Masai Mara National Park

Kenya’s most celebrated and arguably best wildlife reserve. The Masai Mara is dominated by open grassland, but as implied by the Masai name Mara, meaning spotted, it is interspersed with rocky hills, acacia woodland and riparian forest.

The Mara River, an important water source and obstacle to the annual Wildebeest Migration, is the only permanent waterway through the Masai Mara. With dozens of deep Hippo pools, the Mara River supports varied aquatic wildlife, including hippos, crocodiles and otters, and riverine birds such as the Hamerkop and African darter.

One of the most spectacular events in the Serengeti and Mara is the wildebeest Migration and the Wildebeest crossing the Mara River. First, the Wildebeest will often congregate in their thousands on the banks. Then, one of the Wildebeest will plunge with the rest of the herd, triggering a stampede that provides rich pickings with the waiting crocodiles and predators on the riverbanks.

An estimated 5000 wildebeests will perish annually while crossing the Mara River. Still, the numbers are readily replenished by the average 400,000 calves born in the Serengeti during the annual Migration Calving Season every January to February.