Masai Mara Game Reserve

Wildebeest Migration

The world-famous Masai Mara Game (Wildlife) Reserve is Kenya’s Number One park and is always on the Must See List of every tourist visiting Kenya. The park is full of life with various types of animals, including the Big Five, and birds. The park is home the Elephant, Buffalo, Lions, Leopard and Rhino – Africa’s famous Big Five – and over 450 bird species.

Each year the Mara plays host to the world’s greatest natural spectacle, the Great Wildebeest Migration from the Serengeti. From July to October, the promise of rain and fresh life giving grass in the north brings more than 1.3 million Wildebeest together into a single massive herd. They pour across the border into the Mara, making a spectacular entrance in a surging column of life that stretches from horizon to horizon.

At the Mara River they mass together on the banks before finally plunging forward through the raging waters, creating a frenzy as they fight against swift currents and waiting crocodiles.

During this crossing, hundreds of animals are swept away by the first moving Mara River and others are killed by the ferocious African Crocodiles. The wildebeest bring new life to the Mara, not just through their cycle of regeneration of the grasslands, but for the predators which follow the herds.

The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide, involving an immensity of hervibores: some 1,300,000 Wildebeest, 360,000 Thomson’s Gazelle, and 191,000 Zebra. These numerous migrants are followed along their annual, circular route by a block of hungry predators, most notably lions and hyena.

Masai Mara Wildlife

The Masai Mara is perhaps most famous for its lions. All other members of the “Big Five" are to be found in the Masai Mara, although the population of black rhinoceros is severely threatened, Hippopotami are found in large groups in the Masai Mara and Talek Rivers.

Cheetah are also to be found. As mentioned above, the plains between the Mara river and the Esoit Oloololo Escarpment are probably the best area for game viewing, in particular regarding lion and cheetah.

Numerous other antelope can be found, including Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, impala, topi and Coke’s hartebeest. Large herds of zebra are found through the reserve. The plains are also home to the distinctive Masai giraffe as well as the common giraffe. The large Roan antelope and the nocturnal bat-eared fox, rarely present elsewhere in Kenya, can be seen within the reserve borders.

The Masai Mara is a major research centre for the spotted hyena. Additionally, over 450 species of birdlife have been identified in the park, including vulture, marabou, secretary bird, hornbill, crowned crane, ostrich, long-crested eagle, and pygmy falcon.

Visit Masai Mara with Skyview of Africa Tours and Safaris Ltd and experience a life-time dream. We offer road and air safaris to Masai Mara. It takes five hours of driving to reach Mara and 45 minutes on scheduled flights.

Lodges and Camps

Lodges and camps inside the Reserve include Mara Serena Lodge, Governor’s camp, Keekorok Lodge, Mara Sopa Lodge and Sarova Mara Lodge. In the Conservation area are Royal Mara Safari Lodge, Siana Springs tented camp, Mara Sopa, Elephant Pepper, Mara Simba, and Sekenani camp.