Mara Toto Camp sits in a small bend in the Ntiakitiak River, where the thick forest meets savannah, and just a few kilometres from its sister camp, Mara Plains. Mara Toto is a magical revisiting of the past, drawing from Africa’s original explorers’ designs and designed for those who search for East Africa’s romantic safari era. Here, you will experience the best of both worlds: the intense action of the Maasai Mara ecosystem, as well as the more private 28,000 hectare Mara North Conservancy. Mara Toto is a stylish experience and adventure camp unique to the industry and fits the service levels, specialised guiding and design that has become associated with Great Plains Conservation.
Mara Toto Camp is tucked away in a grove of trees, hidden from lights, noise and any sign of humankind – a perfect camp to stay at to enjoy your Masai Mara safari. Under the canopy of African ebony trees, its humble main area is lit by lantern and candlelit, simple in design but just enough for all the comforts. It is safari chic with four light and airy, spacious canvas tents, each with en-suite bathrooms where you enjoy piping hot water from huge brass ‘safari showers’ to a chorus of hippos lazing nearby. This camp’s ambience and ‘back to the classics’ safari design will be a sure hit with private groups and safari aficionados.
It is locally famous for its leopard residents wandering the riverbanks. And is positioned to take the best advantage of two migrations – the famous annual Serengeti migration and the green season migration from Loita Plains, an additional 50,000 wildebeest and over 100,000 zebras vying for grazing rights. The seasonal camp is only open for select months of the year. With picnic breakfast (and often lunch, too), full days traverse some of Africa’s most prosperous game country, renowned for extraordinary predator density and frequent hunts. Access to both the Reserve and Mara North Conservancy give guests options for more privacy.
Drives to find and photograph unique wildlife across both the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and the Mara North Conservancy. Mara Toto Camp’s two specially designed Land Cruisers are totally open-sided (a rarity in the region),offering 300-degree views, which provide ideal photography opportunities. Under our top guides’ guidance,each vehicle comes fully equipped with a stocked fridge and photography tools.
Mara Toto has two professional camera sets, each with a choice of lenses, including wide-angle macro lenses. These are available on a complimentary basis to guests on a first-come-first-serve basis. All photos are downloaded to a USB for guests to take home upon departure with our compliments. Photographic tuition is available on request, either on company cameras or own guests’ personal cameras. A limited number of high-quality binoculars are also available for guests' complimentary use during their stay.
Great Plains Young Explorers Kid’s program is available – thoughtfully designed to explore various experiences and topics from birding to cooking to art to tracking wildlife.
Hot-air ballooning over the Masai Mara is available at additional cost, and is a truly stunning way to experience the landscape and an unforgettable sunrise.
When Great Plains Conservation was founded, we identified where lions, leopards and cheetah populations were 15 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago and today – and where they might be in 5, 10 and 15 years, both in population and distribution, given the extraordinary expansion in the human population. It was a terrifying map.
Our response was multi-pronged – acquiring, supporting and securing habitats outside national parks including former hunting concessions, community conservancies and migratory corridors and working in partnership with local communities and other conservation stakeholders – making strides together to improve habitats for Big Cats in Africa.
As National Geographic Explorers, Dereck and Beverly (the founders of Great Plains Conservation) established the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative (BCI). More than a decade later, BCI has funded 150 projects in 27 countries. After inspiring conversations with National Geographic, and on the heels of their years of founding support, we are pleased to announce that BCI will be restructured to fall under the banner of Great Plains as a Great Plains Foundation initiative.
Current projects operate in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Botswana and utilize innovative approaches to generate maximum positive impact. In the past, BCI and Great Plains have supported initiatives like the Maasai Olympics which tackles human-lion conflict and emphasizes conservation and building bridges between communities, conservation and wildlife. In 2019, Great Plains moved five lions to Selinda, saving them from the immediate threat of poaching and human-wildlife conflict and in 2022/2023, we will be relocating whole prides of lions within Zimbabwe as part of the restoration and ReWilding of the Sapi Reserve.
Big Cats need land. They need hidden places, not always prime savannahs, to breed and to roam. They need this land now more than ever as a reservoir for their dwindling numbers. There are an estimated 44 million acres of land in Africa on which Big Cats roam that is currently unprotected or under hunting management. Sixty percent of Africa’s remaining 20-30,000 lions live under no protection at all on this land. We are working to change these numbers and protect more of Africa for Big Cats.
