The conservancies bordering the official Masai Mara National Reserve — Mara North, Olare Motorogi, Naboisho, Ol Kinyei, and several others — are private community land managed jointly by Maasai landowners and safari operators. They typically apply strict vehicle limits (as few as two vehicles per sighting), allow off-road driving, and permit night game drives — none of which is possible in the national reserve. The trade-off is higher cost: camps in the conservancies charge substantially more than those in the main park.
For many visitors, the conservancies are the better choice: the wildlife density is comparable, the experience is more private, and you can leave the vehicle or do a walking safari with less bureaucracy. The fees paid to the Maasai landowners provide a direct incentive to maintain the land for wildlife rather than livestock — which has made the conservancy model one of the more successful examples of community conservation in Africa.