Porini Lion Camp

Porini Lion Camp features 10 tents, one of which is larger and intended for families. Each of the Porini Tents is spacious and decorated to create a homely and comfortable atmosphere, with colourful fabrics and rugs. Each tent contains both a double and single bed with bedside tables and LED bedside lamps. You will also be provided with a wardrobe for hanging your clothes, a luggage rack, and a writing desk, as well as comfy seating for relaxing and enjoying the stunning scenery. Each tent features an en-suite bathroom with a toilet, bucket shower and basin. Hot water bottles are provided for your bed so you can snuggle up and stay warm overnight.

The family tent features a connecting lounge so that larger groups have a private space to converse and enjoy each other’s company. Guests can also enjoy spending time outside on your private verandah and watching the local wildlife move across the horizon.

Guests at Porini Lion Camp can look forward to three delicious meals each day. Each meal is served from a set menu, which are rotated weekly to keep a fresh selection of option available to guests, especially those who are moving on to another Porini camp after their stay. Start the day with a hearty breakfast before your first safari activity, and return to a light lunch – ideal for the midday heat – before a three-course dinner in the evening. Guests can enjoy homemade meals prepared with fresh ingredients. The camp’s chefs are able to cater for all dietary requirements if given advanced warning.

Venture out on an exciting game drive and explore the private conservancy from the comfort of a specialised safari vehicle. The camp’s qualified Maasai guides will be able to teach you interesting facts about the incredible animals of the Maasai Mara, as well as show you the best spots for viewing game. Look out for elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, hyenas, buffalo, wildebeest and hippos, as you traverse the plains and roam the African wilderness.

Night drives are also available, allowing guests to observe the nocturnal species that remain hidden during the day. Look out for the elusive leopards as they return to their kills, and see the smaller species that are more active during the night, such as aardvarks, cape hares and bush babies. Your vehicle will include a lamp, allowing you to sweep your surroundings and look out for the glint of a Big Cat’s eyes. The filtered light is designed to cause minimal disruption to the animals.

Explore the bush on foot on a guided walk, and experience the smaller details that make safaris more immersive. Your experienced guide will be a Maasai Warrior with tribal knowledge that spans hundreds of years. Learn how to recognise tracks and follow clues left in the wilderness that will lead to incredible game viewing opportunities. Get up close to the giant grey elephants and get a sense of the sheer size of these amazing animals, or find dazzling, colourful insects that are often overlooked. Nature walks allow you to explore at your own pace, without the noise of an engine to startle the wildlife, and take advantage of incredible photographic opportunities.

Finish off a day of exciting safari viewing by watching the sunset with a refreshing beverage. Watch as the sky takes on burning oranges, pinks and reds while the riverine trees and distant elephants become little more than silhouettes. Enjoy the company of your friends or family as the day draws to a close and the landscape dramatically transforms before your eyes.

Enjoy a private meal in the wilderness, surrounded by natural beauty. Guests can travel into the African savannah and admire the surrounding landscapes and wildlife as they dine. Dig into delicious meals prepared by the camp’s chefs and listen to the sounds of roaring lions, trumpeting elephants and grunting hippos.

Drift over the vast Mara plains and view the wildlife from a completely unique perspective as you float above the heads of elephants. Watch herds of giraffes as they wander across the panoramic plains, pass above the riverine forests and spot birds nesting in the trees.

Porini Camps have given support to a number of projects that empower partner communities that are living alongside the conservancies. This includes working with local Maasai people to reinforce their traditionally constructed bomas, preventing predators from entering Maasai villages and attacking livestock. This reduces the loss of cattle and means that the Maasai farmers can protect their livelihoods. The reduction in human and wildlife conflict also helps to conserve predators that can often be killed in retaliation or to protect the community. Porini also supports rangers and employ local people to protect the wildlife.

‘Rangers are the backbone in ensuring wildlife and habitat security in Kenya’s Parks, Reserves and Conservancies. As our conservancies have grown, so has the need for more rangers. We ensure that our partner communities see a direct benefit from this initiative as we employ 100% of our rangers from within the local villages.’

Despite the difficulties faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, Porini has continued to support schools within the area that they operate in. They run a series of initiatives including the Smart Learning Project which teaches digital and technological skills to local communities, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project which aims to provide adequate toilet facilities in schools, and their work with the Maarifa Foundation establishes support for schools in the Selenkey Conservancy and the Ol Kinyei Conservancy in Kenya. The foundation helps to pay school fees for children who may otherwise be unable to afford an education, and runs recycling programs.

Porini have improved water access for two villages that neighbour Porini Amboseli Camp, providing them both with a 2,000-litre water tank and organising the delivery of water twice every week. Due to an increase in unpredictable weather, droughts and a decrease in rainfall, communities have been increasing to struggle to gain access to water, and by providing clean and safe water, Porini is helping to prevent water-borne diseases and dehydration.

Porini respects the principles of ecotourism by restricting the number of roads they have built between their camps to minimise their mark on the natural landscape, setting selected tracks and routes for game viewing so that safari vehicles do not trample and destroy wildlife habitats in the bush, and using renewable and clean energy to power their camps which are designed for a limited number of guests. This means that fewer safari vehicles are going into the conservancy, keeping carbon emissions low and causing less disruption to wildlife. Additionally, the use of solar panels means that guests can enjoy modern luxuries dependent on electricity, without generating any carbon emissions that contribute to greenhouse gases and climate change.

Porini has partnered with the local communities where they operate in order to establish protected conservancies and improve the conservation of wildlife and their habitats within the Maasai Mara.

‘Within just a short time of conception, each conservancy saw a significant increase in wildlife numbers and a regeneration of vegetation in areas that were previously over-grazed by livestock. At Selenkay, elephants returned after an absence of twenty years and in the Mara conservancies the number of lions increased very quickly with several residential prides totalling over 120 lions in an area of 100,000 acres, while breeding cheetah took up residence in addition to an influx of other species.’

The regeneration of the land and increase in wildlife is beneficial to the local communities as it brings in tourism and the recovering vegetation also provides more food for grazing livestock.