Where We Are
Masai Mara Sopa Lodge is 250kms from Nairobi (4 hrs), 105kms from Narok (2 hrs), and 220kms from Naivasha (4 hrs). While we are located barely a kilometer outside the reserve, it is still necessary to enter the wildlife conservation through either the Oloolaimutia or Sekenani entrance gates.
The flying time from Nairobi to the nearest airstrip is about an hour, and from there it is a 30 minute game drive to the lodge.
About Masai Mara
With its rolling hills, dense riverine forests, hills and a high, flat-topped escarpment that forms its western boundary, this wildlife conservation area takes up an area of 1,510sq.kms in south western Kenya and shares an international border with Tanzania’s fabled Serengeti National Park. It is owned and managed by the Maasai people who, because of their traditional respect for wildlife during the course of hundreds of years of their continued co-existence, they have ensured that the wildlife splendour of the Maasai Mara exists today.
While this reserve is home to over 410 species of birds and 60 species of raptors, it is also one of the world’s finest game viewing destinations. This is because it plays host to an abundance of every form of wildlife possible except for those few species which can only be seen north of the Equator, and from our Samburu Sopa Lodge
Not only this, but the reserve is also world famous for its annual migration of literally millions of wildebeest – not to mention tens of thousands of zebras and gazelles – when they annually migrate north from the Serengeti, usually between July/early August to October, to find food. To access the reserve’s lush grazing they first have to cross the Mara River with its battalions of enormous and hungry crocodiles and, if you are lucky enough to watch one of these crossings, it is an event you will never forget.
Weddings & Special Events
Masai Mara Sopa Lodge is the ideal setting for wedding ceremonies. Our wedding packages are tailored for intimate events by way of not only the honeymoon suite, but also by way of just how well we can organize something extremely special for you, be it by way of a flower bedecked hot air balloon; a ceremony amongst the huge fig trees which line the Mara River; or even a more open air event during which both wild animals and the landscapes beyond form the backdrops for your wedding photographer.
Meetings
The lodge’s meeting and event venue can accommodate 18 to 90 pax.
Well located from the main building, the Baraza room can cater for social functions and corporate entertaining.
Incentives
- Bush breakfast
- Bush breakfast with champagne
- Bush lunch
- Bush dinner
- Barbecue
- Coastal buffet
- African buffet
- African night + khanga
- Gala dinner
Are arranged within the lodge grounds, and decorated according to the theme.
- Sundowner + bar snacks
- Sundowner + canapés
- Sundowner + canapés + 45 minutes open bar
The venue is an open area which has a magnificent view of the stunning sunset.
Reception
Airy and spacious with an adjacent gift shop, the area – which incorporates a guest information desk – is decorated with warm earth colours and lit by an enormous, Afican calabash chandelier.
Lounge
This is located down a few carpeted steps from the reception, and is also accessed via convenient points from both guest accommodation wings. The large, comfortably furnished circular area has a massive central fireplace whose chimney soars twenty metres up to the top of the thatched conical roof. The walls and their murals are painted with a pleasant fusion of earthen colours to create an extremely warm ambience, and the room has a well appointed bar set to one side of it. Two doors access the sheltered but outdoor veranda with its views over the swimming pool, the gardens, and the game reserve beyond, and this is linked to the outdoor dining room patio by a bridge. It is also here that we provide complimentary afternoon tea or coffee together with sandwiches and cakes before your last game drive of the day.
Dining & Wining
The warm ambience of the Jumbo Bar with its free form, cowrie shell and bead embedded counter; its back-lit alcoholic offerings; and its overly comfortable bar chairs make it the perfect place to share an evening with family or friends both before and after dinner.
The Swimming Pool Bar beneath the dining room is sheltered by an overhead garden, and its extremely entertaining barman will provide you with your every need.
And below the swimming pool, the Ol Murrani Bar is a stand-alone structure with an adjacent open air camp fire area. The bar itself has an incredibly warm ambience; a sports-dedicated television; and a pool table. It also has a huge outdoor, timber deck from where you can view Hyenas, Mongooses and Honey badgers when they come to feast on the meat we put out for them every night.
Like the lounge, the circular dining room has a centrally located fireplace with an extremely high chimney. Its walls are painted with pastel colours to match those of the simply exquisite, natural-stone framed paintings of everyday Maasai life, and its separated, generously sized buffet tables offer garden fresh salads; succulent main courses; live cooking areas; an extravagant choice of desserts; and a wide selection of cheeses.
The dining room also has an outdoor timber deck should you wish to enjoy your meal beneath umbrella-shaded tables. It is here that, every other evening, we provide our guests with an Africa night food extravaganza which incorporates the best of traditional African food which our executive chef fuses with whatever he thinks best in order to fully satisfy your appetite.
Our Facilities
| ✓ Adjoining Rooms | ✓ Handicraft Market | ✓ Special Diets |
| ✓ Bird Watching | ✓ Honeymoon Suite | ✓ Sundowners |
| ✓ Board games | ✓ Laundry | ✓ Swimming Pool |
| ✓ Children’s Menu | ✓ Mosquito Nets | ✓ Traditional Dances |
| ✓ Conferences | ✓ Nature Walks | ✓ Turndown Service |
| ✓ Gift Shop | ✓ Outdoor Dining | ✓ Weddings |
| ✓ Hairdryers |
The lodge has fifty guest cottages divided into two wings to either side of the main public areas. Each of these house two spacious guest rooms with queen and king size beds; mosquito nets; electronic safes; dressing tables; en-suite bathrooms and sheltered verandas that all have views over the gardens and the game reserve beyond.
Six of the cottages each contain two suites with larger bedrooms and bathrooms, and both indoor and outdoor seating areas.
In addition to all of the above, the honeymoon suite has an extremely large, luxuriously appointed bedroom with a king size bed; dressing table and indoor seating area. Its lavishly appointed bathroom contains both a shower and a sunken bath; and its sheltered veranda offers some of the most magnificent views available over the African landscapes below.
Located high on the slopes of the Oloolaimutia Hills, Masai Mara Sopa Lodge was one of the first safari lodges to be built in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, a reason why its gardens and trees are so lush and mature. All the buildings follow the design of traditional African round houses with conical roofs, and these stretch along the line of the hills with the impressively large public area buildings and the swimming pool at their centre.
