Kicheche Bush Camp
Kicheche Bush Camp is a luxurious and intimate unfenced tented camp, perfect for anyone who wants to experience a true African safari. Serving as a perfect hideaway in the outstanding area of Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kicheche Bush Camp attracts amateur and professional photographers alike, all of whom trust the Kicheche approach to a day on safari. This safe and exciting environment allows you to see the best of African wildlife roaming around its native homeland, and take fantastic photos of the experience that you can treasure forever.
Kicheche Bush Camp, masai mara, Narok, Kenya
Kicheche Bush Camp is located in an incredible area, dense with African wildlife, in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy bordering the Masai Mara Reserve. The animal viewing is first class and the Conservancy’s exclusivity ensures that guests experience a high-quality African safari and Kenya holiday experience.
Drives start from within the camp itself and, if guests visit at the right time, it is the ideal place from which to witness the famous annual wildebeest migration.
- Elegant common area for relaxing, having tea or dining in
- Six stylish two-person tents spread out under Acacia trees
- Large en-suite bathroom with traditional ‘safari’ style bucket shower and view
- A friendly, personal atmosphere entwines the camp, encouraging you to mix with other guests and your hosts at meal times and around the fire each evening for an aperitif
- Lunch can be eaten under the Acacia trees or as a picnic while in the Conservancy
- A water dispenser can be found in each tent to refill your complimentary bottle
- Lighting is supplied 24 hours; charging facilities in the tent, however, the solar system does not allow hair dryers
- Wi-Fi available in the lounge area
There are six spacious, fully insect-proof tents that are each equipped with twin or double beds, linen, bedside tables, luggage racks and rugs. Each tent can sleep up to two people, with a maximum camp occupancy of twelve guests at any one time. Bathrooms are en-suite and come equipped with a dresser, flushing toilet and a traditional safari bucket shower with a stunning view. In addition, there are comfortable chairs on each veranda for when you want a calm moment overlooking the plains. One tent can be converted into a triple on request, for larger groups. There is a roomy, well-furnished lounge and dining tent as well, though al-fresco dining is preferred when the weather allows it.
The chefs at Kicheche cook a variety of both African and international dishes, all for the pleasure of your taste buds. Fresh produce is flown in regularly and bread and pastries are baked daily so that nothing is served stale. The camp’s natural intimacy encourages communal dining with your hosts, but private dining can be arranged. Special dietary requirements can be catered for on request.
The trips out into the conservancy take place in customised 4WD vehicles, designed for this specific purpose, with care taken to ensure both safety and fantastic sightings. Watching the wildlife at close range without encroaching on their space is a truly unforgettable experience and our guides’ instincts and safari experience will help provide superb wildlife photography so you don’t just have to rely on your mind’s eye when recalling your holiday in future.
Experience a unique night out in the wilderness, either as a journey towards the Kicheche Valley camp or on its own terms. Staying at the camp is one thing, but spending a night in the wilderness itself is something totally different again, and not to be missed. It is part of the Mara Wilderness package, done by foot across the Mara with a night spent camping in the wild.
Guided walks to see local wildlife can also be undertaken. Local guides will take you to some brilliant places from which to see the wildlife, whilst remaining safe at all times. It’s a very different experience to the Safaris, though the lack of bouncing in a 4×4 may give you even better opportunities to capture fantastic photos of your trip.
During your stay, be sure to visit the MAA Trust in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, a great project that the Kicheche Community Trust supports. It focuses on women empowerment and education. Just 10 minutes away from camp, visiting the MAA Trust is a great opportunity for guests to interact with Maasai women, watch and learn about their traditional bead-work and learn more about the Trust’s efforts towards wildlife conservation via sustainable community development.
The camp’s owners have their own charitable trust. Their mission is to join local peoples and partners together to support both traditional and sustainable ways of living in harmony with the wildlife, ecosystems and environment of east Africa.
Established in 2004, the Kicheche Community Trust has become a reliable source of funding for projects in and around the conservancy communities where Kicheche operates. They encourage the preservation of the local environment whilst improving the welfare of the community through improved health and education facilities. They also strive to empower the community through training and revenue earning projects, with these aims achieved using four main pillars.
The Kicheche Community Trust focuses on primary, secondary and other study program and is active in every conservancy where Kicheche camps operate. These are the Mara North Conservancy, Olare Motorogi and Naboisho conservancy, all in Masai Mara, and the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia.
The Trust has built and thereafter maintained several school classrooms, sponsored primary school teachers and supplied thousands of curriculum school books and stationery equipment. Moreover, the Trust has provided bursaries to more than 65 students in primary, secondary and other study programs. The Trust annually sponsors students that attend the Koiyaki Guiding School and has employed multiple school graduates as guides and trainee guides at the Kicheche Camps, giving them an opportunity to work after their education.
Personal hygiene and menstrual health education were both a great need in the community. Recognising this, the Kicheche Community Trust has supported and trained over 150 girls so far on the use of reusable sanitary towels and menstrual cups, to help prevent monthly school absence.
The Kicheche Community Trust contributes towards the free Aitong Medical Camp events on an annual basis, which enables volunteer doctors to treat nearly ome thousand patients every year, half of them women who need specialised care. In addition, this local CMF clinic is supported with donations of supplies and facilities such as medicines, medical books, a maternity ward, a dental ward, a sanitary block, a waste incinerator, a water pump, water tanks and an upgraded solar power system.
At Kicheche Laikipia Camp, the Trust is supporting the Tumaini Childrens’ home in Nanyuki. This orphanage is in constant need of support: blankets, food supplies (especially baby formula), bursaries to pay school fees, uniforms and books, infrastructure maintenance, and toys. The Trust does everything it can to help.
The Trist also raises awareness of HIV & Aids and Female Genital Cutting (FGC) awareness. Together with the local theatre group SAFE, the Trust helps to organise an educative performance at the local markets every two years, educating local people on HIV & Aids and FGC practices to create more community awareness on these sensitive and important topics.
There is a wide range of revenue earning projects and self-help groups supported by the Trust that look to better the lives of local people. This atmosphere helps develop an environment where members have more power and influence over what matters to them.
The Trust holds workshops for the youth to improve their job searching skills, along with language and computer training classes. Other activities that generate income include tree nursery, dance groups and bee hiving. Women from nearby communities have benefited from clerical & store keeping training, which equips them to secure long-term employment in shops, camps, and lodges.
The Trust works with a Maasai self-help group of 18 women who, in addition to supplying the gift shops with their artisan work, have also learned to use re-usable materials like toilet rolls, magazines, and newspapers to make wonderful Christmas crackers. The proceeds benefit the women directly.
Kicheche Trust is constantly working with locals to secure wildlife habitat and manage the conservancies better. It’s important for these communities to be protected from the wildlife if they are to prosper, and vice versa – the wildlife also needs protection against the constant pressure of these growing communities. To support this, Kicheche Camps takes p art in the Naboisho Lion project in Masai Mara, which looks to reduce human wildlife conflicts.
In addition, the Trust organises regular village litter clean-ups.One of the most enjoyable conservation projects is ‘kids on safari’. Each season, the Kicheche camps takes local school children on a day of game driving around the camps, educating them on the wildlife and the environment. There is no better way to explain the importance of the natural world than to let the future generation see and experience it firsthand!
The Trust is also about to launch a local reforestation project. Kicheche values environmental conservation based on tourism with a zero carbon footprint.
Adults-only