Maasai Mara National Reserve (also known as Masai Mara or Mara) holds a special place in my heart. I have traveled all over and so far this place has just stole my heart and is the first place I think of if anyone ask what has been my favorite place to visit. It is huge game national game reserve and is named after the large tribe of Massai that have always ruled this area. The Mara part of the name means “spotted” in the Massai language and was used to describe the reserve due to all of the short trees covering the land. Mara is the only protected area in Kenya for protecting and conserving the wildlife.
The park is approximately 1,510 square kilometers (580 square miles) and is located in the southwestern part of Kenya. The elevation is 1,500 – 2,180 meters (4,921 – 7,152 feet). The rainy seasons tend to be twice a year in April and May and then again in November and December, with the rest of the months being very dry with the arid climate.
There was a lot of talk around the climate and weather changes on our tour, similar to the changes we have been experiencing in Michigan. The weather is shifting, we were there in March which is supposed to be the end of the dry season, working its way into the start of the rainy season of April and May but they didn’t have much of a dry season and these changes had been happening since the late 1990’s and affecting the landscape, the animal way of life and migrations. However, was so outstanding to get to see the storms move in across the plains toward you and see how hard it could rain. These storms would build up fairly fast but move through just about as fast.
Some of the roads in the park were washing out due to much more rain than normal and were just large mud holes which makes it difficult for the safari drivers and sometimes has required them to drive on terrain that they shouldn’t be forging some new driving areas. This is where the safari vehicles and amazing drives come in as they know how to handle getting through these areas, some of them were a bit scary.
Mara is home to so many different animals and bird which can be seen only through safaris which are all done with small groups in safari vehicles that can manage the terrain. You are not allowed out of the vehicles, but they are equipped with full viewing windows that open for photography and viewing and open roofs for the same. Since they are all small groups, it allows everyone to get good views and photos.
If you are on more than a day trip safari tour, you will stay at one of the camps within the reserve. We stayed at Fig Tree Camp which was a smaller camp with a lovely restaurant offerings fantastic meals, a bar for a local beer or mixed drinks, a pool and fabulous tests.
Another way to see the park is by taking a hot air balloon ride. These run early in the morning and then finish with a breakfast near where you land and are picked up. We didn’t do this as you can also do this in the Serengeti in Tanzania and we planned to do it there instead, but it looked like such an amazing trip. There are a few companies that run the hot air balloon rides, and this is usually an excursion that is separate from your safari but can be purchased and planned with your tour company.
There are so many animals and birds to seen in Mara that I can’t cover them all, but a good start is that you have a chance to see the “Big Five” in Mara, which are African Bush Elephants, African Buffalo, African Leopards, Lions and maybe even the Black Rino.
There are a lot of antelope or deer type animals including Impala (shown), Thompson’s Gazelles, Grant’s Gazelles, Topi to name a few.
In the dog type family, there are Jackels and Bat-Eared Fox on the smaller side and Spotted Hyenas (shown) on the larger side.
For the cat family there are Lions, Cheetahs (shown), Leopards, on the larger side and on the smaller (more the size of house cats or slightly larger) side Servals, African Wildcats and Spotted Genet.
Then of course you can miss are the Zebra, Maasai Giraffe (more common than and Rothchild Giraffe) and so much more.
There are the mischievous monkeys and baboons as well. They can be problematic at the camps and lodges and are patrolled to keep them out. Another predator, but so cute, was the Tree Hyrza (African Raccoon shown) which we had living in the tree next to our tent. It was adorable until it got into a fight with what we think was a monkey during the night and woke us from a dead sleep while hearing it screaming. It was a horrifying sound that if you were in the city you would assume a murder had occurred, but all seemed fine in the morning.
Along the rivers you will find Hippopotamus (shown), Nile Crocodile and a variety of lizards like the Nile Monitor Lizard.
Then you can’t forget all the birds starting with Ostrich (shown) which you will see throughout the park, many types of eagles, stork, vultures, Secretary Bird, Crowned Crane and so many more.
I hope you have enjoyed this information about the beauty of Maasai Mara National Reserve in Keny and all you can see on a safari of this amazing place.
Note that all photos used in this post were taken by DaisyChainFun.
