Does anyone (Eben !!) have any recommendations as to the best part of the Masai Mara to be in for January/February??

I know the migration isn't in Kenya at that time, so I'm wondering where the best place to be might be?

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In masai mara, with or without the wildebeest, there are alot of wildlife to be seen, there are also alot of game parks/reserves in Kenya, Amboseli, Tsavo, Samburu, Aberdares, Nakuru. If you are planning a safari to Kenya, you can visit most of them, this will be determined by the time you have and your budget too.

Depending on how many days you plan to visit here, either inside the Triangle, the Mara Reserve itself, or the adjacent private conservation lands are all good choices. Game is dispersed, though you can come upon herds of elephants, lots of antelope (all kinds), hippos at various points along the Mara and Talek area. The predators can be anywhere. And, yes, there are resident wildebeest herds that never migrate.

The advantage of the areas outside the Mara would be night game drives if you're interested in this.

If you have 4/days, consider splitting time between inside for 2/nts and the other 2/nts outside. If with your own guide/vehicle, this is easily done; if on a flying safari, then there is a fee for transfer between different camps.

I'd select a property that meets your needs and budget... can't really go wrong. The Mara is always wonderful.

So... if I was in the Mara for 3 nights in Jan/Feb, which location would you suggest I stay?

Do you want a lodge or a camp? If a camp, a large one or small one? Will you be driving or flying here... some camps only accept fly-in paxs. Jan/Feb is high-season, so what are your budget considerations?
There are lots of accommodations from which to choose.

Lodge/camp is not as important to me as actually being in the best part of the mara in January/February.

Would you suggest NW, NE, SW, SE corner?

Serena Lodge, or

The rest are all camps:
Naibor, Rekero, Intrepid's, Explorer, Governor's, Little Governor's, Governor's Il Moran, Kichwa Tembo, Olonana, Serian, Elephant Pepper
Fig Tree, Basecamp, Ilkeliani, Porini Lion.

Most of the above are either inside/near the Mara Triangle area, some in the Mara Reserve itself (to east of Mara River) or the adjacent private lands to the west and north.

Any of these can meet your needs. Then it's up to the game, which can never be guaranteed.

Sandi,

Any thoughts on Keekerok? Or is that too far to the east?

Dear Simbakubwa

Unfotunately, not all questions have a clear answer...

my statistical understanding claims that coincidence (luck factor) is far greater than location factor.
sometimes the variation between days in the same place is equivalent to the variation between 2 distant places...

i have been to Mara around 80-100 times & i've discussed safaries with close friends who guide them; it totals many hundreds of visits & i cannot answer your question...
I can ask a friend who actually stayed in Mara for 2.5 years (guiding night safaris). she knows Mara better than i do (although she was stationed in one place, she drove around) iwonder wghat she would say...

of course it matters if you'd like to be in a less visited area, or you are looking for specifics like leopards (with trade-off to cheetah) sometimes a well-known territory of a leopard (like one Jonathan Scott was shooting at the time) can make the difference.
I can stay lots of time observing behaviour of Impalas which is more interesting than a sleeping leopard on a tree...

BTW Keekorok is a good location IMO.
(it is better than Sopa for example, concerning access to different areas, but of course i can't say more...)
you probably know this was the first chosen location for a lodge; it has abundant wildlife year-around...
If you would like to cover some distant areas (to compare & write a 'sampling' report)take a breakfast box at 06:30 and pass through Fig-Tree onwards to the Triangle... or go all the way to Serena coming back at 13:30
Then afternoon shorter game-drive spend at Talek, Sand-River, even Sopa or Sarova side...

Safari njema (kabisa!)

aby

simbakubwa -

aby is right on!

Recently back from a stay in the Mara... in early June which is off-season. Stayed at four (4) camps, in four different areas and all had something to offer. Sparse game for sure, but otherwise quite interesting and fun.

Spent 1/day in the northern Mara on private conservation land (at Saruni), where there was plenty of impala, tommies, topi, giraffe, ellees, zebra, got to visit the Rhino sactuary, saw jackals take down some Tommies (boo-hoo-hoo... upset me!)

Then down to private lands just west of the Triangle (Serian). Only 1/day and it was raining so chose to skip game drive, but the hippos were most entertaining as were the crocs.

Another camp, not far from here (Olonana), into the Triangle in/around the area south of Musiara swamps with lots of everything, but only 1 wildie (it must have been lost)... lion, ellees, impala, tommies, topi, eland, buffalo, birds galore, giraffe, cheetah, zebra, kori bustard, secretary birds, hyena and other........

Finally, inside the Mara, on the Talek at Explorer camp and here too - antelope, impala, tommies, topi, hyena, giraffe, ellees, hippo, cheetah, etc.

No leopard, but that's okay.

Other guests at these camps saw more game, but they went out on morning drives which I don't. It's often luck as to what and how much you see anywhere, except during the migration when there's game almost everywhere.

As aby says... Keekorok was the first lodge in the Mara (refurbished end-2005) and is in a good spot with no other lodge nearby. But game can't be guarantee anywhere, all the time, when you're wherever you are.