Cottar's Bush Villa
Exclusive-use villa with pool · Olderkesi Conservancy, south-east of the reserve · Cottar's Safaris
Top-end
Outside the gate
Owner-run
Cottar's Bush Villa is the exclusive-use house of the Cottar's family business in Olderkesi Conservancy: five en-suite bedrooms for ten guests, 10,000 square feet and a private 25-metre pool. Cottar's says it was the first property in Kenya to win World Travel Market's Best Private Villa in Africa award; that is its own claim. Guests share the conservancy and the activity list of the 1920s Camp nearby. No rate is published. Choose it for a multi-generation family or a group of friends who want a house and a pool to themselves; skip it if there are fewer than six of you.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Private 25-metre pool
- Exclusive use for up to ten
- Run by a family company with a century in safaris
- Cottar's activity list on hand
Cons
- No published rate
- Suits groups, not couples
- Far from the Mara River
- Conservancy fee not published
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Family rooms
- En-suite bathrooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Guided walks
- Community visits
Read from Cottar's Bush Villa's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Masai Mara National Reserve charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryThe non-resident rate from 1 July to 31 December; $100 from 1 January to 30 June.
- $200per person, per day
- VehicleKSh 1,000 a day for a car under six seats, about $8 at KSh 129 to the dollar.
- $8per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $1224 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
The figure above uses the July to December rate. From January to June the same sum halves for the people. A day is 06:00 to 18:00, and guests in the conservancies outside the reserve pay only on the days they drive in.
The full fee schedule for Masai Mara National ReserveRates at Cottar's Bush Villa
Rates on request. No rate captured (read 6 Oct 2026). Exclusive-use villas are normally priced for the house; ask Cottar's for the basis and whether the conservancy fee and reserve days are included.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked on 6 October 2026 against each operator's own website or 2026 rate sheet, in US dollars per person per night sharing unless the entry says otherwise. One figure is a reseller's, not the owner's: Olonana Lodge's $2,450 (safari.com, 6 Oct 2026), because A&K's own page would not load. Angama's rates come from a January 2026 copy of its site, since the live site blocks automated reading. On top of nearly every rate sits Narok County's reserve ticket: $100 per non-resident adult per 12-hour day (6 am to 6 pm) from January to June and $200 from July to December, $50 for a child of 9 to 17, free at 8 and under. Conservancy camps add their own nightly fee, $130 per adult in Mara North, Olare Motorogi and Naboisho in 2026 and $116 in Mara Siana, unless the entry says it is included.
Questions about Cottar's Bush Villa
How many people does Cottar's Bush Villa sleep?
Ten, in five en-suite bedrooms, according to Cottar's.
Does Cottar's Bush Villa have a pool?
Yes, a private 25-metre pool, on the villa's own page.
Is Cottar's Bush Villa good for families?
As an exclusive-use house it suits families; we found no published child policy with age limits.