Like Loliondo in Tanzania, the Mara Conservation Area is somewhere you can be more or less free from the rules that govern the main park. This is an area visited by a fraction of tourists that visit the main Maasai Mara National Reserve. Here you can walk and night drive, while not losing sight of the superb game.

The truth is that below the surface, the Mara is a complex mosaic of different regions, which have little geographical logic, but relate almost entirely to politics.

At present, within the Mara Conservation Area, the divisions aren't of much relevance to your visit, but there is talk of each group ranch charging others to pass through and this could be highly significant. There are three main group ranches within the Mara Conservation Area - Ol Choro, Koiyaki and Lemek, and the main thing to hoist on board, is that if you want to see the main River Crossings and you're staying here, you must expect a long drive to get there. The River Crossings happen in the Maasai Mara National Park, not the conservation area. If the different group ranches - Ol Choro, Lemek and Koiyaki - start to charge for access through, it could make staying here expensive.

Of course The Mara Conservation Area shouldn't be seen simply as a “dormitory” for the reserve.

There are very good reasons to stay in the Conservation Area in its own right. The freedom from regulations, which means that you can night drive and walk, and the far fewer numbers of tourists give this part of the Mara a much quieter feel than the main areas. This doesn't mean that you're not going to see game either. Maasai cattle are allowed to graze these parts, so, because there is a history of conflict between Maasai and in particular, lion, predators can be a little more on edge than they would be over at Governors Area, but lion and hyena are plentiful here. It has to be said that we didn't notice anything other than the normal disdainful disinterest in the lion we met in Koiyaki.

Further more, in June and July, slightly ahead of the Serengeti Wildebeest Migration, there is a separate migration, from the Loita Hills.

This “Loita Migration” involves a few hundred thousand animals - predominantly wildebeest and zebra, that flood in from the north east onto the Aitong Plains. This can be a superb time to be in Koiyaki at one of the camps there like Ol Seki Camp or Rekero Kidogo.

Do you need some help with this?

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At Natural High, we've all lived and worked in Africa, so our knowledge is born of hands-on experience rather than simply visiting on holiday. We can't over-stress how worthwhile it is to take a few minutes to call us. We're not in the business of churning out thousands of packages so if you'd like to discuss things in detail, take a few minutes and call Fiona, Catherine, Vanessa, Alex on +44 (0)1747 898104.

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Mara Conservation Area, Kenya

The truth is that below the surface, the Mara is a complex mosaic of different regions, which have little geographical logic, but relate almost entirely to politics.

Of course The Mara Conservation Area shouldn't be seen simply as a “dormitory” for the reserve.

Further more, in June and July, slightly ahead of the Serengeti Wildebeest Migration, there is a separate migration, from the Loita Hills.