JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge

What a beautiful resort, truly a one-of-a-kind experience. You are situated right in the heart of the Masai Mara. The resort and rooms are stunning- a luxury experience. Staff are so attentive and friendly. The Safari’s are amazing with knowledge guides that customize your tour. Having access to high-end Canon cameras allowed for a spectacular digital memory of our trip.

Easily among the first in class in terms of accommodation, service and food. The guides are experienced and the game drives are fantastic. The only thing that detracted from our experience was that the start time of shared game drives are not enforced. The other individuals on our game drives were late for every single game drive, resulting in the loss of a significant amount of time over the course of our stay. Since I could see how this would put the guides in a difficult position, perhaps the game drives should be private, particularly at this price point.

We do not have enough great things to say about this stay. The entire experience was incredible. We even had a tough time saying goodbye to all the staff who got to know during our time. We would recommend the JW Marriott Masai mara to anyone.

My husband and I just returned from our stay and we both had very high expectations and I'm happy to say they exceeded our expectations. The service was amazing, very friendly and attentive. We stay at a lot of Marriott resorts and my husband even remarked that he felt the service here was better than the JW Marriott in the Maldives (not to knock the staff there because they were also great but there was something extra special at this resort). The food was also great. We particularly liked dinner when they had a special Kenyan night with local dishes. Festus was our driver and he was clearly very experienced and knowledgeable. We saw a leopard on our very first drive thanks to him. I highly recommend renting a camera from the Canon studio. The pictures we were able to capture were incredible. Overall, this was a very memorable trip!!!

As avid Marriott people and first-time safari goers, this hotel seemed like a dream come true, and let me tell you…it is. The all-in-one service the JW Maasai Mara provides is definitely the way to go. You get to stay at a pristine lodge in a beautiful setting, with all-inclusive drinks/food, your game drives included, and use of their Canon cameras. And the included daily laundry service really puts it over the top. From airport pick-up to departure, you don’t have to plan a thing. The JW property was amazing, as were the tents, and we enjoyed the nice touches such as warm water bottles in the bed each night for our feet. October seemed like the perfect time to visit the Mara. It was less busy, there were baby animals everywhere, and the weather was great. While it got slightly hot in the tent during the daytime (when we were even there) and chilly in the early hours of the morning, we didn’t mind and it kind of added to the experience. We made use of the hot tub and outdoor shower and enjoyed watching different animals across the river from our room. The pool was great to have as well, and they’ll bring you whatever you want. The staff at the lodge, as pretty much every review has said, are just amazing. Truly the kindest, most welcoming people. We could feel their love for the Mara, their jobs, and the family atmosphere they had for each other. They worked as a team almost flawlessly. Josiah was our butler and took great care of us for early morning coffees to-go and all our meals. He’d go out of his way to take care of things for us and was such a warm and nice person. The absolute star of our stay was our game driver, Jackson. I’m sure all the drivers are great, but we felt like we hit the lottery having Jackson. First, Jackson is Maasai, and you could see the deep-rooted understanding of the land and the animals that come from growing up there. His intuition and knowledge of how the animals behave led us to so many amazing experiences while also being respectful of the animals - witnessing a cheetah hunt, multiple lioness hunts, and the craziest river crossing with crocs, hippos, zebras, and lions where we felt like we were in a Nat Geo documentary. Anything Jackson said about the animals and what they would do next was exactly what happened. Because of that, he’d be able to position us for the best view. It was seriously like he was the Maasai Dr. Doolittle and could talk to the animals. In addition to seeing the big five, plus all the other animals, we also had several special moments alone with animals because of his instincts - having morning coffee next to a pride of cuddling lionesses, spending time alone with a sleeping male lion next to our vehicle while we ate our breakfast to go, lunch in the bush with a pack of zebras nearby, etc. Jackson was also a very competent driver, which you don’t realize is important until you see other vehicles get stuck. Also, he does photography as well, so he has an amazing eye for setting us up f