Ilora Retreats
Stay Dine Safari Experience Journeys Footprints Journal Plan Your Stay
Ilora Retreats  ·  Masai Mara

Stories from
the field.

Wildlife, conservation, and life inside one of Africa's last great wildernesses. Written from the Mara.

Browse the Journal
What would you like
to read?
Beyond the Set Menu
Latest
Featured story
From the Founder  ·  Ilora experiences

Beyond the Set Menu

How Ilora Redefined Luxury Dining in the Bush What our guests taught us about food, over two years, mostly without saying anything. Two years ago…

September 2026  ·  8 min read Read
The Journal

More from
the field.

31 stories
Ode to Bahati
From the Founder  ·  Wildlife
Ode to Bahati
For the leopard who was here before we were Nobody found her. That is usually how it ends…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
The Great Migration
Wildlife
The Great Migration
What is actually happening out there – and what nobody can promise you Three things people believe about…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
Ode to Tano Bora
From the Founder
Ode to Tano Bora
The five cheetahs who should not have worked, and did The first time I watched them hunt, I…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
The Beautiful Five: the birds worth stopping the vehicle for
Masai Mara
The Beautiful Five: the birds worth stopping the vehicle for
Lilac-breasted roller, malachite kingfisher, grey crowned crane, saddle-billed stork — and an honest answer about the fifth, which…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
The Small Five, and why they are better company than the Big Five
Masai Mara
The Small Five, and why they are better company than the Big Five
Elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhinoceros beetle. A joke list that turns out to…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
The Argument I Have With Myself
From the Founder
The Argument I Have With Myself
There is a version of this camp I could build in a year and then leave alone. Every…
Aug 2026 6 min read →
Beyond the river crossings: the Mara’s hidden micro-migrations
Masai Mara
Beyond the river crossings: the Mara’s hidden micro-migrations
The Loita wildebeest, elephants moving to the forest and back, grazing succession and the hippo commute. What moves…
Aug 2026 7 min read →
Indigenous Conservation: Lessons from the Maasai
Conservation
Indigenous Conservation: Lessons from the Maasai
Reserved pasture, fire, water rights, sacred trees and osotua. How the Maasai actually managed this land for four…
Aug 2026 8 min read →
The Geography of the Maasai Mara’s Best Wildlife Spot
Safari planning
The Geography of the Maasai Mara’s Best Wildlife Spot
The most typical mistake when planning a high-end African holiday is succumbing to aesthetic displacement. Travelers spend months…
Aug 2026 9 min read →
Stargazing in the Savannah: Navigating Southern Skies from the Equator
Ilora experiences
Stargazing in the Savannah: Navigating Southern Skies from the Equator
Due to the increased screen time, we have stopped gazing and dwelling deeper into the night’s “low-fi” sky…
Aug 2026 10 min read →
On Not Counting
From the Founder  ·  Safari planning
On Not Counting
Why we stopped treating wildlife sightings as the point of a safari, and what filled the space it…
Jul 2026 7 min read →
The silent safari: what the Mara sounds like with the engine off
Masai Mara
The silent safari: what the Mara sounds like with the engine off
Engine noise masks the alarm calls that tell you what is about to happen. What the Mara sounds…
Jun 2026 7 min read →