The Best Luxury Safari Lodges in Kenya

Kenya is, in some ways, both the most obvious safari destination and the most confusing. Everyone’s heard of the Maasai Mara.  And that little Simba fella.  The Disney propaganda machine also convinced half the planet that meerkats live here.  They do not.  The greatest lie ever told.  But the animals absolutely do talk and burst into musical numbers, so we’ll call it even.

Because it’s so famous, people assume choosing where to stay is straightforward.  It isn’t.  There are dozens of lodges and camps, all insisting they’re the second coming of Jesus.  Luckily, I’ve stayed in all of them, so erm, you don’t have to.  Here are the best.

Mara Plains

Mara Plains sits in one of the best pieces of land in the entire Mara ecosystem.  Actually, one of the best locations in Africa.  Low vehicle densities, enormous predator concentrations, and the quintessential African plains everywhere you look. You’re not driving for hours to find something worth stopping for. It’s all just there.  During the day, or night, as night drives are allowed too.

The lodge is small, only seven suites, including the Jahazi Suite, but they are vast in size.  And it’s designed in that Great Plains style, which is to say very colonial.  Canvas, dark wood, open spaces, everything positioned so you’re looking out over the plains rather than into a hedge. It’s private, comfortable, and focuses entirely on the wildlife experience.  The best camp you’ll ever visit?  No.  But the wildlife experience might be.

The guiding is consistently excellent, and its position allows you to get to the infamous river crossings if you so wish to embrace some chaos.

Mara Nyika

Mara Nyika sits in the Naboisho Conservancy, another private reserve with genuinely excellent big-cat viewing — especially lions and cheetah.  You also get the full private-concession freedoms here, including night drives, which remain some of my favourite safari experiences.  If you’ve ever found a pride of sleepy lions at midday, following them after dark is a full Jekyll-and-Hyde moment.  They go from lazy pussy cats to apex heatseeking predators on a mission.

The lodge has six suites stretched along a ridge, but the aesthetic leans even more colonial and darker than Mara Plains.  Some people adore it.  I don’t.  The rooms feel a touch dated and not nearly as bright or airy as the setting deserves.

Naboisho can also be slightly busier than the conservancy Mara Plains sits in, especially in peak season, but it’s still a private concession in the Mara.  Which means the wildlife is superb, the guiding is strong, and it remains a genuinely great place to be.  In other words: still awesome.

Mara Toto

No relation to everyone’s favourite toilet.  Mara Toto is found in the Mara North Conservancy, but right on the edge of things, so you’re not in the thick of the action in the same way as Mara Plains.  It feels more like you’re orbiting the great game-viewing rather than sitting in the middle of it.

The camp itself is very nicely done – in fact, the best of the bunch in the Mara.  With just four suites, it’s extremely elegant, with this intimate and campfire-y feel.  The design hits that sweet spot of romantic, classic safari without looking like it was made for Instagram and completely impractical.  If anything, I wish this was the style of all the other Great Plains camps.

But I liked the camp more than the location.  For the price point and the brand, I’d rather be in a more high-impact area. It’s good, but in this ecosystem, “good” has very strong competition.

Segera Retreat

Segera sits in Laikipia, on a huge former cattle ranch of around 50,000 acres that’s been slowly, deliberately rewilded. It’s owned by Jochen Zeitz, CEO of Harley Davidson and previously Puma.  The whole place is a major obsessive project of conservation.  A lot of what you pay here is going straight back into conservation, community projects, and landscape restoration, rather than a trust fund for the kids.

Because of its history as a working ranch and the pressure this land has been under, the wildlife density isn’t the best. It’s improving, let’s put it that way.  Here you’re seeing a landscape in recovery, which is meaningful in a different way.  Not a way I love, but lots of people love this property.  If you’re coming, looking for a high-octane big-cat extravaganza, Segera’s game viewing will disappoint.  This is not the place to tick every species in 48 hours. There’s a reason they have so much emphasise on activities beyond traditional safari.  For example, one of the most unique features is the Wings of Life hangar — a sort of aircraft-meets-art museum hybrid where Zeitz’s vintage planes live among large-scale installations. It’s one of those unexpected joys that only an owner led property would have.

The lodge itself is beautifully put together.  There are a handful of villas and villa-style rooms rather than tents, with options for couples, families, all with that Segera signature of art and design everywhere.  Options like Villa Segera and Segera House are more ideal for the luxury market.

Suyian Lodge

Suyian is utterly stunning.  Full stop. It’s one of the most beautifully designed lodges in Kenya.  You walk in and immediately clock that someone with taste (and a proper budget) was involved. It’s just exceptional.  As lodges go, the best that Kenya has to offer.  Which is probably telling, as it’s the newest on this list – it opened in July 2025.

It sits on a new concession in Laikipia, which means the wildlife isn’t operating at full volume yet.  It will get there, maybe not in the next few years, but eventually.  But right now, it’s more about the other activities than back-to-back big cat sightings.  The great exception, of course, is wild dogs, which is exactly why the lodge is named Suyian (“wild dog” in the local language).  When they’re on the property, it’s magic.  When they’re not, life is always worse.  This applies to even office life.  If wild dogs were just roaming the streets of London, imagine how much better life would be?

The facilities are properly world-class.  This is the kind of place you could stay for a week and still not feel like you’ve “done” it.

Privacy is the one miss.  The rooms are closer to each other than you’d expect for a lodge of this calibre, and depending on who your neighbours are, you may become slightly more aware of their existence than you’d like.

Angama Amboseli

Amboseli is famous for one thing above all else: the tuskers.  And rightly so.  Spending time with these giants — especially the legendary Craig — is one of the most extraordinary wildlife experiences in Kenya.

The lodge itself is quite beautiful, especially how the trees are part of the architecture. There’s an intimacy that makes the whole place feel personal.  The food is excellent, the service is polished without hovering, and although Kimana is relatively small, you’re not limited to elephants alone.  I had a cool cheetah hunt right there in the sanctuary, and there’s a good mix of plains game moving through.  You also have quick access to Amboseli National Park if you want to experience hell on earth.

But really, you come here for the tuskers.  

Giraffe Manor

Only kidding.  I hate this place more than measles hates a vaccination drive.

This isn’t Kenya; it’s influencer cosplay with a price tag.  If the thought of staging breakfast with an animal to prove you were in Africa thrills you to your core, then we simply enjoy travel differently.