The Masai Mara is the most popular game reserve in Kenya, and borders the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The landscaped is mostly open Savannah grasslands and acacia shrub land. Big cats occur in plenty in the Masai Mara reserve, the reserve also hosts the annual wildebeests and zebra migration involving over 1.5 million animals. The migration begins between July and October.
Covering an area of 1,510 sq km and located 270 km away from Nairobi – 270 km away, the Masai Mara National Reserve was named for the Maasai people who inhabit the area, and for the Mara River, which flows through this great reserve. It shares a border with Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and is essentially a continuation of this park, forming the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.
The Masai Mara reserve is Kenya’s most popular Game Reserve as it hosts an amazing concentration of wildlife. You are almost guaranteed to see the Big 5 – Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant. Lions abound throughout the park as do leopards, cheetah, hyenas, giraffe, impala, wildebeest, topi, baboons, warthogs, buffalo, zebra, elephants, and of course hippos and crocodiles in the Mara River.