MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE

Area: 1,672 km².
Location: 270km south of Nairobi, approx. 5 hrs.
Often described as the greatest of nature's stages, the Masai Mara, with its huge dramatic skies, is perhaps the most popular of all Kenya's game parks. The landscape which is mostly savannah is home to around 500 lions and 3,000 elephant. Every year, since the beginning of time, the Masai Mara has been centre stage for the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth, the Great Wildebeest Migration.

From the dry plains of the southern Serengeti in Tanzania the promise of rain and fresh grass brings more than 1.3 million Wildebeest together into a single massive herd which then moves its way across the border into the Masai Mara in Kenya, between July and October, before returning to the Serengeti to start the cycle all over again. They create a spectacular sight as the surging column of life stretches from horizon to horizon and, with the wildebeest, come attendant herds of zebra and Thompson’s gazelle between 600,000 strong - and of course the predators follow.

At the Mara River they mass together at crossing points on the banks before finally plunging in, sometimes in immense herds of 10,000 animals at a time, stirring up the waters as they struggle against the currents and waiting crocodiles. The Masai Mara offers the best view of the last of the great migrations left on the planet during the months of August and September.

Wildlife rhythms: Wildebeests and zebras present during dry season (mid-June to mid-October). Buffaloes calve March to May and many carnivores are born early in the wet. Great flocks of Abdim's and white storks feed on termites and frogs in October to November rains; long rains trigger breeding displays of widowbirds.

Wildlife highlights: One of the great wildernesses of the world. Large mammals are varied, abundant and easy to see. Vast grasslands stretch south to Tanzania's Serengeti NP, from where some 500,000 wildebeests migrate annually into the Mara, accompanied by herds of plains zebras and many lions. Resident among the park's mammals are Masai giraffes, buffaloes, elephants, topis, kongonis (Coke's harte-beests), elands, defassa wa-terbucks, impalas, Thomson's and Grant's gazelles; hippos live in the Mara and Talek rivers; and a few black rhinos remain in the east and centre, but can be difficult to track down. Leopards and spotted hyenas are commonly encountered, cheetahs less so, and striped hyenas and hunting dogs rarely. Smaller attractions include black-backed jackals, servals, caracals and four species of mongoose. The Mara boasts 540 bird species including 57 raptors; sought-after specialities include Denham's bustards, rock cisticolas and Jackson's widowbirds. Birds of prey range from the snappy little grey kestrel and other species hovering above the grasslands, to large eagles and six species of vulture wheeling in the thermals.

What to do: Game drives and game walks.

Watching tips: Patas monkeys are most often seen in grasslands near the Tanzanian border and red-tailed monkeys live in the small patch of forest at Kichwa Tembo. Rock cisticolas inhabit the Siria Escarpment and hills behind Mara Safari Club. Hippos can be found at Sand River.

Alternative interests: Visit to Masai village, balloon safaris.