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One Nature Mara River
HOTELS & CAMPS

One Nature Mara River

Ultra-luxuryNorthern Serengeti

It stands on a rise in the heart of the northern crossing country — the natural base camp if you have come for the river crossings. From July to October the herds pour across the water and run the crocodile gauntlet on these very plains. Seven villas, each with a private heated pool, a viewing deck and a copper outdoor bathtub, wildlife paintings throughout and One Nature’s signature butler service: the best seats for the crossings, and a stay that is both bold and finely done.

Why we chose it

The north is about the crossings, and Mara River sits right in the middle of them — about 30 minutes from Kogatende airstrip and already inside the crossing country, so in the July-to-October season you are not making the long daily drive north the way you would from a central camp. The stay is properly Ultra-luxury: seven villas (six one-bedroom and a two-bedroom presidential family villa), each with a private heated pool, a viewing deck, a free-standing tub and both indoor and outdoor showers, plus a fireplace and solar-powered air conditioning in the room. The design is contemporary African colonial, with wildlife paintings and copper outdoor tubs as the signatures, and One Nature’s butler service means the pace of the day is entirely yours. It puts the best crossing position in the north together with genuinely bold, considered luxury, which makes it our first choice up north at this tier.

If this camp is the one

Mara River also sells a safari package run by the camp itself. If this is the one you want, you can book that package directly — the full write-up and more photography live on the package page.

See its safari packages →

If it is full

The obvious same-tier, same-area alternative is Singita Mara River Tented Camp — also on the Mara in the north, also an Ultra-luxury seat for the crossings.

Wildebeest crossing the Mara, one leaping off the bank into the water
A crossing on the Mara (this photograph is of the wild, not the lodge): one wildebeest launching off the earth bank into the water, the leaders already wading the muddy current, an unbroken queue pressing along the bank behind them, zebra standing on the high ground, and dust blotting out the far side. From July to October this happens in the country the lodge sits in.
A villa deck: private pool, loungers and a copper bathtub out on the boards
The outdoor half of a villa: the private pool set straight into the timber deck, two loungers side by side, and on the right the copper bathtub standing out in the open on the boards. Behind, a veranda with a swing seat opens into the room; past the edge, a flat-topped acacia and grassland to the horizon. The "private heated pool" and the "copper outdoor tub" are both in this one frame.
The bedroom: a printed-canopy four-poster, a full glass wall onto the plains
The bedroom: a four-poster under a printed canopy, a full wall of glass sliding back to the plains on the right, and a wood-burning stove in the corner — the fireplace the copy mentions. Further in you can see the sitting area and the private pool; a patterned rug on the floor, and a studded travelling trunk doing duty as a bedside table.
The villa bathroom: timber-lined walls, twin basins, copper tub on the deck outside
The villa bathroom: timber-battened walls, twin black ceramic basins with brass taps, a small chandelier, robes and towels to one side; the opening opposite leads straight out to the deck, where the copper tub stands — you lie in it looking at the plains.
Official websitehttps://onenaturehotels.com/mara-river/(opens in a new tab)
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