Duma is Swahili for cheetah. Mara Duma Bush Camp is a row of tents on the bank of the Talek River, right outside Talek Gate — so the Masai Mara starts on the other bank, and game drives begin the moment guests leave camp.
Two founders, two very different roads
Sanjeev Mishra was born in Calcutta and spent his career in finance and technology, at PwC, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon. Every holiday went to photographing wildlife, from India's tigers to the Mara's cheetahs. Today he runs photography workshops at the camp, tracking lions and cheetahs at first light.
Tonny Nyamai grew up in Tsavo East, where his father, Mzee Jonathan Nyamai, was one of the park's first rangers and worked with David Sheldrick on orphaned elephants and rhinos. Tonny started as a trainee cook on camping safaris, trained in Germany, and ran the kitchens at Westermanns in Tsavo and at Aruba, Mara Eden and Crocodile Camp in the Mara. The two met in the Mara and built Mara Duma together, with Tonny running the camp.
A kitchen that cooks three ways
Because its co-founder was a head chef, the kitchen cooks Continental, African and Indian food, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. On a full day in the reserve, breakfast is laid out on the Sand River and lunch is at Look-Out Point, looking across to Tanzania.
Tents, sundowners and the fire
The tents are raised canvas on the riverbank, set up as doubles, twins or triples, each with an en-suite bathroom and a veranda facing the reserve. Drives come back around sunset for a sundowner, then dinner around the bonfire — and on African nights, Maasai warriors dance by the fire.
Part of Talek
The camp supports the Masai Mara rangers and Talek's secondary school. When the school's old gate broke and lions began using the grounds as a shortcut, the camp built it a new one.
