Masai Mara National Reserve
The Mara Game Reserve, as it was originally called, an area of some 1,812 km2, was established in 1961 and looks like the classical African savannah landscape. The Reserve is situated in the south-western part of Kenya and is the northern-most section of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, covering some 25,000 km2.
A small herd of elephants on their morning stroll
The variety, numbers and density of the animals makes the Mara one of the best, if not the best place for a safari in Kenya and chances are you will see the big five which usually includes elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard.
Male lion
Masai Mara has become world famous for its vast assemblages of plains game together with their associated predators and in 2007 it was declared being amongst the seven new natural wonders of the world. Naturally most of the safari scenes in Sydney Pollacks award-winning movie “Out of Africa” about the famous Danish writer Karen Blixen, were filmed here. The reserves easternmost border is only 224 km from Nairobi, so with the new tarmac road it only takes four to six hours to drive there or you could take 45 minutes off and simply fly in.
Landscapes alive with animals
What makes this transnational ecosystem so unique is first of all the great annual migration of wildebeest and from June to August, when the migration is at its peak in Masai Mara, the sheer number of wildlife is staggering. It is perhaps the only region in Kenya where the visitor may see animals in the same super-abundance as existed in Africa a century ago.
Giraffes are often seen in Masai Mara in groups of ten to fifteen animals rythmically moving in slow motion like tall ships across a sea of golden grass
The landscape in the Mara is a gentle mix of rolling green hills, dotted with thousands of spread out acacia trees (thereof the name Mara which means “spotted land”), offering a splendid overview of the game. There are several rivers flanked by gallery forest and especially in the south-east region you will also find clumps of acacia trees on the many beautiful hills in the Reserve.
Lone elephant not far from Simba Lodge
The varied landscape and vast grasslands is the key to the incredible diversity of species and sheer number of wildlife. Just the bird list in Masai Mara exceeds 450 species including vultures, marabou stork, secretary bird, hornbill, crowned crane, ostrich, long-crested Eagle, and African pygmy-falcon and many more.
Leopard eating an impala in a tree
Male lion on a kopje at sunrise
Full moon rising over Masai Mara while the sun is setting, casting rays of light into the hazy atmosphere
The migration takes place every year from July to October, a migration so immense it is called the Great Migration and can include as many as 1,300,000 Wildebeest, 360,000 Thomson’s Gazelle, and almost 200.000 Zebras.
Gnus waiting for the right moment to cross the Mara River
Unfortunately for some of the weaker animals, the migration route cuts right across the Mara River, and if not drowned and eaten by some of the huge old Nile crocodiles in the river, other predators await them in the thickets on the river banks, ready to attack at any given moment.
Zebras in the early morning light
The annual migration allows huge number of herbivores to give birth to their young ones in a location with plenty of food. One of the advantages in being many is that the camouflage effect of the flock makes it more confusing for the predators to seek out the right target.
Cheetahs closely monitoring the movements of their prey
One of the reasons for Masai Mara being the most visited Game Reserve in Kenya is because of the huge variety of species and abundance of wildlife out in the open.
Grants gazelle
Chances are that you will see herds of elephant, huge prides of lion, cheetahs, packs of spotted hyena, black- and silverbacked jackal, herds with hundreds of buffalo, hippos and crocodiles in the Mara River and if you are lucky you might even sport the rare black rhinoceros or a leopard.
There are three subspecies of giraffe in Kenya and in Masai Mara you will find the Masai giraffe, as shown above
Also on the plains there are plenty of Burchells zebras, topis, Coke’s hartebeest, roan antelope (rare), eland antelope, warthog, hippos and many more – all of them in such huge numbers, that it seems you have stepped into a veritable time capsule, taking you back into the untouched African nature as it was millions of years ago.
Ostriches trotting across the savannah
With its geographical placement only about 130 km from the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, the weather patterns are closely linked to that of the lake’s and the rain it produces. So when it is dry season in more or less the rest of Kenya and in the southern parts of Serengeti, the wildlife turns to Masai Mara to find greener pastures
A lone elephant bull
The Sand, Talek and Mara River are the major rivers draining the reserve and shrubs and trees fringe most drainage lines and cover hillsides and hilltops.
Elephants enjoying themselves at Mara River
The western border is the Oloololo Escarpment of the Rift Valley, and wildlife tends to be most concentrated here, as the swampy ground means that access to water is always good and tourist disruption is minimal.
Hippos basking in the sun on the bank of Mara River
The Nile Crocodile grow all their life and can reach 5-6m in length and a massive 1m over the back. Older crocodiles like this one weighs in at about one ton and can easily go for a year without food which means they can just lie and wait for their next meal untill the annual migration of gnus passes the Mara River
Nile Crocodile on the bank of the Mara River
The big cats
The Masai Mara is situated at an altitude of 1500m and at night it can become surprisingly chilly and your should carry a light jacket for the morning game drives. The sightings of animals here are second to none and that combined with relatively good access to the park has during the past fifteen to twenty years made Masai Mara a very popular tourist destination. Sometimes more than 30 minibuses can be seen at once when they take place around a pride of lions with a fresh kill, and the tourists gets a chance to snap away.
Leopards crossing the road
Cheetahs can spurt at speeds around 110 km/h which makes it rather impractical to have retractable claws as other cats have and somehow they seem to be more related to Canines than to the family of Cats
When courting, lions snarl and growls and so they appear extremely aggressive. Their mating can last through several days
A male lion in exellent condition rests in the shadows of a small tree during the hottest afternoon hours
Scavengers of the savannah
Silverbacked Jackals fighting over carcass of a gnu while some Vultures await their turn
Hyenas are far from lazy opportunists waiting for the next easy meal as they actively hunt down a variety of prey. Also they are known to have a bone-crushing bite so even Leopards and Lions will back off when faced with a feisty pack of Hyenas
Lone vulture in a dead tree while the sun rises over the mysterious and fascinating Mara
The people of the plains
Masai Mara is divided into two sections; The reason why Masai Mara isn’t designated a National Park is because the local Masai people from time immemorial have been grazing their cattle here and so they are still allowed to enter the reserve for this very reason. Humans are also part of the ecological system, but here it goes along with the fear of loosing a cow or two to a hungry pride of lions.
Young Masai Warriors dancing
If you want to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience enjoying the beauty and ecological complexity of the African savannah and its advanced levels of habitat specialization – as well as having a good chance to see the “big five” – visiting Masai Mara should definitely be on your list of places to go.
Mostly cloudy17°Creal feel: 19°Ccurrent pressure: 102 mbhumidity: 97%wind speed: 0 m/s Nwind gusts: 0 m/ssunrise: 6:28sunset: 18:31
Masai Mara National Reserve
The Mara Game Reserve, as it was originally called, an area of some 1,812 km2, was established in 1961 and looks like the classical African savannah landscape. The Reserve is situated in the south-western part of Kenya and is the northern-most section of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, covering some 25,000 km2.
A small herd of elephants on their morning stroll
The variety, numbers and density of the animals makes the Mara one of the best, if not the best place for a safari in Kenya and chances are you will see the big five which usually includes elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard.
Male lion
Masai Mara has become world famous for its vast assemblages of plains game together with their associated predators and in 2007 it was declared being amongst the seven new natural wonders of the world. Naturally most of the safari scenes in Sydney Pollacks award-winning movie “Out of Africa” about the famous Danish writer Karen Blixen, were filmed here. The reserves easternmost border is only 224 km from Nairobi, so with the new tarmac road it only takes four to six hours to drive there or you could take 45 minutes off and simply fly in.
Landscapes alive with animals
What makes this transnational ecosystem so unique is first of all the great annual migration of wildebeest and from June to August, when the migration is at its peak in Masai Mara, the sheer number of wildlife is staggering. It is perhaps the only region in Kenya where the visitor may see animals in the same super-abundance as existed in Africa a century ago.
Giraffes are often seen in Masai Mara in groups of ten to fifteen animals rythmically moving in slow motion like tall ships across a sea of golden grass
The landscape in the Mara is a gentle mix of rolling green hills, dotted with thousands of spread out acacia trees (thereof the name Mara which means “spotted land”), offering a splendid overview of the game. There are several rivers flanked by gallery forest and especially in the south-east region you will also find clumps of acacia trees on the many beautiful hills in the Reserve.
Lone elephant not far from Simba Lodge
The varied landscape and vast grasslands is the key to the incredible diversity of species and sheer number of wildlife. Just the bird list in Masai Mara exceeds 450 species including vultures, marabou stork, secretary bird, hornbill, crowned crane, ostrich, long-crested Eagle, and African pygmy-falcon and many more.
Leopard eating an impala in a tree
Male lion on a kopje at sunrise
Full moon rising over Masai Mara while the sun is setting, casting rays of light into the hazy atmosphere
The annual migration
The migration takes place every year from July to October, a migration so immense it is called the Great Migration and can include as many as 1,300,000 Wildebeest, 360,000 Thomson’s Gazelle, and almost 200.000 Zebras.
Gnus waiting for the right moment to cross the Mara River
Unfortunately for some of the weaker animals, the migration route cuts right across the Mara River, and if not drowned and eaten by some of the huge old Nile crocodiles in the river, other predators await them in the thickets on the river banks, ready to attack at any given moment.
Zebras in the early morning light
The annual migration allows huge number of herbivores to give birth to their young ones in a location with plenty of food. One of the advantages in being many is that the camouflage effect of the flock makes it more confusing for the predators to seek out the right target.
Cheetahs closely monitoring the movements of their prey
One of the reasons for Masai Mara being the most visited Game Reserve in Kenya is because of the huge variety of species and abundance of wildlife out in the open.
Grants gazelle
Chances are that you will see herds of elephant, huge prides of lion, cheetahs, packs of spotted hyena, black- and silverbacked jackal, herds with hundreds of buffalo, hippos and crocodiles in the Mara River and if you are lucky you might even sport the rare black rhinoceros or a leopard.
There are three subspecies of giraffe in Kenya and in Masai Mara you will find the Masai giraffe, as shown above
Also on the plains there are plenty of Burchells zebras, topis, Coke’s hartebeest, roan antelope (rare), eland antelope, warthog, hippos and many more – all of them in such huge numbers, that it seems you have stepped into a veritable time capsule, taking you back into the untouched African nature as it was millions of years ago.
Ostriches trotting across the savannah
With its geographical placement only about 130 km from the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, the weather patterns are closely linked to that of the lake’s and the rain it produces. So when it is dry season in more or less the rest of Kenya and in the southern parts of Serengeti, the wildlife turns to Masai Mara to find greener pastures
A lone elephant bull
The Sand, Talek and Mara River are the major rivers draining the reserve and shrubs and trees fringe most drainage lines and cover hillsides and hilltops.
Elephants enjoying themselves at Mara River
The western border is the Oloololo Escarpment of the Rift Valley, and wildlife tends to be most concentrated here, as the swampy ground means that access to water is always good and tourist disruption is minimal.
Hippos basking in the sun on the bank of Mara River
The Nile Crocodile grow all their life and can reach 5-6m in length and a massive 1m over the back. Older crocodiles like this one weighs in at about one ton and can easily go for a year without food which means they can just lie and wait for their next meal untill the annual migration of gnus passes the Mara River
Nile Crocodile on the bank of the Mara River
The big cats
The Masai Mara is situated at an altitude of 1500m and at night it can become surprisingly chilly and your should carry a light jacket for the morning game drives. The sightings of animals here are second to none and that combined with relatively good access to the park has during the past fifteen to twenty years made Masai Mara a very popular tourist destination. Sometimes more than 30 minibuses can be seen at once when they take place around a pride of lions with a fresh kill, and the tourists gets a chance to snap away.
Leopards crossing the road
Cheetahs can spurt at speeds around 110 km/h which makes it rather impractical to have retractable claws as other cats have and somehow they seem to be more related to Canines than to the family of Cats
When courting, lions snarl and growls and so they appear extremely aggressive. Their mating can last through several days
A male lion in exellent condition rests in the shadows of a small tree during the hottest afternoon hours
Scavengers of the savannah
Silverbacked Jackals fighting over carcass of a gnu while some Vultures await their turn
Hyenas are far from lazy opportunists waiting for the next easy meal as they actively hunt down a variety of prey. Also they are known to have a bone-crushing bite so even Leopards and Lions will back off when faced with a feisty pack of Hyenas
Lone vulture in a dead tree while the sun rises over the mysterious and fascinating Mara
The people of the plains
Masai Mara is divided into two sections; The reason why Masai Mara isn’t designated a National Park is because the local Masai people from time immemorial have been grazing their cattle here and so they are still allowed to enter the reserve for this very reason. Humans are also part of the ecological system, but here it goes along with the fear of loosing a cow or two to a hungry pride of lions.
Young Masai Warriors dancing
If you want to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience enjoying the beauty and ecological complexity of the African savannah and its advanced levels of habitat specialization – as well as having a good chance to see the “big five” – visiting Masai Mara should definitely be on your list of places to go.