Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Angama
Angama hotels
Glass-fronted safari lodges open Kenyan landscapes to view, leaving colonial lodge styling behind.
Angama places contemporary safari lodges in extraordinary Kenyan landscapes, most memorably on the Oloololo Escarpment above the Maasai Mara. Founded by Steve and Nicky Fitzgerald after their years at andBeyond, the small, family-owned collection favors glass-fronted buildings and an open relationship with the landscape over the traditional colonial lodge aesthetic.
2 Angama hotels in 1 country on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.
- Owned by the Fitzgerald family
- Worldwide: Three properties as of 2026 — Angama Mara (2015), the mobile Angama Safari Camp (2020), and Angama Amboseli (2023) — all in Kenya
- On the atlas: 2 Grand Luxury
History
Steve Fitzgerald spent years seeking a lease on the Oloololo Escarpment, working with Maasai elders before Angama Mara could take shape. He and Nicky brought trusted design partners from their andBeyond years into a more contemporary lodge, using glass to open the rooms toward the view. A mobile camp and a second permanent lodge followed at a measured pace.
Timeline
- ~1998 — Steve Fitzgerald first conceives of a lodge on the Angama site not long after the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, beginning a 15-year pursuit of a land lease from local Maasai landowners
- 2000 (approx.) — Steve and Nicky Fitzgerald, then at the helm of &Beyond, complete the landmark Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania with architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens, the design partnership later brought to Angama.
- 2013 — Fitzgerald signs a 25-year lease on the long-coveted Oloololo Escarpment land, two days after the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, a vote of confidence in Kenyan tourism made amid crisis.
- 2015 — Angama Mara opens in June, drawing the Fitzgeralds out of retirement after 15 years leading &Beyond's growth from three lodges to 55 across six African countries and four in India; Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens design the lodge, with interiors by Annemarie Meintjes.
- 2020 — Angama Safari Camp launches as a mobile tented camp extension of the brand, expanding Angama beyond its fixed Oloololo Escarpment site.
- 2022–23 — Steve Mitchell serves as CEO through the development of Angama Amboseli, which opens in November 2023.
- 2023 — Angama Amboseli opens in the community-owned Kimana Sanctuary at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, the brand's second permanent Kenya lodge, extending Angama beyond the Mara into elephant-and-Kilimanjaro country on land owned by local Maasai communities.
- 2025 — Angama Mara is named to Robb Report's 50 Greatest Hotels on Earth and ranks No. 12 in Condé Nast Traveller's Readers' Choice Awards.
- 2026 — Angama Mara is recognised in Condé Nast Traveler's Triple Crown.
The houses to know
- Angama Mara, Lolgorien, Kenya — Thirty tented suites with 11-metre floor-to-ceiling glass fronts, on the exact 700-hectare stretch where several scenes from Out of Africa were filmed.
- Angama Amboseli, Kimana Sanctuary, Kenya — Ten tented suites stand on raised decks, with views of Amboseli’s elephant herds and Kilimanjaro.
Newest openings
- No new Angama property has opened in the last 12–24 months; the brand's most recent addition remains Angama Amboseli (opened November 2023), and 2025–26 news has centred on award recognition (Robb Report, Condé Nast Traveller) rather than new openings.
Opening next
- No new Angama property or expansion has been publicly announced as of mid-2026; the brand's growth pattern to date (one fixed lodge roughly every 4–8 years, plus one mobile camp) suggests continued deliberate, small-scale expansion rather than an active pipeline.
Every Angama hotel on the atlas
Kenya
- Angama Amboseli — Kimana Sanctuary · Grand Luxury
- Angama Mara — Lolgorien · Grand Luxury
Open The Maison in the atlas for Angama's full dossier, with prices and maps.