Saruni Mara
Cottage lodge with family and private villas · Mara North Conservancy · Saruni Basecamp
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Top-end
Outside the gate
Safari company
Saruni Mara is a cottage lodge in Mara North Conservancy, north of the reserve, run by Saruni Basecamp, the company formed when Saruni and Basecamp Explorer began trading together. Five cottages and two villas suit couples and families alike, and the villas come with a private vehicle. The low-season rate of $500 per person in March to May and November includes drinks, night drives, walks, VAT and a massage per room; the $130 nightly conservancy fee is extra. Children get their own Warriors Academy. Choose it for a family villa in a conservancy with night drives; skip it if you want the reserve on your doorstep, as Mara North is a drive from the boundary.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Family and private villas with their own vehicle
- Night drives and walks included
- Warriors Academy for children; under-5s free when sharing
- VAT and a massage in the rate
Cons
- Conservancy fee of $130 per adult a night on top
- High season $900 per person
- Airstrip not named on the sheet
- Reserve fees extra on days in the reserve
What's here
- Family rooms
- Spa or massage
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Guided walks
- Night drives
- Community visits
Read from Saruni Mara'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 Saruni Mara
From $500 pppn. Saruni Basecamp 2026 rack rate (read 6 Oct 2026): $500 per person sharing in low season (March, April, May, November), $700 mid and $900 high (July to September, 20 December to 2 January). Family and private villas $2,000 to $3,600 per villa for up to four. Children 5 to 16 $250 to $450, under 5 free when sharing. Includes full board, house drinks, bush meals, shared day and night drives, walks, airstrip transfers, VAT and one 30-minute massage per room per stay. Excludes the conservancy fee of $130 per adult and $65 per child per night, and reserve fees.
All inclusive. The rate covers meals, drinks, activities and the transfers named below. Park fees are charged separately.
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 Saruni Mara
How much does Saruni Mara cost in 2026?
$500 per person sharing in March to May and November, $700 in mid season and $900 from July to September, on the 2026 sheet. Villas cost $2,000 to $3,600 a night for up to four. Mara North's conservancy fee of $130 per adult a night is extra.
Is Saruni Mara good for families?
Yes. It has a family villa with a private vehicle, a Warriors Academy for children, and under-5s stay free when sharing; 5 to 16 pay $250 to $450.
Is Saruni the same company as Basecamp Explorer?
They now trade as one company, Saruni Basecamp, and saruni.com forwards to sarunibasecamp.com. Guides naming two separate companies are out of date.