Masai Mara National Reserve

Landscape.

Close your eyes and envision how Masai mara must look like. Chances are you might imagine photos of endless grassland, occasionally peculiar shaped trees and super clear blue skies. It is that ‘ out of Africa’ feel , peak in adventure and untampered with nature that most visitors to the Masai mara fall in love with.

The word mara means spotted in the Maasai language. Upon a visit to the Masai mara, it won’t be hard to understand how the national reserve got its name.

Yes, its true that Masai mara is made of sprawling rolling hills and plains but, good news is that is just the tip of the iceberg. With that said, it is important to note that Masai Mara is composed of four different landscape types

The general and largest area or portion of Kenya’s small yet national park with the highest concentration of animals, the Masai mara is made up of vast widely open short golden bushy trees and grassland that dot the landscape do give it a spotted kind of look .

A game drive on this side of Masai mara will give you and experience like non other for the short savannah make animal viewing and spotting much easier. It is also the best place to witness a high speed live dramatic predator versus prey action. You have a high chance of spotting all animals in the Masai masa in this part of the national park.

Other than the sprawling plains, Masai mara national reserve features unexpectedly very beautiful lush green portion of riverine forests. During the wet season, rivers like the mara river overflow their river banks which later provide water to all creatures of the Masai mara in the dry season.

The growth of the beautiful green vegetation and trees in this area are sustained by the water from these these rivers making them grow big and leafy. The shade from these big trees keep the soil moist throughout the year.

This in return facilitates growth of other vegetation that act as food for other creatures like insects, ants, birds and animals in the mara ecosystem of Kenya.
The other breathtaking portion of the Masai mara is comprised of the loita hills.

A game drive in this area of Masai mara national reserve may be boring at first but with a little bit of patience you’ll come across an encounter of “fairytale like” indigenous forest called the forest of the lost child.

The loita hills are at 2150 meters at their highest with the low lying mountain range situated on the north eastern part of Masai mara national reserve as the most traditional cones of the Masai county.

With the loita hills being inhabited by various creatures from waterbucks and bufflaloes to forest pigs and colobus monkeys, it is home to the lesser known little migration; where thousands of wildebeests and their predators embark on their annual trek.

Landscape

Wildlife in Masai mara national reserve.

With literally close to 90 species of mammals and a diversity of birds, wildlife in Masai mara and the surrounding mara eco system is considered one of the finest and most fascinating collection in the world attracting countless tourists on an African safari throughout the year.

Regardless of its size, Masai mara is well known worldwide as home to the African big five and this fascinating national reserve in Kenya is famously known for hosting the annual great migration that sees millions of land animals migrating.

As one of the major reason why mot tourists embark on a safari to Masai Mara is the big 5 which include lions ( panthera leo), African buffalos(Syncerus caffer), Leopard( Panthera pardus),rhino (Rhinocerotidae) and elephant(Loxodonta Africana).

Among the big five, there are quite a lot of lion prides that have lived in Masai mara national reserve for decades. The majority of lions in this pride are females. The male ones get chased out of the group by other stronger ones. During your visit to Masai Mara National Reserve, you might hear a deep fierce roar of male lions warning other males to keep out of their territory at night.

The best time to witness a lion on prowl in search of prey would be having a game drive in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is down and you have higher chances of sightseeing female lions in action.

Besides the big five, other animals that pride themselves in calling Masai mara home include the following, cheetahs, antelopes, giraffes, hippos, zebras , African hares, banded mongoose, bat eared fox, gazelles, honey badger, impalas, kirk’s dik dik, olive monkeys, spotted, warthogs, wildebeests, velvet monkeys, hyenas to mention but a few.

Birds in Masai mara.

Although not considered the ultimate destination for a birding safari, Masai mara is home to a diverse species of birds with over 300 species recorded. Birds that may be found in masai mara include the following; the African fish eagle( Haliaeetus vocifer),abdim’s stork(cisonia abdimii), African darker(anhiga rufa),African grey hornbill (tockus nasutus),afrcan harrier hak( polyboroides typus)African spoonbill(platalea alba)bateleur( terathopius ecaudatus),black chested snake eagle( circaettus pectoralis, black winged kite( elanus caeruleus), coquis francolin ( francolinus coqui), Egyptian goose( alopochen aegyptiacus), harmerkop(scopus umbrette)kori bustard (ardeotis kori), ostrich (Struthio camelus), ruppell’s vulture(gyps rueppellii), secretary bird( Sagittarius serpentarius and the list continues.

Bird flying in Masai mara