Vibrant Holiday Safaris gives you a clear insight on the Governors’ Camps which is set in some of the most beautiful parts of Africa, provide the old-fashioned pace of life accompanied by the best of 21st century support in the heart of some of East Africa’s prime wildlife areas. Air services bring you to your camp effortlessly, and ingredients for gourmet meals are flown in daily.
Accommodation is in huge canvas tents in the Masai Mara, an original farmhouse at Loldia and in individual stone cottages at Governors’ Mugie in Laikipia. Service is personal, attentive and friendly. Security and safety are ensured with constant communications and medical back up.
Governors’ Camp Collection is proud to have consistently been recognized with many travel awards and accolades. A Governors’ Safari will introduce you to the thrilling pleasures of some of the world’s most magnificent wildlife spectacles, pampered in luxury, but in tune with the simple rhythms of life.
Experiences At Governors Camp
Game Viewing
Our Mara camps combine superb locations in the Masai Mara with custom designed vehicles and exceptionally highly trained and experienced guides to give our clients un-matched 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, our team will organise a delicious packed breakfast to take with you.
Our driver-guides are highly trained individuals who undergo a continuous guide training scheme mentored by experts in the field. Having operated in the Masai Mara for 50 years now, our driver-guides have an un-paralleled knowledge of the reserve combined with a deep understanding and respect for this precious wilderness area, its flora and its fauna.
We have also modified three Landrovers into superbly designed photographic safari vehicles which offer same-level seating throughout, cut out side panels in the middle row (to get those much desired low angle shots), high roofs, fully folding windscreens and wide side panelling – the perfect place for resting a beanbag and long lens. These photo cars are available on an exclusive use basis and can be requested for and reserved when making a Governors’ booking. They are available at all our camps in the Masai Mara.
Balloon Safari
For those looking for an adventure of a different kind, we suggest a magical hot air balloon safari over the Masai Mara.
The adventure begins just before dawn. Departure is from a launch site behind Little Governors Camp. Guests assemble at the launch site for a briefing as the flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. As the dawn breaks, the hot air balloon fills and then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured 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.
After about an hour or so, your balloon safari finishes with a flourish. In the time-honoured tradition of balloon flights the world over, toast your return to earth with sparkling wine and enjoy a delicious breakfast that is set up and served at a very special spot. The experience ends with a game drive back to your camp.
Wild Beest Migration
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.
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.
Night And Day Game Drives
Traditional day and night, shared game drives with a dedicated, highly qualified and experienced guide are available daily, in our specially-designed vehicles.
Explore the varying landscape of Mugie, from the dam to olive tree forests and acacia scrubland, host to a wealth of diverse wildlife, including northern endemic species Grevy’s zebra, Jackson’s hartebeest, reticulated giraffe and beisa oryx.
Birding
No matter what your interests are, there will be something to please everyone. From the world’s largest bird (the ostrich), to the world’s most numerous bird (the red-billed quelea). From Africa’s heaviest flying bird (the Kori bustard) to the dazzling array of tiny sunbirds that flit between the flower blossoms. From Africa’s largest raptor (the martial eagle) to its smallest (the African pygmy falcon) as well as millions of filter feeding flamingos to the intricate nest builders (the weavers) – there’s no end to the assortment of birds that call Kenya ‘home’.
Many factors combine to make the country favourable to bird life; the equatorial climate, a diverse range of habitats (from wetlands to moorlands, tropical rainforests to deserts and mangroves to mountains), unique geographical features (from The Great Rift Valley to chains of ancient volcanoes) and an abundance of food resources for migratory birds.
Within Kenya’s capital alone, more than 600 resident and migratory bird species can be found. This is more than in any other capital city in the world – and more than can be found in most countries!
Bird watching in Kenya is excellent throughout the year, but the rainy seasons of March to April and October to November coincide with the arrival of palearctic migrants, so bird lists can be greatly lengthened at these times. Most of our iconic birds are present all year around; pink flamingos, polka-dotted guinea fowls, regal crowned cranes, multicoloured rollers and powerful raptors.
Boat Safari On Lake Naivasha
We offer boat safaris on Lake Naivasha to our guests. Lake Naivasha, at over 6,000 feet, is the highest lake in the Rift Valley and one of its most beautiful. Fringed by papyrus and with the extinct Mount Longonot as a backdrop, this is a wonderful place to watch and photograph birds. Over 400 species of birds have been seen in the Rift Valley, and Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and Hells Gate all offer great bird viewing opportunities.
At Loldia House we have a resident ornithologist and you can enjoy this wonderful bird life by boat around Lake Naivasha, and on game drives.
From boat trips on the lake you can get close to Cormorants drying their wings, Pink Backed Pelicans, Herons, colourful Kingfishers and Fish Eagles.
Other birds seen around the lake include the Goliath Heron, Jacana, Great White Egret, White Fronted Bee-eater and the Saddle- billed Stork. Lake Nakuru is surrounded by Acacia woodland and open grassland, and millions of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes fringe the lake in shades of pink.
Lion Tracking On Mugie
In order to reduce Human-Wildlife Conflict both within and beyond the conservancy boundaries; Mugie Conservancy have collared three lionesses in three different prides in order to monitor their prides’ movements and better understand where predator-livestock interactions occur; that can potentially lead to human-wildlife conflict incidents.
Guests can head out with their Governors’ Mugie guide and our lion-tracking equipment to look for the collared lions. This is a perfect opportunity to learn how modern technology is being used by wildlife conservancy teams to mitigate conflicts between herders and lions. Guests are also encouraged to pay a visit to the Mugie Conservancy Headquarters to see the live tracking data on a big screen in the rangers control room. This data is used to update the herders on the whereabouts of the lions in order that they can navigate their livestock through safer areas that avoid the lions. This work was implemented in partnership with Lion Landscapes and The Kenya Wildlife Service.
Please note, the topography and simple equipment mean that tracking can be challenging and not always 100% successful in finding the lions.
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 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, and the colourful lifestyle they lead. There is also a bustling curio market where guests can buy Maasai beaded wares.
Visit The Pokot
Guests staying at Governors’ Mugie have the opportunity to visit the Pokot at a nearby village and learn about the traditions and customs of this colourful tribe who hail from the districts of West Pokot and Baringo.
Watch highly adorned women carry out vibrant song and dance while an elderly lady prepares cloth out of a goat hide. Meanwhile, a village elder demonstrates the art of fire making by rubbing two pieces of wood of different hardnesses together and other men play a fast-paced game of ‘bao’ in the sand.
You are also welcome to take a peek inside one of their homes and understand the importance of gourds; how they are made and the way in which they are used to store milk.
This is a truly fascinating experience and should not be missed. There is a fee of Ksh 15,000 (approximately USD 115, rate depending) to visit the Pokot, regardless of guest group size and this activity should be booked in advance where possible.
Tents At Governors Camp
The standard tents are smaller than the average for this level of camp, but reasonably comfortably furnished, with rush matting covering the concrete bedroom floor, twin or double beds, bedside tables, plug sockets taking three-pin, UK-style plugs (generator power available for charging batteries 24/7), and a small glass-topped dressing table with a director’s chair.
Outside each tent, on the veranda, there are two more director’s chairs and a table – though all too often the general access path to the tents cuts in front of the verandas, so your privacy tends to be curtailed. These director’s chairs are the only seating in the tents – no recliners, daybeds or armchairs – so there is nowhere really comfortable to flop apart from the bed itself.
The built-in tent bathrooms have half-height wood-panel walls, a tiled floor and an attractive ‘country cottage’ paint scheme that makes them a lot lighter than they would otherwise be, given the amount of tree cover and the lack of mosquito-screen ‘windows’ in the bathroom area. The bathrooms have standard flush toilets and adequate walk-in showers, but no shower screens. Hot water is provided by a Kenyan, briquette-burning ‘kuni booster’ for each tent.
The one suite at Governors’ Camp (#12a) has a bathtub is the same as the standard tents at Governors’ Il Moran Camp.
Family tents are created by hanging a second tent on the veranda of a normal tent and therefore increasing its overall size – children sleep in this add-on area. There are two tents which are most suitable for wheelchair users.
Children
Attitude towards children
Children of all ages are welcome.
Property’s age restrictions
None
Special activities & services
There are toys and puzzles in the bar, but nothing else. Childminding can be arranged with staff from housekeeping, but there is nobody with a professional childcare background.
Equipments
Cots and highchairs are available.
Generally recommended for children
Yes – Governors’ is family-friendly, and being a bit larger than most camps it can accommodate children without affecting the atmosphere of camp.
Notes
As Governors’ is unfenced, young children will need very close parental supervision at all times. The camp is busy enough, however, for animals approaching camp to be noticed before they have arrived.