The Maasai Mara National Park is a large game reserve in Kenya - contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Mara Region, Tanzania. The Masai Mara lies in the Great Rift Valley, which approximately 5,600 kilometers long from Ethiopia’s Red Sea through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and into Mozambique.
All members of the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo), as well as other popular species such as zebra, giraffe, hyena, cheetah, eland and gazelle are found in the Maasai Mara.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve is the only fraction of the Great Mara Ecosystem - which include Koiyaki, Lemek, Ol Chorro Oirowua, Olkinyei, Siana, Maji Moto, Naikara, Ol Derkesi, Kerinkani, Oloirien, and Kimintet.
The Mara River is filled with hippos and a very large number of Nile crocodiles - who lay in wait for a meal as the wildebeest cross on their annual quest to find new pastures.
The wildebeests are the dominant inhabitant of the Maasai Mara. Around July of each year, these ungainly animals migrate north from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture and return to the sound around November. However, the Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide, involving approximately 1300,000 wildebeest, 500,000 Thomson’s gazelles, 200,000 zebras, 97,000 topi and 18,000 eland.
Approximately more than 500 species of birds have been identified in the park.
There are four main landscapes sections in the Mara which are namely as Ngama Hills, Oloololo, Mara Triangle and Central Plains.
The park is also well known being home to the largest number of spotted hyenas - however, plan your Kenya safari to spot these beautiful spotted hyenas.