Where to stay in Maasai Mara Safari?
The best way I can describe Naibor Camp is: My Home Away From Home.
My first time traveling to Africa, my first time traveling to Kenya, my first safari experience. Naibor Camp was the best decision I made for my first Kenya, Safari travels. The camp came highly recommended by a friend and he did not oversell.
If you are looking for comfortable, cozy, quality, no-kid disruptions, and “living in the wild” experience, WITHOUT over-the-top luxury lodges and excessive facilities, Naibor Camp is the one.
Home Away From Home
I booked the “Main Naibor” tent, which holds 1 queen size bed along with a full bathroom; sink, toilet, and safari shower (yes we call them safari showers). The room is absolutely amazing and luxurious for what you are experiencing in the wild safari. You even get 2 closets, 2 bedside tables (including outlets), and a small dressing table to write or do your make-up.
Here’s what we found in our tent:
2 large umbrellas (even though this trip was in June, we definitely got rain!)
2 bathrobes
2 heated water packs (this was an amazing addition for chilly evenings when going to bed!)
Shampoo, bodywash, conditioner, body lotion, handwash
Large and small towels
Small torch
Bug spray (1 for the body and 1 for the room)
What I recommend to bring:
You need your own toothbrush and toothpaste!
Room Slippers (if you are sensitive like me and don’t like the feeling of dust or sand touching your feet after a shower)
Hair oil & hairbrush (you will have extremely dry and tangled hair after the game drives)
Headlamp or torch (the camp provides one! But if 2 people are staying in the tent, might be safer to have an extra)
Important Note:
The camp does not provide hairdyers, and you are not allowed to bring your own to plug in due to limited electricity available.
Laundry service is provided! The quality of their laundry was amazing, everything smelled great when we received our clothes at night. Please take note that they do not wash undergarments for you, so they do provide gentle soap outside the tent and water for handwashing any undergarments you may want to do yourself.
There is no wifi in the tent, but you can get some 4G/5G internet signal.
Mess Tent & Communal Space
Naibor Camp provides cozy communal space for all their guests. You will also have all 3 meals in the mess and terrace area of the communal space, where you can have a beautiful view of hippos, river, and safari landscape. The mess provides wifi with desks and outlets if you need to do some work. I personally used this space to upload and edit my daily safari photos!
The staff that works in the mess are extremely friendly and always up for a chat if you want! They even serve afternoon tea everyday at 4:00pm, which is right before late afternoon game drives (usually 4:30pm). Everyday they serve a different cake, and my personal favorite was the carrot cake (but the lemon poppy seed was amazing as well).
Fun Tips:
Ask the camp manager for postcards and he’ll guide you to the office tent for free postcards that you can write! *unfortunately Naibor won’t be able to send them, but they’re a great takeaway souvenir.
There’s also a small shop with Naibor merch, and the fleece jackets are amazing! Not only are they soft, but they are very safari aesthetic. I didn’t realize they sold them until the end of my trip. But I will definitely be back to buy one! If you forgot to bring a jacket, the morning drives do get chilly, so you can secure a jacket or fleece from their shop and look good!
I booked a deep tissue massage with the camp masseuse, and she was absolutely amazing! I highly recommend at least doing 1 during your stay. Her skills are top notch (she came from a 5 star hotel) and she is also extremely friendly.
All additional payments can be made via credit card or cash (there will be a 4% charge for credit card).
Tipping is a culture in most of Kenya, so do expect to tip in Naibor Camp. But I honestly was more than happy to tip both the camp team and our guide for the game drives. The whole Naibor team was friendly, professional, and helpful. Remember to bring cash for the tip (USD would be best) and the camp manager will explain the tipping etiquette on the first day during check-in.
5 Star Meals in the Wild
Breakfast in the Bush
For Day 2 and Day 3, I chose to have Breakfast in the Bush during my morning game drives, which are from 6:30-11:00am. On Day 4, I had breakfast in the mess on the terrace, and had a game drive to the airstrip.
Your guide will try his best to secure a shaded spot under a large tree, but there’s always a chance you end up eating directly under the sun. It does get very warm, but in June, it was bearable for myself and I still enjoyed my meal. Naibor kindly prepared cereals, fruits, yogurt, bread, bacon, and eggs. They will even provide a wide choice of drinks; milk, coffee, tea, and juice. *there’s always water available on the landrover
Lunch Buffet with Hippos
The lunch buffet will include a meat option and a vegetarian option, along with a few salads. The lunch is amazingly good, filling, and refreshing after a long morning game drive. Although I do eat meat, I really enjoyed all the vegetarian food options they provided. For drinks, the bar is open so you can have anything from sparkling water, juices, beer, wine, and cocktails. I had a combination of white wine and their daily mocktails during my stay. At the end of the meal, you’ll be treated with amazing sorbet or ice cream! (it’s not a surprise I gained weight from this trip)
3 Course Dinners
Getting a 3 course meal in the middle of the safari is completely divine and I was so grateful for the Naibor Camp for treating us with such great food! You’ll have an open bar of course, and start with bread and soup (french onion was my favorite!). Followed by the main course, which offered the main protein, carb, and vegetables. And you’ll have a final dessert at the end of the meal.
I had difficulty finishing their portions, so I did request for less food so as to avoid any food waste. Make sure to let the Naibor team know if you have any dietary restrictions!
Just More about Naibor
I could go on and on about every fantastic detail on Naibor, but I think ending the blog with these 3 pieces will be enough to assure you that Naibor Camp is the camp to book for your Maasai Mara Safari experience.
Every morning, Naibor will provide a warm drink of your choice at your tent for when you get up for your game drive. I went with hot chocolate every morning, but you have the option of coffee, tea, or even wine if you so prefer.
Every evening after your afternoon game drive, you can join the other campers at the fireplace. Everyone shared stories around the fire and I even made a few friends! (it’s a good idea to mingle with other campers as you can exchange photos of the animals that you may have missed)
Lastly, the mess has a public bathroom available (so you don’t need to scurry back to your tent). And it’s a Loo with a View!! Nothing gets better than that.
