Kicheche Bush Olare
Kicheche Bush Olare is a comfortable tented camp located in the rolling hills of the exclusive Olare Motorogi Conservancy close to the border of the Masai Mara Game Reserve.
Kicheche Bush Olare is a camp for wildlife enthusiasts and travellers who enjoy an intimate and communal camp environment. The setting is very much in the wild, with views through sparse acacia woodland towards the open plains and hills beyond. The camp feels like a very luxurious mobile camp and is well managed with friendly service and excellent guiding. Meals are taken communally in the mess tent, where there is also a small lounge area, whilst drinks are enjoyed together around the camp fire. The accommodation tents are very spacious, nicely furnished and comfortable, though the focus of your stay should be on the safari experience rather than luxury and relaxation. Kicheche Bush Olare tends to attract safari travellers and photographers who are passionate about wildlife.
Rooms
Accommodation is provided in five standard tents and one family suite. The tents are set far enough apart to offer privacy with three tents on each side of the central mess, each sitting at ground level with views out through the light acacia woodland and across the plains. Tents are spacious and airy with large gauze windows and comfortably furnished. En suite facilities include a dressing area with hanging space, plumbed shower, flush toilet and plumbed vanity. Each tent has a shaded verandah at the front which has comfortable chairs in which to relax and watch the world go by. The family suite comprises two en suite tents which share a central lounge area.
Central Areas
There is a central, open-sided mess tent with a comfortable lounge and a dining area, though dining is often al fresco when the weather allows. Guests congregate around the campfire for drinks after a day out on the plains.
Facilities
Wi-Fi – Yes
Power for Charging – Yes
Swimming Pool – No
Habitat & Wildlife
The Masai Mara ecosystem is one of the best game viewing areas in Africa and is especially good for viewing the big cats. Elephants, buffalo, hippo, crocodiles, giraffe, zebra, lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyaena, impala, gazelles, eland, waterbuck, topi, jackal and serval are all common and seen regularly. Rhino are found in certain areas, and wild dogs are more transient visitors. The famous wildebeest and zebra migration is usually in residence from mid-July through to mid-October, though the movement of the animals is always somewhat unpredictable. The scenery of the Masai Mara is stunning with open grassland plains intersected by rivers, rocky ridges and pockets of riverine forest. Birdlife is varied and especially good around the riverine woodland areas.
Whilst the official Masai Mara Game Reserve can be busy with tourist vehicles in places, especially at river crossings in migration season, the Olare Motorogi Conservancy offers relative exclusivity away from the crowds. You do still see other vehicles, especially at predator sightings, but much of the time you will be able to explore away from other vehicles. The Conservancy offers a good mix of open plains, rocky hills and riverine thickets and is superb for game viewing.
The conservancy, the first to be set up in the Mara ecosystem, is funded by a limited number of ‘tourism partners’ in cooperation with local Maasai land-owners, and this model has been shown to benefit not only the local land-owners who receive greater income and better pasture for their livestock, and the tourism partners, but also the wildlife and in particular, the predators.
Activities
The main activity at Kicheche Bush Olare is game drives by day on the Olare Motorogi Conservancy and to a lesser extent into the official Mara Game Reserve. Cultural excursions are available to local Maasai villages and to the nearby Maa Trust. It is also possible to visit the headquarters of the Mara Predator Project (a donation of support to the project would be expected). Guided walks are also offered, allowing a different perspective and giving you the chance to stretch your legs after many hours spent in vehicles! Fly-camping in the bush is an option too as a one night experience, usually combined with a walking safari to and from camp (at extra cost). Hot air balloon safaris are also possible (third party activities, at extra cost). Kicheche Bush Olare does not offer night drives.
Seasons
Kicheche Bush Olare is open all year except in April and May (the April closure date varies from year to year) and for a short period in late November/ early December (again these dates can vary). Game viewing is superb all year round, but the migration is usually in residence from mid-July to mid-October.
Kicheche Bush Olare accepts children from seven years and provides flexible family accommodation options in either the two bedroom family suite (which offers private dining on request and comes with a private guide and vehicle) or by adding extra beds into the spacious standard tents to create a triple or quadruple tent. The staff and guides are very proactive with children and can teach and entertain them between game activities as required. However despite all this, Kicheche Bush Olare is probably not the best camp to choose if your children are still young as there is no pool and the focus is on the wildlife experience.
The Kicheche Community Trust is involved in education, health, environment and empowerment within the communities in which they operate. The Trust supports the local Masaai families through conservancy land leases. They assist the local health clinic in the Mara through donations of medicines, books, a dental ward, water tanks and they have assisted in the upgrading of a solar plant. The Trust supports six schools having built classrooms and funded the further education of a teacher, supported 18 scholarships, contributed towards a school bus and donated thousands of books and stationary. They sponsor students from the Koiyaki Guiding School and employ some of the Maasai graduates as trainee and qualified guides. There is also a contribution of $5 per bed night which goes to the Trust.
Kicheche supports S.A.F.E’s Female Genital Cutting (FGC) abandonment programme within the Maasai culture which has successfully led to the acceptance of girls transitioning to womanhood without being cut.
They organise environmental projects such as Clean Up campaigns in towns along the edge of the conservancies, raising money for cattle bomas (grazing areas) to reduce deforestation, assisting with tree planting and the running of a bee hive program.
More personal to Kicheche Bush is the Maa Trust which guests at the camp may visit to see the Maasai women create beadwork whilst learning more about the Trust’s programmes first hand.
A visit to the headquarters of the Mara Predator Project is also offered at Bush Camp. The project teaches the local communities about the role predators play in their ecosystem and uses science to support the predator populations in the area.
