Sixteen tents by a small river, inside the Maasai Mara

Matira Bush Camp stands in riverine forest inside the Maasai Mara National Reserve, with a small river running through camp and a covered bridge of local logs across it. Monika and Antony started it as a few mobile tents, and it has stood in the same patch of forest since 2010.

Two kinds of tent

There are sixteen tents, each placed for privacy. All have an en-suite bathroom and furniture made by local artisans.

Premium Tents stand on high wooden platforms with log railings, facing the river or the open savannah. Each has a deck with loungers and a table.

A Premium Tent seen from above, on its raised wooden deck with a log railing, surrounded by riverine forest

Comfort Tents sit at ground level under the trees, with red-striped curtains inside and deck chairs on the porch.

A Comfort Tent at dusk, lamps lit inside behind red-striped curtains, two director’s chairs and a candlelit table under the fly-sheet

The Dome

Meals are served in the Dome, a dining hall built from local materials, or outside under old trees. Greens and vegetables come from the camp’s kitchen garden, and the cooking is Swahili with European and Indian technique. On request, dinner is laid on a tent’s own veranda.

Tables laid with red-striped cloths under the Dome’s woven timber roof, arched windows looking out to the trees

Out from the edge of camp

Because the camp is inside the reserve, the game drive starts just outside it. Drives go out early in the morning and again in the late afternoon with a Maasai guide, or for a full day with lunch in the bush. After a morning drive, breakfast can be set out on the plains.

Photography is a speciality. The camp’s Land Cruisers are customised to hold camera gear, the guides are trained in photography, and the team has worked with wildlife filmmakers for years. On foot, guided walks of about an hour go out into the country bordering the reserve.

A Maasai guide in a red shuka holding a camera beside a green Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof

A Maasai team

Everyone on the team is local Maasai, and most grew up in the Mara. They guide the drives and the walks and look after the camp. After dark the campfire is lit, and the team tell stories around it.

The campfire burning at night in a clearing under the trees, director’s chairs around it and lanterns on the ground

Plan a stay: https://matira-bush-camp.netlify.app