea, and light snacks before leaving the hotel.

The safari guide came in at 5:30 am and left 15 minutes later for the vast wonderland. If you have never seen thousands of acres of savanna in the morning, this is the ideal time. The sight is breathtaking, and the drivers always stop on request or when they find the perfect angle of the rising sun. 

Once the guide takes off, they will usually not stop for snacks, but they will stop for better sightseeing and photography. They are also knowledgeable of the wild, the animals, and the several bird species that live in the Mara. 

My first drive was informative. The number of animals will depend on the season, but we saw several elephants. The guide reminded us to maintain silence as elephants hate noise. When the three large ones finally let us through, we went on to see a herd of buffaloes, two lions, about 13 lionesses and cubs, and several antelopes and gazelles. 

We also saw two young cheetahs, albeit at a distance, and more species of birds than I have ever seen. When we got back to the camp three hours later, breakfast was waiting.  I loved the Masai Mara hotel just like our morning Masai Mara tour due to the overwhelming food variety. 

We had local tea and coffee, tropical fruit filling plates with color, several kinds of cereal, fermented Uji (porridge), oat porridge, chapati (flatbread), mandazi (fried dough), samosa, beans, and marinated game meat.  Breakfast is pretty much the same during the rest of your stay, but you can contact the management in advance for any special requirements. The same goes for dinner and lunch.

After breakfast, we were free to spend the rest of the day as we pleased. The campsite (we stayed at the enchanting Basecamp Masai Mara) is serene and the perfect place to catch up with some reading.

Being smack in the middle of nature also gives you the ideal time to do a bit of thinking. I have since gone back to the Mara seven times, and each time, I made some life-changing decisions. Lunch hour is between noon and 3 pm to allow everyone to participate. 

The lounge is not as crowded at this hour as during breakfast as people would be out exploring. Most people opt for a full-day game drive with a packed lunch from the hotel. We stayed at the camp until around 3:00 pm, when the evening game drive took off and presented us with the best chance to capture the sunset.