Maasai mara never dissapoints so enjoy the safari.
maasai mara is the most popular tourism destinations in Kenya. The reserve is located in the Great Rift Valley in primarily open grassland.Wildlife tends to be most concentrated on the reserve’s western escarpment.
The Masai Mara is regarded as the jewel of Kenya’s wildlife viewing areas. The annual wildebeest’s migration alone involves over 1.5 million animals arriving in July and departing in November.
There have been some 95 species of mammals, amphibians and reptiles and over 400 birds species recorded on the reserve.
Nowhere in Africa is wildlife more abundant, and it is for this reason a visitor hardly misses to see the big five (buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino.
Dream of Africa and chances are you dream of Maasai Mara. It is the home to Africa’ Big Five species, as well as an abundance of other wildlife, including wildebeest, cheetah, hyena, giraffe and many more.
Often described as nature’s greatest spectacles, the great migration is one of Africa’s dramatic stories. This occurs every year between July and October where more than 1.5 million wildebeests, zebras, gazelles and elands move mysteriously from the Serengeti in Tanzania to Maasai Mara in Kenya in search of grass and water.
This movement offers nature lovers the opportunity to view as predators such as the Lion, Hyenas, Crocodiles and Cheetahs prey on the wildebeests. This mass movement is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
From the western Serengeti the herds head north, following the rains (or their effects) into Kenya and the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. On their trek the wildebeests’ path is cut several times by rivers: in the Serengeti by the Mbalangeti and the Grumeti, and in Kenya by the Mara. For most of the year these rivers are relatively placid, but they can become violent torrents in response to rainfall in their catchment areas, and then they present major obstacles to the progress of the wildebeest.
Wildebeest arrive at the Mara River in their tens of thousands, and gather waiting to cross. For days their numbers can be building up and anticipation grows but many times, for no apparent reason, they turn and wander away from the water’s edge. Eventually the wildebeest will choose a crossing point, something that can vary from year to year and cannot be predicted with any accuracy.
Once on the grasslands of the Maasai Mara, the wildebeest spend several months feeding and fattening once more, taking advantage of the scattered distribution of green pastures and isolated rainstorms. A remarkable feature of their wanderings is their ability to repeatedly find areas of good grazing, no matter how far apart.
The physiology of the wildebeest is such that it has been designed by evolution to travel large distances very quickly and economically, apparently requiring no more energy to run a certain distance than to trudge along at walking pace. Every facet of its life and behavior is designed to save time – wildebeest even mate on the move, and newborns are, as we have seen, up and running in minutes.
While the wildebeest are drawn into migrating by the needs of their stomachs, the fact that they’re constantly on the move has the added benefit that they outmarch large numbers of predators. The predators are unable to follow the moving herds very far, for many are territorial and can neither abandon their territories nor invade those of others. Moreover, the young of most predators are highly dependent upon their mothers, who can’t move very far from them.
Parkfees are paid as you enter the reserve.
Best time to visit – Peak season is between July and October, during the migration. Early November and February can also offer excellent game viewing.