The Mara is a startling reality, an iconic African wilderness teeming with game, prowled by predators, and plump with impossible-to-miss Big Five action; this is epic animal-viewing terrain. Come during its busiest seasons, particularly when the thrilling Great Migration, widely considered the largest terrestrial wildlife spectacle on Earth, hits Kenya, and you’ll be spotting camera-clicking homo sapiens almost as readily as the breathtaking teams of wildebeest, zebra, impala, topi, and gazelle being stalked and hunted by extraordinary numbers of lion.
The Mara is a startling reality, an iconic African wilderness teeming with game, prowled by predators, and plump with impossible-to-miss Big Five action; this is epic animal-viewing terrain. Come during its busiest seasons, particularly when the thrilling Great Migration, widely considered the largest terrestrial wildlife spectacle on Earth, hits Kenya, and you’ll be spotting camera-clicking homo sapiens almost as readily as the breathtaking teams of wildebeest, zebra, impala, topi, and gazelle being stalked and hunted by extraordinary numbers of lion.
And with regularly spotted cheetah, loping hyena, and shyer carnivores also out to up their protein intake, the Mara is a priority destination for observing animated and furious interactions between predators and their prey. If lion kills and cheetah chases aren’t your thing, there’s always plenty of mellower hippo and croc action down at the river. Or simply take in the endlessly compelling sight of elephant herds cruising the wilderness, tan-colored topi standing sentinel atop termite mounds, or groups of sullen-faced buffalo giving you the once-over. And backing up all this animal magic is an enduring, ever-enchanting landscape. With its vast acacia-dotted plains cut by the life-giving waters of the Mara and Talek rivers and its western flank overlooked by the spectacular Siria Escarpment, the Mara’s classic vistas are the stuff that Out of Africa dreams are made of.
Thrown into the mix is the opportunity to rub shoulders with the Maasai. Kenya’s most famous group of people is a tribe of tall, elegant pastoralists who despite encroaching modernity have somehow managed to sustain many of their traditional ways. You’ll see young Maasai boys herding hundreds of cattle or shepherding goats across the land, or come across the legendary Maasai warriors (morani) dressed in their bright red shukas (shawls) and long-lasting sandals made from recycled rubber tires who have long stirred the imagination of visitors to East Africa.
If the literature is to be believed, the Mara boasts the highest concentration of terrestrial wildlife on Earth. And, yes, the Great Migration an awesome, rollicking natural cycle when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest attempt dangerous, frequently foolhardy river crossings as part of their annual biorhythmic round-trip exodus from Tanzania into Kenya really is as spectacular and mesmerizing as the wildlife documentaries would have you believe. Those astounding images of thousands of seemingly hypnotized animals flopping, diving, and tripping into crocodile-infested rivers are the stuff of every wildlife enthusiast’s dreams, and it is reckoned that this particular migration one of numerous animal treks that happen around the world throughout the year is best witnessed here in the Masai Mara, where the massive animal numbers are compressed into a relatively small area. Even if you don’t make it in time to see the Migration, you’ll be treated to one of the richest and most diverse animal kingdoms in the world. And if you choose carefully, you’ll be staying in intimate, luxurious surrounds, far from the maddening crowd.