The Masai Mara lies about 270 kilometers from Nairobi and is about 1510 square kilometers in size. The Maasai Mara National Reserve is Kenya's exceptional wildlife reserve. The Park is lavished with wildlife, birds and the temperate rolling grasslands guarantees that animals are never out of scene.

Between the month of July and October every year, literally millions of wildebeest and zebra move north from the plains of Tanzania's Serengeti savannah during July and August in search of the lush grass. As the vegetation and water holes dry, the herds start the trek north. Following the rain pattern they cross the Tanzania/ Kenya border to the rich Kenyan Maasai Mara in search of the 4,000 tons of grass they eat each day. By September and early October they start winding their way back to Tanzania.

Around the end of June, drawn by the sweet grass raised by the long rains of April and May, it is estimated that more than a million wildebeest enter the Masai Mara National Reserve and are joined by another 100,000 from the Loita Hills east of the Masai Mara. Driving in the midst of these great herds is an unimaginable experience. Whilst the eyes feast on the spectacle, the air carries the smells, the dust and the sounds of hundreds of thousands of animals.

There is nowhere else on earth to compare with this wildlife marvel. But the trek is costly. The sight of the mass migration is awesome. Many do not survive this trip as they expire from exhaustion and injury or fall prey to hungry crocodile in the struggle to cross the Talek and Mara rivers. As the migration unfolds, the other side of the river await the predators- lion, leopard, cheetah, and hyena and scavenger birds. It is an event one cannot afford to miss.

And these is why the Great Masaai Mara was nominated as the "Seventh Wonder of the World"

Last update: 21-10-2008 09:00