Budget Safari in Masai Mara: Affordable Animal Watching Guide in Africa
✈️ Transportation to Masai Mara
It must be a direct flight from Nairobi to Masai Mara! The airline should definitely be Mombasa Air, while the other two, Air Kenya and Safari Link, are not as good. Mombasa Air has a separate small building as a waiting room at Wilson Airport, and they will escort you to the plane on time.
There are few people, and sometimes it can even be like chartering a plane with just a friend [nose-picking emoji] Reservations can be made on their official website. Mombasa Air is also the only airline that provides a direct flight from Amboseli to Masai Mara! It’s a must-choose if you want to go to Amboseli without transferring in Nairobi!
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🏨 The hotel is also very important. Although Masai Mara is not large, staying at a place like Fairmont means you have to drive for at least an hour to see some animals, which is not pleasant! Also, the picnic lunch during the day of the Safari, taking a short rest back at the hotel before going out again, the Sundowner at the end of the evening, and the quality of food and drinks all affect the overall Safari experience.
Try to choose hotels close to the Kenyan-Tanzanian border, such as Kempinski or JW Marriott!
🚗 Safari method
You must stay at JW Marriott Masai Mara, the newest and most luxurious resort in Masai Mara, which includes two Game Drives per day. Look at those 4×4 modified Land Cruisers; when parked in a spot where lions are found, it feels like an emperor looking down on his subjects. The minivans, the beat-up cars, and those vehicles with a sunroof where you have to stand up to take pictures, the envious looks from the people inside, your car is the coolest on this grassland!
The binoculars provided in the car are the latest and top-of-the-line, with automatic diopter adjustment and ultra-high magnification, clear enough to see the lion’s fur without any problem! If you stay at JW Marriott Masai Mara for more than two nights, you can ask the hotel to communicate with other guests about combining the Game Drives into one for the day to get a longer experience, but I found the white mother and son (or couple) in the shared vehicle too chatty, so I spent $1000 per person to upgrade to a private vehicle, stopping wherever and whenever I wanted!
❌ What if you don’t have money for a Safari?
First, you might have to endure a bumpy 7-8 hour bus ride to Masai Mara, then stay in a place with unclean water and dirty bedding, with no safety guarantees; the Safari vehicle you book will have at least six people, in a small van with a low chassis and seating, bumpy, hot, and inconvenient for taking photos, and unable to stop whenever you want.
🎁 I’ll write about the private reserve Safari strategy when I’m in a better mood. This post is about Masai Mara, if it’s about Serengeti Safari, please wait patiently.
