Corporate News
An artistic impression of the upcoming Angama Mara. The luxurious tented
camp located in the Maasai Mara National Reserve targets high-end
holidaymakers with offers of $1,250 per person per night in the high
season. PHOTO | COURTESY
By DAVID HERBLING, hdavid@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Steve Fitzgerald and his wife Nicky are building a deluxe camping facility dubbed Angama Mara made up of two camps each with 15 tented suites.
- Angama Mara set to open in June targets wealthy clients at Sh111,000 a night.
A South African couple is taking on British
billionaire Richard Branson with a $14 million (Sh1.2 billion) luxury
tented camp in the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve, targeting
high net worth holidaymakers.
Steve Fitzgerald and his wife Nicky are building a deluxe
camping facility dubbed Angama Mara made up of two camps each with 15
tented suites.
The facilities will be priced at $1,250 (Sh111,600) per guest per night during the peak season.
Angama Mara is scheduled to open in June and is set on the edge of the Ololoolo Escarpment in the western part of the Mara.
The investment by the Fitzgeralds puts Angama Mara
in a head-to-head battle with Sir Richard Branson’s Mahali Mzuri,
Kempinski’s Olare Mara and Enkereri Mara by Dubai-based Emaar Group, who
are all targeting deep-pocketed tourists.
“We will be targeting high-end global luxury
adventure travellers,” Mr Fitzgerald, a co-founder and director at
Angama Mara, told the Business Daily in an interview.
He said financing of the luxury tented camp is a mix of debt and equity.
Mr Fitzgerald added that he has already made
arrangements for daily scheduled flights daily from Nairobi’s Wilson
Airport to Angama Mara’s private airfield, saving guests the hustle of a
bumpy road ride.
“Angama” is Kiswahili for “hanging or suspended in
mid-air,” and tourists in the wild will enjoy amenities such as Wi-Fi,
in-room massage, swimming pool, fitness centre and a child-minder.
Angama Mara’s pricing for the high season – which
coincides with the wildebeest migration – compares to rivals such as
Mahali Mzuri, which charges $1,450 (Sh129,500) per person per night.
A similar stay at Olare Mara Kempinski will cost one $835 (Sh74,600).
The camps all promise visitors panoramic views of
the Mara River, seeking to profit from the highly acclaimed annual
wildebeest migration that happens between July and October.
Angama Mara, a family-owned business, comes as a
sign of confidence in Kenya’s tourism industry already reeling from the
effects of travel advisories, insecurity concerns and Ebola fears.
“We wouldn’t be making an investment of this scale into Kenya if we had any doubts,” the couple said.
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