About Maravelle Luxury Safaris
Built by Kenyans, for travellers who want the real thing.
We started Maravelle in 2011 with one belief: the best safaris are designed by the people who grew up in these landscapes, not resold from a catalogue. Fifteen years later, that’s still the whole business.
At a glance
- Founded 2011, headquartered in Karen, Nairobi
- Fully Kenyan-owned and operated
- Licensed by the Tourism Regulatory Authority of Kenya
- Member, Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO)
- Member, Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association
- 24 full-time staff; 14 dedicated safari guides
Our Story
From one Land Cruiser in Narok to Kenya’s private-safari specialists.
Maravelle Luxury Safaris was founded in Nairobi by a small group of professional safari guides who had spent years driving other operators’ itineraries and watching good trips get flattened into identical routes, identical camps and identical game drives.
We set out to do the opposite: fewer guests, deeper relationships with conservancies, and itineraries built from scratch around what a traveller actually wants to see and feel. The company began with a single vehicle running trips into the Maasai Mara and has grown into a full safari house covering Amboseli, Samburu, Tsavo, Lake Nakuru and the Kenyan coast — without ever growing into a call centre.
Today Maravelle is fully Kenyan-owned and Kenyan-staffed, from our safari designers in Karen, Nairobi, to our guides in the field. We work with a fixed circle of camps and conservancies we trust, rather than a wide catalogue we don’t.
What We Stand For
The principles behind every Maravelle itinerary.
01 — Small parties, low density. We cap most departures at six guests per vehicle and favour conservancy camps that limit total bed numbers, keeping sightings uncrowded and unrushed.
02 — Guides who stay guides. Our senior guides have chosen not to move into management. Their knowledge of terrain, tracking and animal behaviour is the product; we protect their time in the field.
03 — Conservation-linked travel. A share of every conservancy stay we book funds community land leases and anti-poaching patrols directly, through the conservancies’ own trusts.
04 — Honest, upfront pricing. Quotes list park fees, conservancy fees, guiding and accommodation separately. No bundled mystery charges appear once you’ve paid your deposit.
05 — One point of contact. A single safari designer manages your enquiry, itinerary, booking and in-trip support, so nothing gets lost in a handoff between departments.
06 — Built-in flexibility. Itineraries carry buffer time for weather, wildlife movement and guest preference — we plan for a safari that can bend, not one that runs on rails.
Leadership & Guiding Team
The people planning and leading your safari.
Maravelle is led by a small team of career safari professionals, several of whom have guided in the Mara ecosystem for over two decades.
Want to know more before you book?
We’re happy to talk through routes, seasons, and camps before you commit to anything — no itinerary required to start the conversation.