Masai Mara Game Reserve Packing Lists

For game drives, you will want something that can keep the dust out. A simple backpack with a zipper may be sufficient for most purposes. This is particularly good to consider when you think about suddenly stopping at a wildlife sighting where you will probably want to get your camera out - or get one of several cameras out for those who like different weapons for different shots. Something with multiple small zippers is probably best, and keep everything in the same pocket each time so that you can quickly grab it. You will not do much walking due to the danger of the animals to walkers, but backpacks are convenient. The roads will really rattle you around in places, so you may want a padded camera bag to protect your favorite weapon of choice. Some method of keeping your camera easy to reach while at the same time protecting it from the dust will be really helpful - even something as simple as a zip-lok plastic bag around it will help keep the dust out.

As suggested in the game drives tip, you will get dusty. You may want a dust mask or some other thing to hold over your nose and mouth during the worst of the dusty situations.

Game drives go quite far from any toilet facilities and the toilets at the hippo pools (such as they are) don't have toilet paper. Thus, you may want to bring your own. Also, take a look at the photos! There isn't much to hide behind, so you may want to bring a blanket or towel large enough for someone to hold to provide additional privacy.

Telephoto Equipment is extremely desirable here. Landscapes can be spectacular, but you've probably come here to see animals, and in many cases they are far off. Filters, and particularly a UV filter, would be good too. Otherwise some of the distant spectacular landscape vanishes when you take your photo. Very fine resolution film (50 or 100 ASA or so) would be good if you need to enlarge the photo a lot when you get back. A very good digital at maximum pixels *might* give you enough resolution, but the best films still provide a few more dots per inch to work with.

Compare: my photo of the elephants here with Cindy L.'s photo of the same elephants with a good telephoto lens
Can you find 3 giraffe in photo 2?
Photo 3 shows them closer
Photo 4 shows why zooming with digital zoom may not work well - the camera doesn't have enough information to make a good photo.

Snack foods of various kind that can survive the warm temperatures in the sun during a game drive would probably be useful. Bottled water at your hotel will be expensive, so stop at a grocery store and get your own case of bottled water.

Masai Mara Game Reserve Hotels

Masai Mara Game Reserve Packing Lists

Visiting Masai Mara Game Reserve?

Visiting Masai Mara Game Reserve?