This New Masai Mara Villa Includes a Spare Room for Your Personal Assistant

Great Plains Conservation has opened Zamara Private, a six-suite residence on the edge of Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve that is sold only on an exclusive-use basis. Two of the six are larger master suites with a separate living room, a private lap pool, walk-in wardrobes and an additional room the company describes as suitable for a guest's personal assistant.

The house sleeps up to 12 adults and is designed for a single family or travelling group. Each suite sits under a grass-planted roof that folds the building into the hillside, with a private outdoor deck and an outdoor shower. Shared space runs to a media room, wine room, spa, gym, sauna, steam room and a 15-by-5-meter infinity pool. Nightly rates start at $32,500 based on 12 guests sharing, with dining and a private butler team included.

What guests do

Game drives use customized open-sided Land Cruisers fitted with photographic bars and charging outlets. Guests can add a sunrise balloon flight over the Mara, visit a partner school or plant indigenous trees through the Great Plains Foundation's Conservation Roots program, or spend time with a local Maasai women's group working in traditional beadwork.

Zamara Private is the sixth Great Plains property in Kenya, joining Mara Plains Camp, Mara Expedition, Mara Nyika, Mara Toto Tree Camp and Ol Donyo Lodge in the Chyulu Hills. The company was founded by filmmakers and conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert.

Exclusive-use product has become one of the busiest categories in the Mara. Camps including Angama Mara and Sala's Camp already sell private-house options, and a buyout lets an operator fill an entire property on one booking rather than assembling a dozen separate reservations at very high rates.