Vast is the name of the game in the Maasai Mara. The spectacular game reserve with its undulating plains, hills and woodland grooves in the Southeast corner of Kenya, shares its Southern border with Tanzania. This is lion and elephant country with leopard, cheetah and a recovering population of black rhino. The Mara is home to several hundred species of birdlife and is famous for the annual migration of the wildebeest thundering across the southern plains of the Serengeti into the Maasai Mara.

Masai Mara is better known as the seventh wonder of the world and is located in the South Western part of Kenya and on the northern tip of the Serengeti National Park. The word "Safari" meaning "Journey of a lifetime" comes into its true light here. The Masai Mara National Reserve lies about 270 kilometers from Nairobi, and takes about 4 to 5 hours by road. There are scheduled flights, twice daily from Wilson Airport Nairobi, which take about 40 - 45 minutes. The reserve is about 1510 square kilometers.

Wildlife

The Masai Mara's abundance and variety of wildlife is breathtaking. The reserve is perhaps most famous for its lions, which are found in large numbers, and for the annual wildebeest migration, known as the Great Migration, largely considered one of World's most exceptional natural phenomena. Many other distinctive African wildlife are to be found in the Mara, from elephants, antelopes and giraffes to leopards and hyenas. Hippopotami and crocodiles are found in large groups all along the Mara and Talek Rivers. There is a reasonable population of the endangered black rhinoceros (in 2000 37 individuals were recorded) and of Cheetah, although their numbers are also threatened, chiefly due to tourist disruption of their day-time hunting.

Landscape

The entire area of the park is nestled within the enormous Great Rift Valley that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to South Africa. The terrain of the reserve is primarily open grassland, with clusters of the distinctive acacia tree in the south-east region. The western border is the Esoit Oloololo Escarpment of the Rift Valley, and wildlife tends to be most concentrated here, as the swampy ground means that access to water is always good and tourist disruption is minimal.

How to get there

• From Nairobi, you can either drive here via Maimahiu (about 5 hours), or take a light plane to any airstrips in the Masai Mara (about 45 minutes).