I and my sister have made many trips to East Africa going on safari (I the older sister made my first East African safari 1965) A few years ago we discovered Porini Amboseli and fell in love with it. This year we returned for out third visit and also went to Porini Mara and last to Porini Lion so now we have three loves!
We are both elderly (72 and 76 years) and not so agile any longer but all three camps can be highly recommended also to elderly people who are still young in mind.
The service is absolutely firstclass. All our wished were fullfilled also some we did not know we had!! The staff, guides, drivers, camp staff including the manager always made sure that we were well looked after from the early morning tea outside our tent to the hot water bottle in the bed.
The tents were large and well equipped, food was good and ample both when we had out meals "at home" and as picknik lunches during the safaries.
We saw a very great number of animals . The guide/driver was very good at spotting those and also know how to get the best possible angle for taking good pictures. He was also a good driver managing the rather rough roads.
We spent tree nights in Mara Porini and finished each day happy and exhausted after a day crammed full of experiences.
The camp can be highly recommended and we certinaly want to return.

This review is a few months overdue, but I just have to tell people about this fabulous place. My husband and I spent the first week of our honeymoon at the Porini Mara camp, and we can't imagine beginning our life together in any better way! We weren't sure what we were in store for - we had seen pictures online of the tents and weren't sold on the camp, but were assured by my uncle, who had visited recently, that this was the camp to stay at. He was so right! The guides were absolutely lovely: they are all knowledgable and friendly and so flexible - everyone at the camp really cares about making your experience special. We were lucky enough to travel with Jos and Stanley, and they were incredible guides. The food was always great, and best of all, we saw amazing animals, all the time, everyday. From the moment we arrived at the airport, we were taken care of. Thank you so much to everyone at Porini Mara for making our trip so extraordinary.

This was our first visit to this camp, although we have been to the other Porini camps previously. I was very pleasantly surprised when we arrived as the scenery and surroundings were so different from our previous experience in the Maasai Mara with it's vast rolling plains - here there was greenery everywhere, and it wasn't after the rainy season. The camp nestles in a hollow and is surrounded by trees, close-by is a water hole, there is a hippo, monkeys, all sorts of birds, we had a visit from an impala, and various other animals during the night by the sounds we heard. This was very definately 'Real Africa'. We chose to remain in the conservancy during our 5 night stay as we were moving to Porini Lion camp after the Mara camp so would get plenty of opportunity to visit the National Reserve then. This camp - like all Porini camps - is very eco friendly. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly - nothing was too much trouble. The accomodation and food was very good - as it is in all the camps. There was a wealth of wildlife to see, and our guide, Jimmy,a very good job taking us around. We did early morning drives, night drives, a nature walk and saw a huge variety of creatures - a trap door spider to elephants with all sizes in between. We would certainly return and have no hesitation in recomending this camp to perspective guests.

We booked a 3D/2N package at the Porini Mara camp somewhat at the last minute and without much research, so were fully prepared for all sorts of glitches. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

The process was smooth and effortless from the start. Caroline and Zuhura at Gamewatchers were prompt, helpful and efficient in setting up the logistics via email. The process of getting to the camp worked out perfectly. The camp itself was just wonderful - comfortable, friendly, and absolutely gorgeous. Everyone we dealt with was great - from David, our camp manager, whose warmth and humour put us at ease immediately; to Jeffrey and Tipa, our knowledgeable guides throughout the weekend who always seemed to know when to feed us information and when to be quiet and let us soak in our surroundings; to all of the camp staff who provided food, drinks, hot water and much else efficiently and without fuss.

The weekend was full of surprises. A tent that included not just spotless linen, but also clothes hangers, a flush toilet, a dressing table, and a shower. Comfortable mattresses. Freshly baked bread with every meal. Delicious soups every night. Freshly brewed coffee during a coffee break in the middle of the wildlife reserve. A vehicle comfortable enough that our 50+ year old bones weren't aching even after many hours of driving around on bumpy roads. Stories of Simon, the shy resident hippo, whom we never did catch a glimpse of.

Highlights of the trip included pulling up in a clearing in the middle of nowhere to sip glasses of wine and experience the glorious sunset, herds of deer and wildebeest grazing not far away. Seeing deer, zebra, and elephants wandering around a few hundred feet outside our campsite. Spending eight hours in the wildlife reserve - lots of elephants, hundreds of giraffes, thousands of zebra and deer. Hundreds of thousands of wildebeest marching in straight lines towards Tanzania, or massed on the bank of the Mara river waiting to cross. And most spectacular of all, a total of 18 lions in four separate groups, each of which we were able to observe for half an hour at a stretch from a distance of less than 15 feet.

The Porini Mara staff really seem to understand how to make a vacation special, not just in all the obvious ways (clean sheets, good food etc) but with all sorts of thoughtful little details that transformed an excellent weekend into a truly extraordinary one. This was our first trip to Africa, and it turned out to be.an experience that will be very hard to beat. I couldn't recommend it more strongly.