There are some hotels you never want to leave. Angama Mara, a luxurious safari lodge overlooking Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, is one such hotel. Upon arrival to the lodge’s private airstrip, guests are immediately welcomed by a group of kind, smiling, supremely friendly staff members before being shuttled to the lodge.

No one can prepare you for the view that awaits: the Great Rift Valley, a sprawling, grassy stretch of the Mara. The expanse is almost enough to distract you from the beauty of the lodge itself. A handsome patio, equipped with a high-powered telescope for prime wildlife sightings, extends seamlessly from the open-air common area, where guests can lounge on plush red chairs around a central brick fireplace.

Here is a place that deserves a top spot on any bucket list. I’d say Angama Mara is a once-in-a-lifetime destination, but it’s, in fact, somewhere you’ll want to return to again and again.