Kenya private park / conservancy

Most private conservancies that are considered primes are more expensive than the government owned parks and reserves. The cheapest i would think of is Taita Wildlife Sanctuary where you pay US$ 30 per night as conservancy fee.

Taita Sanctuary has nothing to see -almost nothing . do Olpejeta Conservancy which is rich in wildlife and really not congested -USD 90 per person per day however is the cost .

What is your reason for avoiding the bigger game parks?

The big parks are spectacular. I was able to see the wildebeest crossing the Mara in Maasai Mara and the herds of elephants wallowing in the amazing delta ecosystem at Amboseli. I would not have been able to see both spectacles if I wanted to avoid the big parks.

You may balk at the entry charges (which is usually paid by the safari company, not you separately) but these parks desperately need the money. They are not making a hefty profit. None of the parks were congested by any stretch of the imagination. At Amboseli I think I only saw 6-7 other game vehicles in a 10 hour visit, and at Maasai Mara you might pass another vehicle per hour (only exception was at the wildebeest crossing).

Most safari companies seem to operate on a model where you have 1, maybe 2, days in the big park itself, and the rest of the time on private conservancies where the safari camp/lodges are based. So I don't think you really save much money by avoiding the big parks altogether.

Thanks

I am not looking for a private conservacy to save money, but have found in the past the larger parks can be over-run with too many 4x4 looking at the same animals.

I am looking for a better experience, so am looking at Ol Pejeta or something similar.
Not fussed on luxury, but any reasonable lodge is good.

May still go to the Maasai Mara though.

Pls visit Olpejeta and stay at Sweetwaters camp and you wont regret .

Cheers and all the best .

Highly recommend Ol Pejeta... We stayed 30 mins drive outside the park in a local guest house in order to avoid the camping fees (I was on serious budget haha!) but got up early to see sunrise and Mt Kenya and spend the whole day in the park. SO many rhinos. Lovely park with great staff. Highly recommend it. But that said, I enjoyed every single park I went to, and you may be disappointed if you miss the Mara!

Private goes with an extra cost but worthy a visit, but Kenya National parks are diverse and have good expereince what matters most is your service provider as well as the driver guide.

I also don't understand the priority of avoiding the bigger parks/ Why? Definitely that's where you get the best wild life experiences and if it's about avoiding other tourists, just travel during the low season.

Lovey Dovely,

Sorry this is a bit off topic for the thread, but I read your post and was just wondering if you could tell me from the 30 min drive how you got to Ol Pejeta? We are looking at doing something similar and are wondering if we need to rent a car? Or if it can be done without one?
Looking forward to hearing from you!