Karen Blixen Camp

The luxury tents at Karen Blixen Camp are raised on platforms and can be configured for double or twin occupancy. The beds sit in the centre of the room with crisp bed linens, softly coloured cushions and throws, and a travellers chest for storage at the foot of the bed.

Draped hanging curtains can cover the mosquito netted windows at night and can be pulled back during the day to let natural light fill the room. Comfortable and classic armchairs give the room a traditional traveller feel and polished wooden floors run throughout the whole veranda, room and bathroom creating fluidity and a sense of the outside in. The en-suites include twin basins, and an outdoor shower, screened for privacy but open air, for an authentic safari experience.

A large private veranda at the front of the tent is the perfect place for guests to relax after a long day or before dinner. Deck chairs face towards the breathtaking vista and a traditional subbed is the best place for a shaded siesta in the heat of the day.

With prior arrangement all tents at Karen Blixen Camp can have a 3rd of 4th bed added for children. There is also a family tent, consisting of two tented rooms which share a veranda. Decorated in the same style as the other tents, the family tents are comfortable and bright with a neutral colour palette, so guests can focus their attentions on the scenery outside the room.

En-suite bathrooms with outdoor showers are offered for a unique experience of showering in the very midst of nature. The beds are situated in the centre of the room with an unparalleled view of the distant rolling hills, and guests can enjoy these scenes without even having to leave their bed. The large veranda is the perfect place for the whole family to relax together and keep an eye out for passing galloping giraffes or lazy hippos.

The main ‘mess’ area of Karen Blixen Camp includes a lounge area, dining area and the reception. High thatched ceilings add authenticity and open sides allow for a view over the resident hippo pod, allowing guests to enjoy the original recipes whilst keeping an eye on the hippos.

Dinner is either served in the restaurant or in the bush garden, and guests can relax before dinner with a drink from the home-style bar in the comfortable lounge area, or after dinner with a drink around the campfire, immersing yourself in the sounds of the night.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner can all be served in the bush garden. This is an authentic and traditional safari camp experience and allows guests to enjoy delicious meals, paired with Africas finest wines, in the heart of the African bush, enjoying the sounds, sights and smells in which it has to offer.

Game drives are available from Karen Blixen Camp, this is a traditional safari way to view wildlife up close and personal without disturbing. In a comfortable, open sided Toyota Land Cruiser guests can see uninterrupted views of the roaming animals.

Early morning game drives are available and guests can extend their drive into the night, for a change to see some of the nocturnal creatures of the conservancy such as porcupine, honey badger and aardvarks. Drives are conducted in the Mara North Conservancy however guests can also arrange to visit The Maasai Mara National Reserve or the Mara Conservancy. Picnics can be arranged on the game drives, allowing guests to enjoy a spot of lunch in the heart of the African bush.

Guests can explore Olisuk – the camps private concession area – on foot, with an armed Maasai guide leading the way. Follow animal tracks, or spend time marvelling at the micro-ecosystems of the conservancy. Whilst on this walk your guide will be able to impart their wisdom on traditional Maasai uses of flora and fauna for medicines and rituals.

The guides are also expert bird spotters, and guests can spend some time in a remote corner of the camp with one of The Maasai guides trying to spot some of the 180 species of bird such as sunbirds, weavers or herons.

For a once-in-a-lifetime experience view the Mara North Conservancy from the air, in a hot air balloon. From your birds eye view, look down to see the lazy hippos meandering to the river, or galloping zebras and giraffes. Included in the balloon safari is a champagne breakfast, for the ultimate luxury safari experience.

Guests have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the local culture with a visit to the local Maasai village, The Maasai market or the local primary school.

Take a trip around the camp and be shown how the camp is run in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. Guests can see the solar panels, the zero waste sewage system and waste management and the non-power cold room. This is a great opportunity to learn about the importance of these green measures.

With a resident masseuse, guests can chose from a range of wellness treatments and spend an afternoon for some well earned self-indulgence time. All treatments are received in the privacy of your own tent.

Karen Blixen Camp has attained a Gold Eco Rating by Ecotourism Kenya. This is a prestigious award that is an acknowledgement that the camp ‘practices in the areas of sustainable utilisation of environment, energy savings, community benefits and conservation.’

Karen Blixen Camp do many things to stay up to this rating, such as; make use of the latest green technologies, find sustainable solutions for energy consumption, promote proper working conditions and employment for staff, raise funds for the local Maasai community, and promote gender equality, HIV/AIDS awareness and environmental responsibility.

The Karen Blixen Camp Trust is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to supporting ‘conservation of wildlife and wilderness, community empowerment, and childhood and vocational education.’

Through this trust various programmes are supported, one being wildlife habitat protection. ‘Less than 50% of the greater Mara ecosystem is under governmental protection,’ so the remaining land is reliant on conservancies and protection. Karen Blixen Camp is a partner with Mara North Conservancy, which is an institution of 13 tourism companies and over 800 landowners from the local Maasai communities.

Specifically focused on is ‘Plot 92’ which is favourited by pregnant lionesses as a ‘birth hotspot’. This has given the area a very important status and need to conserve it to help protect the lions. Karen Blixen Camp Trust is trying to purchase the land to secure the conservation efforts and stop the land being sold.

The Mara North Conservancy Dog Health Project is supported by the KBCT. Dogs are an essential part of Maasai culture, and are used as guard dogs to help protect livestock from predators and reduce human-wildlife conflicts.

Over recent years, the amount of free-roaming domestic dogs has increased and are becoming an issue for the local wildlife. To combat this problem, the KBCT support the local community by helping to vaccinate, de-worm and neuter the dogs. Through meetings, the Maasai community have become very positive about this initiate.

The Karen Blixen Camp Trust helps to protect the largest subspecies of elephant ‘who are threatened by poaching for the illegal ivory trade, climate change, and and increasing number of human-elephant conflicts.’ Currently, one elephant is poached, on average, every 15 minutes. If this continues the KBCT estimates that African elephants will be extinct within 15 years.

With population increasing, more land is being used for living and farming, so human-elephant conflicts are increasing. To help combat this issue, and to pre-emptively stop poaching and human-elephant conflict, the Mara Elephant Project use elephant-friendly GPS collars which allows them to monitor movement in real time.

The Karen Blixen Camp Trust helps to empower local communities by various vocational initiatives such as a Culinary Arts program, which is an 18-month course for 18-25 years olds from the local Maasai who wish to go into a career in culinary.

27 students who have completed this program already all secured jobs within two months of graduating. Information and Communication Technology and Business Studies are also programmes. IT is increasing in Kenya and telephones, computers and software are becoming necessary. Currently over 50 students have received education from the School for IT and Business Studies and are well educated in  business planning skills, entrepreneurship and online marketing.

Various staff members of Karen Blixen Camp have been educated through the Language Program; which teaches English and German language skills. The goal is ‘to expand language training to additional members of the community,’ so far, 40 students have basic English skills, while 23 have attained A1 level in German.

There are two ongoing projects by the Karen Blixen Camp Trust to help aid female empowerment in the local Maasai community. Small business initiatives are supported with vocational training, donations, finance loans and production facilities.

One of these projects is The Maasai Rianda Sustainable Charcoal Production Project. Local women identified the need for sustainable charcoal and from the money they earned through selling their bead work they bought a charcoal briquette machine. Made from cow dung, leaves and water, these charcoals don’t harm the environment and don’t contribute to deforestation. The KBCT supported this project with a donation in 2019. The other project is The Maasai Rianda women beading project.

The Maasai Rianda Women Group of 32 women was established in 2014. The trust donated this group a workshop so they could create their beadwork, and a small shop next to the workshop sells the finished product, all with background information about who created the piece of jewellery.

Karen Blixen Camp makes sure all their workers have job security, freedom to join any association, proper living conditions and social and medical benefits. They believe ‘the private sector has the capacity to alleviate poverty and promote gender equality through proper working conditions.’ Staff members are covered by the National Health Insurance Fund and the National Social Security Fund. Gender equality is also assured with men and women being given the same salary and the same employment conditions.

To make sure the local Maasai community benefit economically from their presence in the area Karen Blixen Camp distributes their revenue ‘following the principle trade, not aid.’ The camp follows a bed night fee, where every time a guest spends a night at the camp, a bed night fee is paid.

To help benefit the local community local food and milk is also resourced and when contracting work is needed, local trucks are hired. Villagers also receive the money that guests have spent on a ticket to visit The Maasai villages and the items in the gift shop are all made by the local Maasai women’s group and profits go to the women themselves.

Karen Blixen Camp supports the eight UN Millennium Development Goals of 2015 and the Principles of the UN Global Compact which ‘invites companies to embrace, support and enact within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment, and anti-corruption.’ To maintain these principles, an annual Communication on Progress is submitted, describing the ways in which it implements the principles.

Karen Blixen Camp is partnered with the Danida, which is the Danish International Development Assistance. This provides ‘economic and technical support to developing countries with the objective to achieve economic growth, social development and political independence.’ Danida supports Karen Blixen Camp in their initiates to help poverty reduction by investing and promoting social development.

The Investment Fund for developing countries has granted a development loan to Karen Blixen Camp to help promote growth in developing countries. To help make sure any use of wood or woodland is sustainable Karen Blixen Camp has partnered with The Woodlands 2000 Trust, and through this partnership the camp is establishing a Forestry School to help educate The Maasai youth on how to grow and plant sustainable woodlots.

Karen Blixen Camp utilises the latest green technologies to make sure that the camp runs in the most environmentally responsible way. Fully powered by solar panel systems, the camp has a back up battery bank, which allows for 24 hour electricity. This eliminates the use of diesel generators and the camps CO2 emissions are kept at a minimum.

Solar water heaters provide hot water for the outdoor showers 24 hours a day, helping them to protect Kenyan forests and woodlands by not using charcoal or firewood. The camp also has their own vegetable room, which has been built from sustainably produced firewood. Recycled and treated waste water is used to water the bush garden and tree nursery. All of these practices are reviewed yearly by an Environmental Auditor.