Maasai Mara National Reserve, an extension of Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem,.is a country of breathtaking vistas: vast rolling plains and rounded hills, acacia woodlands, dense thickets of scrub bisected by the Mara River and its tributaries with luxuriant riverine forests. Its vast plains teem with endless herds of game together with their associated predators. Maasai Mara offers the largest population of lions in Kenya , seen in their natural setting and the impressive herds of elephants. Other animals include buffaloes, hartebeest, wildebeest, topi, eland, impala, gazelles, black rhino (very rare), giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, hippopotamus, crocodile, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackals, among others. Bird species include eagles, vultures, marabou, ostrich, touracos, guinea fowls, bustards, cranes, and many more. Perhaps the most intriguing phenomenon in the Mara – an event now known as the Seventh Wonder of the Modern World – is the annual Great Migration between the months of July and October when millions of wildebeest, zebra and gazelles pass from southern Kenya to Tanzania ’s Serengeti grasslands amidst an entourage of cheetahs, lions and other predators.
