How to pay Maasai Mara park fees
How to pay Maasai Mara park fees: through your camp, online with KAPS or on arrival, and who to contact
There are four ways to pay Maasai Mara park fees: through your camp or safari operator if your booking includes them, online on the KAPS ticket portal, on arrival from KAPS staff at the Mara Triangle’s three sales points, or at the gates of the main Reserve. Kenya Airports Parking Services (KAPS) collects the fees for Narok County and sells tickets for both the main Reserve and the Mara Triangle. Pay by M-Pesa or card: the Triangle takes no cash. Park fees are not paid through eCitizen or the Kenya Wildlife Service, which does not run the Mara. Current rates are in our Maasai Mara park fees guide.
Paying Maasai Mara park fees at a glance
Through your camp
Some camps and operators include park fees in the booking: ask before you travel.
Buy online
The KAPS portal sells tickets for the Mara Triangle and the Greater Maasai Mara.
M-Pesa or card
The portal takes a prepaid float account, M-Pesa or a credit or debit card.
No cash in the Triangle
The Mara Triangle takes M-Pesa or credit card only.
Pay where you sleep
Which side you pay, the main Reserve or the Triangle, depends on where you stay.
Not eCitizen or KWS
No official source names eCitizen or the Kenya Wildlife Service as a way to pay.
Where can I buy a Maasai Mara park ticket?
| Where | Covers | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Your camp or safari operator | Whatever your booking includes: Reserve fees, conservancy fees, or both | On your invoice or in your package price, if the booking includes them |
| KAPS online portal, in advance | The Mara Triangle and the Greater Maasai Mara | Prepaid float account, M-Pesa or credit/debit card |
| On arrival from KAPS staff at Purungat Bridge, Oloololo Gate or Serena Airstrip | The Mara Triangle | M-Pesa or credit card; no cash |
| The entry gates of the main Reserve | The main Reserve on the Narok side | Carry a card or M-Pesa: no Narok County notice on gate payment methods has been published |
Narok County has published no notice listing what each gate of the main Reserve accepts, so a card or M-Pesa is the safe choice there. In the Mara Triangle, cash is not accepted at all.
Do I pay park fees myself, or does my camp pay them?
It depends on your booking. Some camps and safari operators include Reserve fees in a package price, while others quote their rates “excluding conservancy and reserve fees” and list the fees separately on the invoice. One operator’s package for a camp in the Reserve, for example, lists park fees as included, while the same operator’s resident rate sheet quotes its Mara camps excluding Reserve and conservancy fees.
Some camps inside the Reserve also add a separate community fee to the guest’s invoice under their lease agreement with Narok County; one camp operator explains this in its booking notes. Read your quote line by line, and if park fees are not on it, plan to pay online or at the gate.
What should you ask your camp about park fees?
- Are Maasai Mara park fees included in my price, and for how many days?
- Are conservancy fees included, if I am staying in a conservancy?
- Do I pay on the Narok side or in the Mara Triangle? It depends on where I sleep.
- What time must I leave on my departure day so that I do not pay for another day?
- Does a balloon flight or a morning game drive on my last day add a day's fee or a landing fee?
- Is there a community fee or another levy on the invoice?
Which side do I pay: the main Reserve or the Mara Triangle?
You pay the side where you sleep. The Mara Conservancy says Mara Triangle fees “are paid according to where visitors stay”: if you are staying in the Triangle and drive in through Sekenani Gate on the Narok side, do not pay at Sekenani, but pay when you enter the Triangle at Purungat Bridge. The KAPS portal asks where you are spending the night before it sells a ticket.
Only a few camps are inside the Triangle itself: the Conservancy lists Mara Serena and Mara Wilderness (formerly Little Governors’) as its permanent camps, and Enkishui as a seasonal camp open from July to November. Most other camps and lodges are on the Narok side or in the conservancies around the Reserve.
Can I cross between the main Reserve and the Mara Triangle on one ticket?
Visitors who have paid in the main Reserve can enter the Mara Triangle: the Conservancy counts them among its visitors “with traversing rights, ie those who have paid elsewhere”. Vehicles passing through the Triangle to another destination get two hours’ transit before fees apply, and the Triangle’s vehicle fees are valid for 12 hours with unlimited exits and re-entries.
No official source says whether a Mara Triangle ticket also covers a game drive on the Narok side, so ask your camp before you plan a drive across the Mara River. One camp operator warns its guests that a balloon flight or another activity in the Triangle on the morning of departure needs a full day’s park fee that day.
How to pay park fees online, step by step
Step 1
Open the KAPS ticket portal, which the Mara Conservancy links as "KAPS online" (aps.co.ke/kfms/gm_booking.php).
Step 2
Enter the dates of your visit, from and to: the portal uses them to count the days you will be inside the park.
Step 3
Choose your destination, the Mara Triangle or the Greater Maasai Mara; the entry gates for each are shown below it.
Step 4
Choose the type of place you are staying (lodge or camp, private campsite or public campsite) and the camp's name.
Step 5
Enter the number of adults, children and vehicles in your party, writing 0 where one does not apply.
Step 6
Pay from a float account, by M-Pesa or by card, and keep the payment confirmation to show at the gate.
The portal also has an “Other Tickets” page for park activity tickets and a “Pay For Private Camp” page for Mara Triangle campsite payments. It is KAPS’s “Float Management System”: tour operators hold prepaid float accounts with KAPS, and when KAPS took over the Mara’s ticketing for Narok County in 2014, tour operators were to obtain their clients’ e-tickets from KAPS. Whether an individual visitor can open a float account is not stated, so independent travellers should plan to pay by M-Pesa or card.
Which gates and airstrips are entry points?
The KAPS portal lists these entry points for each side of the Reserve. Being on the list does not make a gate a ticket office: in the Mara Triangle, tickets are sold on arrival only at Purungat Bridge, Oloololo Gate and Serena Airstrip.
| Destination | Entry points on the KAPS portal | Buying on arrival |
|---|---|---|
| Mara Triangle | Oloololo Gate, Purungat Gate, Serena Airstrip, Angama Gate | From KAPS staff at Purungat Bridge, Oloololo Gate and Serena Airstrip only; Angama is a barrier without sales |
| The Greater Maasai Mara | Sekenani, Oloolaimutia, Talek, Musiara, Mara Simba, Fig Tree, Oloololo and Purungat gates; Sand River Gate; Keekorok, Olkiombo and Musiara airstrips | At the Reserve’s entry gates; Sand River Gate’s status is unclear, so do not plan to enter there |
Spellings are as on the portal. Our guide to Nairobi to the Maasai Mara by road explains which gate suits which camp.
What ID do you need when you pay?
In the Mara Triangle, you must show a passport, a National ID or, for Kenyan citizen children, a birth certificate when you pay; driving licences are not accepted. Resident rates there apply to residents of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, and anyone who cannot show the right ID pays the non-resident rate.
On the Narok side, the county’s service charter lists a National ID or passport for citizens, a resident’s ID, passport, work certificate or foreign certificate for residents, and a passport for non-residents. It aims to get visitors through the gate in about five minutes when everything is in order.
Staying several days: do you pay park fees for each day?
Yes. Park fees are charged per person per day. The park entry ticket is a 12-hour ticket, valid from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm whatever time you enter, and it does not carry over to the next day. On the KAPS portal you enter the dates you arrive and leave, and it counts the days, so a whole stay can be paid in one go.
Visitors staying inside the Reserve do not pay again on their departure day if they are out of the Reserve by 11:00 am and do not go on a game drive. When the 12-hour ticket started on 1 July 2023, the cut-off was 10:00 am. Check the time with your camp when you plan your last morning.
What time can you enter, and when must you be out?
On the Narok side, there is no entry into the Reserve after 6:30 pm. If you are staying outside the Reserve, leave by 7:00 pm; if you are staying inside, be back at your camp or lodge by 7:00 pm, because night game drives are not allowed in the Reserve. In the Mara Triangle, the rule is to leave the park or be in your camp or lodge by 7:00 pm.
The ticket’s 6:00 am to 6:00 pm validity is not the same as driving hours, so plan a long drive from Nairobi to reach the gate well before 6:30 pm, with time to pay. Our guide to driving from Nairobi gives typical journey times.
How are conservancy fees paid?
Through your camp, not at a Reserve gate. The conservancies around the Reserve are partnerships between Maasai landowners and tourism partners, the camps. Mara Naboisho Conservancy says its conservancy fee is “managed directly by our tourism partners when you book your stay”, that visitors come through its partner camps, and that day trips are not allowed.
In Mara North Conservancy, each tourism partner pays the conservancy a monthly fee per bed, which covers management and the lease payments to landowners. Rules differ from one conservancy to another, so ask your camp whether its rate includes the conservancy fee. If you also visit the Reserve, its park fees are separate.
What other charges might you pay in the Mara?
Besides the per-person conservation fee, the Mara Triangle charges vehicle entry fees per vehicle per day (by number of seats), ranger fees for escorts and night security at campsites, aircraft landing fees, balloon landing fees per person per landing, horse riding, camping and campsite booking fees. The rates are in our Maasai Mara park fees guide.
Balloon companies pay the landing fees; on the Narok side, a company engaged by the county collects them. Whether a balloon price includes the landing fee and a day’s park fee varies by operator, so ask. Aircraft landing fees in the Triangle are paid at the KAPS office in Nairobi or at Serena Airstrip; scheduled-flight passengers do not pay them themselves. Triangle campsites are booked on the Mara Conservancy’s booking site, and private campsite booking fees are non-refundable.
How do you book and pay for a campsite in the Mara Triangle?
Mara Triangle campsites are booked on the Mara Conservancy’s campsite booking site, and private campsite bookings can be paid online by Visa card through the KAPS portal’s “Pay For Private Camp” page. Booking fees for private campsites are non-refundable; the public campsites at Oloololo, Iseiya and Eluai have no booking fee. Campers must hire two rangers for night security and must park campers at a public or private campsite, not elsewhere in the park. Park fees and ranger fees are paid on top of the campsite.
What happens if you are fined in the Mara Triangle?
Mara Conservancy rangers can fine drivers on the spot for breaking park rules, such as driving off the roads. Fines must be paid at the rangers’ office before you leave the Triangle; get a receipt. Unpaid fines can lead to a ban from the Triangle for up to six months, depending on the offence. To report bad driving, email mara@maratriangle.org with a photo, the date and time, the tour operator and the vehicle number, or tell the rangers at Oloololo or Purungat Bridge.
What if a payment fails, or you need a refund?
Neither Narok County, the Mara Conservancy nor the KAPS portal publishes a refund or cancellation policy for park tickets. Keep every payment confirmation, such as the M-Pesa message, the card slip or the portal’s confirmation, and any receipt you are given.
If something goes wrong, ask whoever sold you the ticket first: your camp, your operator or KAPS staff. After that, contact the KAPS contact centre, Narok County’s Tourism and Wildlife Department or the Mara Conservancy, listed below. Carry both M-Pesa and a card, so that you have a second way to pay if one fails.
How do you make sure you pay the right people?
Buy only through the channels the official bodies name: your own camp or operator, the KAPS portal that the Mara Conservancy links as "KAPS online", KAPS staff at Purungat Bridge, Oloololo Gate and Serena Airstrip, or the Reserve's gates. No body publishes an M-Pesa paybill or till number for park fees, so be wary of anyone who sends you one. Narok County's e-services portal sells county licences, not park tickets.
Who runs the Reserve, and who collects the fees?
Narok County Government manages the Maasai Mara National Reserve through its Tourism and Wildlife Department. The Mara Triangle, the part north-west of the Mara River, has been managed since 2001 by the Mara Conservancy, a Kenyan not-for-profit, under a management agreement with the county that covers revenue collection, security, tourism and infrastructure.
KAPS has collected the Reserve’s fees for Narok County since 2014, and the Mara Conservancy’s board appointed it as an independent revenue collection agency for the Triangle. The Kenya Wildlife Service does not list the Mara among its parks and reserves, so KWS tickets and passes do not cover it.
Who should you contact about park fees?
| Body | Responsible for | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Mara Conservancy | The Mara Triangle, its tickets, rules and campsites | mara@maratriangle.org |
| Narok County Tourism and Wildlife Department | The main Reserve: compliments, suggestions and complaints | tourism@narok.go.ke, 020 268 8929/03; its service charter promises a reply to written enquiries within 7 days |
| Narok County Government | General enquiries | info@narok.go.ke, or its online enquiries and feedback forms |
| KAPS | The ticket portal and ticket sales | Contact centre: contactcentre@kaps.co.ke, +254 709 899 000 |
None of these bodies publishes a dedicated ticket helpline: use the contacts above. Ticketing systems and park rules change from time to time, so check our park fees guide before you travel.
Related guides
- Maasai Mara park fees – current rates for every type of visitor
- Nairobi to the Maasai Mara by road – route, drive times and which gate to use
- Flights to the Maasai Mara – airlines, airstrips and paying at Serena Airstrip
- Kenya eTA for Maasai Mara safaris – the entry permit most visitors need
- Plan your Maasai Mara safari – the step-by-step guide
- Maasai Mara FAQs – quick answers to common questions
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