Mara Sopa Lodge – Masai Mara
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 center.
Reception
Airy and spacious with an adjacent gift shop, the area – which incorporates a guest information desk – is decorated with warm earth colours and lit by an enormous, Afican calabash chandelier.
Lounge
This 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.
Accommodation
The lodge has fifty guest cottages divided into two wings to either side of the main public areas. Each of these house two spacious guest rooms with queen and king size beds; mosquito nets; electronic safes; dressing tables; 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.
In addition to all of the above, the honeymoon suite has an extremely large, luxuriously appointed bedroom with a king size bed; dressing table and indoor seating area. Its lavishly appointed bathroom contains both a shower and a sunken bath; and its sheltered veranda offers some of the most magnificent views available over the African landscapes below.