The Masai Mara takes its name from the Maasai tribe, whose tall, elegant physique and traditional bright red attire has captured the heart and attention of photographers from National Geographic to the BBC. Their ancestral savannah lands straddle the Kenyan-Tanzanian border. It’s an incredibly rich ecosystem of rain-fed grasslands, rivers, and forests, where millions of animals come to graze.
It’s in this part of Kenya where the very first photographic safaris took place, and the country still leads the way in new activities, experiences, and fine lodges. Here are just a few of the reasons you should make the Masai Mara your next destination in East Africa.
1 — Epic Wildlife Sightings
The Masai Mara is a year round destination, but the best time of year to visit depends on what you want to see. For many of our guests, the biggest draw is the Great Migration (July to October) when as many as 1.3 million wildebeest, 500,000 gazelle, and 200,000 zebra make their way here from the Serengeti plains. The scale of the herds is breathtaking, and so too is the noise and energy when they stampede.
Big cats and other predators shadow the migrating herds keeping an opportunistic eye out for an easy meal, and so your chances of spotting lion, cheetah and leopard during this time are excellent. If you travel between December and March, the landscape is greener, more attractive, and far fewer people visit. Being territorial, the predators remain in the same abundance though, and so you are likely to spot them on the prowl for the plentiful resident plains game in a much greater degree of privacy.
2 — Incredible Landscapes
The Masai Mara is the northernmost part of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, a land of open grasslands and seasonal streams and rivers. The grasses turn from brown and yellow to bright green once the rains come, and occasional undulating hills give shape to the horizon. The light is best in the early morning and late afternoon, especially when a herd of giraffe walks by, casting their long shadows.
