Serian The Original

Each of the four Marquee Tents is positioned on elevated hardwood decking to give spectacular views over the plains and the Mara River. The spacious rooms contain a large four-poster double bed with soft sheets and white curtains. Guests can also lounge on a comfortable day bed.

Each room is unique, but all of them include elegant furnishings and beautiful views. Your room will lead to a private en-suite bathroom with a flush loo, twin basins, an indoor shower and a large bathtub. The mesh windows allow guests to look out at the stunning landscape while enjoying a relaxing soak.

The Family Suite consists of two tented bedrooms, separated by a comfy lounge area. The beds in both of the rooms can be rearranged into either a double or two twins. Each room leads to a private en-suite bathroom with a flush loo, twin basins, an indoor shower and a large bathtub.

The mesh windows allow guests to look out at the stunning landscape while enjoying a relaxing soak in the tub. Enjoy spending time together with your family or friends in comfortable surroundings, and marvel at the incredible river views from your private deck.

Guests can expect to enjoy three wonderful meals a day, all freshly prepared and cooked by Serian’s manager, Roisin. Vegetables, herbs and salad are all grown in the camp’s organic garden by Serian’s other manager, Adrian.

Wake up to a delicious cooked breakfast before your first activity of the day, and return to enjoy a selection of mouth-watering treats from the lunchtime buffet. Finish off your day with a three-course meal while gazing over the plains from the open dining room and watching the sunset.

Venture out in an open-top safari vehicle and see the incredible creatures that have made their homes in the Mara North Conservancy. Each group staying at Serian will have access to their own safari vehicle as well as their own guide and spotter, giving you the exclusive opportunity to tailor your safari around what interests you.

Climb up to the roof of the vehicle and capture stunning photographs from the best angles. The vehicles are designed for any terrain and weather that you may encounter in the Maasai Mara. Learn about Kenya’s amazing wildlife from your knowledgeable guide who will be able to show you all of the best spots for viewing game. Explore at your own pace without a restrictive schedule; you can even take a delicious picnic with you and pause the game drive to enjoy breakfast or lunch out in the bush.

Night Drives are also available, and allow guests to immerse themselves in the natural world under a canopy of glimmering stars. Search through the darkened landscape with infrared floodlights and look for the nocturnal species that only emerge once the sun has vanished.

The use of infrared cameras negates the need for bright lights and prevents the safari from startling the animals, meaning that you can watch them behave naturally. Guests can enjoy a picnic dinner while looking out for predators on a hunt, or smaller species such as bush-babies and civets.

Venture out into the wilderness on foot, and explore Serian’s private conservation area at a pace that allows you to take in the smaller details. Walking safaris enable guests to travel to places that the safari vehicles cannot reach, and immerse themselves in the beautiful landscape.

Your guide will be one of Serian’s scouts who checks the area daily for snares and has an intimate knowledge of the landscape. Search for tracks that will lead you to elephant, buffalo, hippo and oribi sightings, and enjoy the tranquil environment of the private conservation area, where vehicles are not permitted, and guests can lose themselves in the natural world.

Make the most of your safari experience with a fly camping trip. Guests will be able to spend some nights away from camp and sleep out in lightweight tents in the heart of the wilderness. Spend your days exploring the Mara plains on foot and immerse yourself in the natural landscape.

The camp’s guides will be able to pass on a wealth of knowledge about the ecosystem and the creatures that inhabit it as you learn to recognise tracks and the calls of the birds. Wake up in a new location each morning and spend as much time as possible amongst the Maasai Mara’s wildlife. Guests may even be able to enjoy a rare game sighting away from the main camp.

Drift over the Mara plains and view the wildlife from a completely unique perspective as you float above the heads of elephants. Watch hippos and crocodiles in the waters of Mara River, pass above the riverine forests and spot birds nesting in the trees.

The hot air balloon sets off early, as this allows guests to get the best game-viewing experience while the animals are most active. Flights usually last for approximately an hour, before you land in the open grasslands to enjoy a delicious breakfast with champagne.

The Mara North Conservancy spans 30,000 hectares and is home to twelve member camps, including Serian The Original, that all operate in a sustainable way to help support the environment, the wildlife, and the community. The low tourist density means that there are fewer vehicles imposing on wildlife habitats and the limited number of camps within the Mara North Conservancy leaves more spacing for roaming game and large predator territories.

‘The number of beds per camp is restricted based on Mara North’s formula of one bed per 350 acres (or one tent per 700 acres). Low-density tourism, as well as a limited number of game vehicles, provides an exclusive safari experience while minimizing the impact on the environment.’

Serian The Original is a Mara North Conservancy member camp, meaning that Serian pays a fixed monthly lease each month. This money goes directly to the Maasai landowners who gave their land to the Mara North Conservancy so that the land, and wildlife within it, could be protected. This is beneficial both to the creatures that live in the conservancy, and the local community who are supported financially by the tourism which the member camps generate.

‘Communities living in natural wildlife areas must be provided with the economic incentives to set aside their land for wildlife conservation. In the 1980s & 1990s, growing land fragmentation began to lead to the environmental degradation of the Masai Mara ecosystem and exacerbated community impoverishment. Without a partnership between Maasai landowners and the private tourism sector, it was difficult to ensure sustainable, well co-ordinated and effective wildlife protection along with recognisable benefits for all stakeholders.

In 2008 the founding members of MNC decided to approach the local Maasai leaders to jointly find a sustainable long-term solution for the conservation of the area. After many consultations, held under the shade of acacia trees, 750 Maasai landowners decided to lease their land to the Mara North Conservancy, which was officially established on the 1st of January 2009.’

Serian has been working with the Tanzanian Tourist Operators Organisation and Frankfurt Zoological Society in order to support de-snaring teams. Serengeti Mission Possible is a campaign that was launched as a result of the decline in tourism in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With fewer tourists occupying national parks and reserves, jobs within the tourism industry are more at risk and more opportunities have become available for poachers. Serengeti Mission Possible helps to provide law enforcement, additional jobs and extra de-snaring teams within the Serengeti National Park, as well as many of Tanzania’s other protected areas, while budget shortages are in effect.

This helps to support the local community and reduces the risks of wildlife becoming trapped in the thousands of snares illegally set by poachers each year.

Alex Walker’s Serian helped to launch the Mara Predator Project, which focuses on supporting lion populations by monitoring lions and generating ways of protecting them. One of the biggest risks to lion populations is conflict with humans, and so the Mara Predator Project has been exploring how this can be avoided.

Using the Mara North Conservancy as a case study, Mara Predator Project has been able to gather evidence that local communities are more likely to coexist with lions when they are attracting tourists and bringing an income to the landowners. This is a positive indication for the lions that live freely, without the need for fenced-off areas in order to keep them safe.

‘We helped initiate the Mara Predator Project, and our Serian camp provided its base for 3 years. Concerned with dwindling lion populations, the project seeks to find ways to protect remaining lion populations across Africa. Serian proved the perfect location from many points of view: being situated in the Mara North Conservancy – where conservation prioritises the Masai culture as well as wildlife – provided a living case study of careful management of human-animal interaction.’

All Alex Walker’s Serian permanent camps are mostly powered by solar energy. The camps do not use air-conditioning units, washing machines, microwaves or a whole range of other appliances which are detrimental to the environment to lighten their carbon footprint. All laundry is done by hand and ironed with a charcoal iron, and most meals are cooked in a traditional charcoal oven.

All organic waste at Serian The Original goes to a compost pit, which is later used for growing herbs and vegetables in the camp’s organic garden. This reduces waste and also means that vegetables are sourced in an eco-friendly manner, without the need to import these products, further reducing the camps’ carbon emissions.