We stayed here for 2 nights during a 14 day A & K safari through Kenya and Tanzania. It was one of our early tent experiences of the 2 week trip in a permanent tented camp and it was great fun. Upon arriving, we were welcomed graciously with a fruit plate and cookies ( the plate personalized with our names in icing) in our tent. Everyday they refilled with fresh fruit and cookies. The tents are very well maintained though they are a bit close together and personally this would be a camp for couples, friends and families. A more intimate and romantic stay would be, I think from my visit, better at the Mara Explorer Camp nearby where the tents are much further apart and more remote - overall a much smaller camp than Mara Intrepids. I was very impressed with the breakfast and lunch buffets at Mara Intrepids which were extensive and also the vegetarian option offered daily. Dinner was served and was always a treat. Every evening a presentation, mostly educational about the Masai tribes, customs, and the local animals, was offered in the bar area which overlooked the Talek River. One animal that we heard but never saw was a bushbaby. He decided to scream one evening above our tent and it was a good hour later when he finally quieted down and moved on. The locals said that it sounded like a warning noise and that maybe he had seen from his perch high in the tree, a lion across the river. This camp was fenced so you could walk around after dinner by yourself unlike other camps that we visited that were not fenced. We also enjoyed going up to the lookout and watching the small planes land as well as the Marabou Storks sitting in the trees.

Spent 3 nights here last week. We flew in with SafariLink and got collected by our driver, Ketembo, who was to be our safari driver for our stay. He was an excellent driver and spotter, seeing things we would have NO hope of spotting, a leopard hidden in a bush, a cheetah on a safari truck (yes you heard right!!) a kilometer or more away!

The camp is only 2 minutes drive from the airstrip, so no lomg drive to get there! From arriving to leaving, we were treated like kings and queens. We got a very courteous and friendly welcome, with fruit juice and a nice cold towel, it felt like they were welcoming old friends! We got showed to our tent (number 11) which was a lovely tent with a great view of the river. Calling it loosely a tent, because camping it was not, this is GLAMPING (glamorous camping!!) the tent had 4 poster beds, teak flooring, flush toilet, shower, 2 lovely vanity sinks, a deck with cushioned relaxing chairs, basically all very luxurious. We had stayed at a tented camp in tsavo 2 years ago and we decided this was the way to go. We didn't want to stay in a lodge, to us, a safari didnt mean staying in a brick building not having the true experience of staying in the bush. We feel that staying in a tent does give you that true safari experience, feeling at one with nature, intrepids allows this, but with the luxuries of a 5 star room.

The food was absolutely Michelin quality, I have eaten in many great restaurants, and this was up there with the very best. How they can produce this high quality, high presentation food in the middle of nowhere baffles me (assume they get daily food flown in with the plane that we took into the Mara from Nairobi). The chef Tom has been trained in the very best hotels in Nairobi, and boy, it shows! Kirkland, our waiter, was equally proficient, within a few minutes he had remembered our names and during the stay always welcomed us, by name, with a huge smile and lovely personality.

Musa our tent attendant was fabulous and nothing was too much bother for him, which in fact, was the same for ALL the staff. When passing every team member, you always got a friendly and happy 'Jambo'. You can tell that they really love their job and the camp.

Edwin the manager regularly came up and chatted with us, wanting to know how our experience was going, what we saw that day on our game drives, and anything he could help us with.

There Was also a lovely girl whom I forget her name, but she did a masters in Eastbourne (a small world, my parents live next door to the part of Brighton uni that she studied in!!) her name began with a K. She was absolutely fantastic and so interested in our experience. She was so excited for us when we came back from our drives sharing with her what animals we saw!

Suzanne at reception also deserves a mention and everyone else whom I forget their names!

Tsavo will always be special as it was my first safari, but you can't beat the mara for the amount and different types of animals. In tsavo you could spend half an hour driving looking for animals (tsavo is MUCH bigger than the Mara). In the Mara within metres Of the park gates, you can see animals. We saw pretty much all of those who live there, from all the different antelopes (impala, tommy's, grant gazelles, eland, hartebeest etc), MANY lions (even the marsh pride of Big Cat Diary fame), cheetah (keke's daughter, also from Big Cat Diary, she actually jumped up on a neighbouring safari vehicle much to the amusement and nervousness of the occupants, but this was a regular happening and not unsafe at all), leopards, elephant, giraffe, loads of different birds (we liked the secretary birds!) tons of hippos (one small stretch of the mara river had 50, one started grunting and they all followed suit, a hilarious experience!) Nile crocodiles, baboons, and we were VERY VERY VERY lucky to see a black rhino in the open, one of less than 20 in the park, and they are usually in the bushes, this chap slowly walked from one bush area to the next, all in the vehicle we silent in absolute awe), and so on. The concentration of animals in the mara is second to none, and we feel that you can't beat it.

We did a walking safari with Jospeh, a Maasai. This was a totally different experience to being in the safari truck, he did a great job of talking to us about the various uses of plants and trees, got up close to giraffe and zebra, impala etc, we felt very safe as a ranger, Naomi, came with us to protect us (don't be put off that they have to carry a gun, it's exactly this that made us feel so safe, along with the level of knowledge of Joseph). A real MUST!!

So in conclusion, we were so happy we chose intrepids, after MUCH research We definitely chose the right camp! The individual care and attention we received was the best we have ever experienced in all our travels.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE STAFF! We hope to return. In fact, the percentage of return guests is incredibly high, around 40-50%. I am not at all surprised by this figure.

This is my second visit to Intrepids and while I wrote a review last time I wanted to write another one to just say thank you to the amazing staff who made the trip even more wonderful than last time. I took my friend who had never been on safari before and I asked for Dennis to be the guide. When we were headed out I told him it was my friend's first time and we needed to see 'everything' and everything is what we got and more. He was very sensitive to the more experienced among us as well as the first timer. After 6 years of safaris in Kenya, this has to be one of the best. Dennis is a 'silver' ranked guide and it shows. As far as the camp, it is lovely as always. The tents are very well-maintained and the view of the Talek river just in front of the veranda is lovely. Julius, our waiter, was very keen to be sure we always had what we wanted. After the first meal, he knew the kind of bread, water, condiments we would request and they were on the table waiting for us. Edwin, the manager, was always present and helpful. But, as far as guides go.... Dennis really made the trip for us. Thanks to all for making it yet another excellent adventure.

This lodge is located centrally within the Masi Mara and is a good location to be. We saw some amazing animals whilst staying here. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the food was great, although the choice of the evening meals were sometimes restricted. The lodge was very nice although the tents were a lot closer together than at previous lodges we had stayed, but not close enough to affect your privacy. Our guide here was very good and we would recommend this lodge.

We did a flying safari and beach holiday for our honeymoon 19/10/12 for just over 3 weeks.
we stayed at,
Samburu Intrepids,
Great Rift Valley Lodge And Golf Resort,
Mara Intrepids
then on to nairobi to
Sarova Stanley
and then on to 2 weeks in mombassa to
pinewood beach resort and spa.
please look at all our reviews. We booked this through Virgin but they contracted out to Rhino Safaris and we would therefore reommend booking direct with Rhino Safari as the service we received from Virgin was apalling.