Under canvas
Camping in the Masai Mara: the Triangle's campsites and what they cost
All the campsites you can actually find and book are in the Mara Triangle, run by the Mara Conservancy for Narok County. Three public sites take you without a booking; eight private ones are booked online and come with two rangers for the night.
If you only want the answer
Camping costs $40 per non-resident adult per night, $20 for a child aged 9 to 17, on top of the daily entry fee of $100 (January to June) or $200 (July to December), under the Narok County Finance Act 2023. The three public campsites, Oloololo, Iseiya and Eluai, are in the Mara Triangle, first come first served, with no booking fee. Private sites are booked at marabookings.co.ke for a non-refundable KSh 15,000 plus KSh 5,000 a night for two rangers.
What does camping in the Masai Mara cost?
Camping is charged per person per night on top of the entry ticket, never instead of it. The rates come from the Narok County Finance Act 2023, unchanged in the county's 2024 draft bill, and the Mara Conservancy publishes the same table for the Triangle. The cheapest legal night inside the reserve for a foreign adult is therefore $140 from January to June and $240 from July to December.
The Act calls the line Special Camp Sites Fees and Public Campsite, so the per-person rate is the same at a public site and a private one. What changes at a private site is the booking fee and the rangers.
| Charge | Non-resident | East African resident | Kenyan citizen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camping, adult, per night | $40 | KSh 2,000 | KSh 1,000 |
| Camping, child 9 to 17 or student | $20 | KSh 1,000 | KSh 200 |
| Children 8 and under | free | free | free |
| Entry, adult, per day, Jan to Jun / Jul to Dec | $100 / $200 | KSh 2,500 / 5,000 | KSh 1,500 / 3,000 |
Night security at a private site costs KSh 5,000 a night (two rangers at KSh 2,500 each), the same figure the Act lists as full-night camp security.
The public campsites: Oloololo, Iseiya and Eluai
The three public sites need no booking and charge no booking fee, and there is no maximum stay. Turn up, pay the camping fee with your entry, and pitch. Camping gear is not provided at any of them. Choose Oloololo if you want hot showers and the easiest access from the north; choose Iseiya if you want to be near the Triangle's headquarters and a canteen; Eluai is the most basic.
| Site | Max campers | Facilities (Mara Bookings listing) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oloololo | 30 | Kitchen shelter with no utensils, toilets for ladies, gents and wheelchair users, hot showers | At Oloololo Gate, below the escarpment |
| Iseiya | 10 | A long-drop toilet only | At the Triangle headquarters near Mara Serena; food and drinking water at the canteen |
| Eluai | 15 | Long-drop toilets and a bathroom | Bring your own camping gear, water and firewood |
Listings read from the Mara Conservancy's booking system on 6 October 2026; its records were last updated between October 2025 and 28 August 2026.
The private campsites, and how to book them
Private sites are exclusive to your group and booked online at marabookings.co.ke, the Mara Conservancy's own system, which needs an account. The booking fee is non-refundable: KSh 15,000 for a private group and KSh 50,000 for a professional operator, with a maximum stay of 7 or 14 days. The Conservancy's table sets cancellation at $1,000. Two rangers are compulsory for night security at every private site.
Ndovu and Kiboko give professional tour operators priority from June to October, so a private group should book as early as possible for the migration months. No lead time is published. Three special sites, Kampi ya Mungu, Kishanga and Kijito, are open only from July to October and only to professional operators, at $1,000 a day.
| Site | Max campers | Open | Where and what |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dirisha | 20 | All year | Northern Mara River, between Oloololo Gate and Iseiya |
| Ndovu | 30 | All year | Northern Mara River; operators have priority June to October |
| Hornbill | 15 | All year | Above a bend of the northern Mara River |
| Kiboko | 30 | All year | Southern Triangle near crossing points; no facilities, bring firewood |
| Olarro | 12 | All year | Southern Triangle with a view of the Mara River |
| Kijito, Kishanga, Kampi ya Mungu | 20, 30, 40 | July to October | Professional operators only, $1,000 a day |
Enkishui and Ratpanat appear in the Conservancy's fee table but not in the booking system's current list; its August 2026 report calls Enkishui a seasonal camp open from July to November.
Can you camp on the Narok side of the reserve?
In law, yes: the Act prices public campsites and a special campsite reservation of KSh 15,000 a week on the Narok side. In practice Narok County publishes no list of its campsites, no booking channel and no contact, so there is nothing to book. Budget travellers on the east side usually stay in private camps and campsites just outside Talek, Sekenani and Oloolaimutia gates, which charge their own rates and leave the reserve fee for the days you drive in.
If you want a reserve campsite you can be sure of, plan around the Triangle. From Narok, the Sekenani route takes you across the reserve to Purungat Bridge; the Aitong route takes you to Oloololo Gate and the campsite beside it.
Rules and wildlife at the campsites
- Camp only at a designated public or private site. The Mara Conservancy is explicit that a camping vehicle cannot park and stay anywhere else.
- The sites are unfenced. Lion and hyena move through the Triangle at night; stay in the tent after dark and keep food sealed in the vehicle.
- The listings name the visitors: Kijito for its elephant and buffalo, Kiboko for hippos and crocodiles with elephant, buffalo and leopard passing, Dirisha for leopard, hippo, buffalo and elephant, Hornbill for elephant, giraffe and buffalo.
- Never walk down to the river bank. Crocodiles and hippos make the Mara River the most dangerous ground in the reserve, and swimming in rivers in protected areas is illegal.
- Leaving the vehicle anywhere other than a designated point is against the rules in the Triangle, and drivers who let clients break them face disciplinary action since August 2025.
Supplies: fill up in Narok
Narok is the last full-service town, 87 km of tarmac before Sekenani Gate, with a dozen filling stations, banks and supermarkets including Naivas and QuickMart. Inside the reserve fuel is sold only at camps and lodges and sometimes runs short, and there is no public filling station in the Triangle. Iseiya's canteen sells food and drinking water; everywhere else, bring what you need, including water at Eluai and Kiboko.
Something this page does not answer?
Narok County publishes no campsite list for its side of the reserve. If you cannot work out where to pitch, ask us.
Ask us. We answer questions about the park itself, and we can usually tell you which camps work on one route and who to write to. If what you want is a trip someone else arranges, we will say so and hand you to an operator we know, and we earn a commission if that becomes a booking.
Nothing on this site sits behind the form. Every figure we have is already on the page.
Sources
- Narok County Finance Act 2023, First Schedule (read 6 Oct 2026)
- Mara Conservancy, conservation and camping fees (read 6 Oct 2026)
- Mara Bookings, Mara Triangle campsite listings (read 6 Oct 2026)
- Mara Conservancy, driving to the Mara Triangle (read 6 Oct 2026)
- Mara Conservancy, August 2026 monthly report