Masai Mara Sopa Lodge

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.

The lodge offers accommodation in guest cottages divided into two wings to either side of the main public areas. Each of these house two spacious guest rooms with queen- or king-size beds, mosquito nets, electronic safes, 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.

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 standalone structure with an adjacent open-air campfire 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.

The lounge 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.