Overview
Cottars Safari Service is a family business that has depended for the last 90 years on providing clients real value for the money and real adventure, descriptions of which we are in many of the classic and contemporary Africana books. We are in the business of making memories that last forever for our guests, and it is our privilege to be able to continue living in the land we love.
Since Chas Cottar's days, the quality of safaris in Kenya has generally deteriorated as operators sacrificed adventure for convenience, safaris have become over-itinerized, limited to congested big name parks and having no room for the flexibility that always was the vital essence of the original safari. Calvin and Louise and the cottars team work hard to keep the vital essence of safari alive, evoking the light, the sounds and the unchanging atmosphere of Africa of the 1920s'- the golden days of the of the early European explorers.
The Cottar family have been operating luxury tented safaris since 1919, and have been part of the Mara community for over 9 decades. Cottars 1920s is set in exquisite hills on a game concession adjoining the Serengeti, giving the feel of a private game park. The camp has maintained the original safari tradition and feel of the 1920s. An authentic white 1920s style camp, with no fences or manmade structures (other than roads) for hundreds of kilometers. The hills are great for hill-walks, where Verreaux Eagles can be seen on cliff nesting sites, as well as rare chandlers reedbuck in the moor like hill tops.
Calvin, a fourth generation Kenyan grew up in the bush, gaining experience with wildlife from Glen, his father and Bajila, his father's tracker. From the age of 15, Calvin began guiding clients on game drives and walks from the family camp in the Mara. Calvin went on to Tanzania as a professional hunter, returning to Kenya after 5 years to set up a wildlife management company that offered services to landowners. In 1993, Calvin joined the Kenya Wildlife Service in the community development department, and initiated five district wildlife associations to help landowners acquire user rights of their wildlife. In July 1995, Calvin rejoined the family company to initiate the 1920's project. Calvin has been voted the best Guide in Kenya and has passed his Gold-level KPSGA exam and been awarded a position as Honorary Warden for the Kenya Wildlife Service.
"For anyone looking for ultimate luxury, romance and a bit of adventure, you can't beat a Cottar‟s safari." – Travel News Magazine
Awards:- Finalist Best Safari Guiding Team – The Good Safari Guide, 2009/2011
- Finalist Best Safari Property in East Africa – The Good Safari Guide, 2009/2010
- Best Guide – Harpers Bazaar, 2008
- 101 Best Hotels – Tatler Travel Guide 2007
- The 50 Best Camp Sites – The Independent, April 2006
- Best Safari Camp - Harpers & Queen, January 2003
- Best Tented Camp in the World - Tatler Magazine, January 2003
- Top Guides of Africa - Condé Nast Traveller, November 2002
