Photo: Cottar's Safaris
Cottar's Safaris · Exclusive-Use Villa
Cottar's exclusive-use Maasai Mara villa: five en-suite bedrooms, 25-metre pool, private chefs and guide, on a hilltop facing the Mara and Serengeti horizon, curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
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Olderkesi Conservancy, Maasai Mara, Kenya: private hilltop villa with Mara and Serengeti outlook
Cottar’s exclusive-use Maasai Mara villa for families and private groups who want five en-suite bedrooms, a 25-metre pool, and dedicated guiding, personally curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
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The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
The Experience
Cottar’s Bush Villa is the exclusive-use private house on the same Olderkesi Conservancy as the 1920s Camp: a fully refurbished five-bedroom villa of roughly 10,000 square feet, perched on a private hilltop with views that can stretch toward the Mara and Serengeti ecosystem. Exclusive Villa Collection arranges it for families and private groups who want the Mara without sharing the house: private chefs, a dedicated safari guide with exclusive-use vehicle, and a staff complement that keeps the week seamless.
Five en-suite bedrooms sleep ten guests as the standard programme: a 65-square-metre master with two private balconies; ground-floor Maasai king room; Blue twin with a hand-carved stone bath; and upstairs Cream and Green rooms with private balconies. Amenities include a 25-metre private pool, outdoor hot tub, three expansive viewing decks, living room, dining room, bespoke bar, library, boules lawn, private massage room, and indoor and outdoor fireplaces. Solar and electric power and Wi-Fi run through the villa; guests also retain access to the main camp’s broader setting when desired.
As the first private house built in the Maasai Mara, and historically the first property in Kenya to win the World Travel Market’s Best Private Villa in Africa award, the villa sets a private-safari standard that still feels current after its refurbishment. Arrival is typically by light aircraft into the Cottar’s corridor with a private transfer. Your advisor confirms availability and quotes with Cottar’s for your dates. Photography is credited to Cottar’s Safaris (and named authors where recorded).
Why EVC loves it
Inside the stay
Where you sleep, what you eat, and how you arrive: the essentials, in brief.
Rooms / Suites / Villas
Five en-suite bedrooms across about 10,000 sq ft for ten guests: the Master, with a super king and two private balconies; Maasai, with a ground-floor verandah; Blue, with a stone bath; and Cream and Green, with private balconies.
Dining
Private chefs for villa dining: indoor dining room, decks, and celebration setups. Dietary and celebration notes are shared ahead of arrival.
Spa & Wellness
Private massage room and outdoor hot tub for recovery. Guests may also coordinate with broader Cottar’s spa offerings when available.
Beach / Pool
Private 25-metre swimming pool and hot-tub deck against savannah views: exclusive-use swimming culture for the villa party, not a shared camp pool hour.
Who it is best for
Families and private groups seeking exclusive-use Maasai Mara living; multi-generational travel that wants five en-suite bedrooms and a dedicated guide; celebrations that need a private house rather than individual tents.
Getting there
Typically Nairobi then light aircraft toward the Cottar’s / Olderkesi corridor with private villa transfer. Complimentary nanny service notes available when travelling with children. Confirm at booking.
Seasonality
July to October classic dry / migration window; green season for lush scenery and resident game. Holiday weeks are best reserved early. Activity sets remain condition-dependent.
Pair it with
A second stay that belongs on the same itinerary.
Kenya
Kenya’s Maasai Mara: Olderkesi Conservancy wildlife and Cottar's Safaris stays, curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Destination
Kenya with Exclusive Villa Collection: Olderkesi conservancy safari in the Maasai Mara with Cottar’s, and Sirai House, a private home on Laikipia’s Borana.
Destination
Okavango Delta floodplains, private concessions bordering Moremi, and Exclusive Villa Collection’s Botswana stay through andBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge.
Related stays
Houses we would weigh alongside this one.
Olderkesi Conservancy, Maasai Mara, Kenya
Cottar's classic Maasai Mara tented camp on Olderkesi Conservancy: eleven vintage-style suites, dedicated guiding, and plains light, personally curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Okavango Delta, Botswana: private concession bordering Moremi Game Reserve (Chitabe / Santantadibe Channel corridor)
andBeyond’s private-concession Okavango lodge bordering Moremi: suite living above the papyrus, land-based safari, and channel light, personally curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Sossusvlei Private Desert Reserve, Namibia: near the NamibRand Nature Reserve / Sossusvlei dune corridor
andBeyond’s private-reserve desert lodge near Sossusvlei: dune light, suite living with plunge pools, and dark-sky nights, personally curated by Exclusive Villa Collection.
Karatu · Northern Tanzania · Seventeen cottages and two farm houses
A historic farm lodge on the forested outer slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater, above Karatu in northern Tanzania: seventeen cottages, two farm houses, and a coffee plantation since the 1920s.
Also in these collections
Each collection gathers houses that share a way of traveling. Open one to see its companion stays and shores.
From the Journal
Where this house appears in our writing, beside the places and companions we pair with it.
Journal · 6 min read
A lake house in Austria, a hilltop Residence on a Fijian reef, a staffed villa in Bali and a house on the Maasai Mara: where three generations travel well together.
Read the storyJournal · 6 min read
Cottar’s in the Maasai Mara, andBeyond Sandibe in the Okavango Delta and Sossusvlei in the Namib: private camps for a first safari or a fifth, and when to go.
Read the storyPlan My Trip
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