It is worth going to Kenya even in order to visit the Masai Mara conservation area, which is the most famous national park in Africa. In terms of the richness of the fauna, it can only be compared with the Tanzanian reserves of Ngorongoro and Serengeti. The Kenyan reserve is home to a variety of birds (more than 450 species) and about eighty varieties of mammals.
Its territory is an open grassy savannah, plains and small hills with sparse vegetation.
The article describes the features of the Masai Mara National Park (Kenya) and its inhabitants.
Location
Masai Mara is located in the southwest of Kenya. The area of the reserve is 1510 square kilometers. It is the northern extension of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park.
Geographically, the Masai Mara reserve is located entirely in the Great African Rift, the boundaries of which extendfrom Jordan (Dead Sea region) to southern Africa (Mozambique). The territory of the park is mainly represented by savannahs with rare groups of acacias in the southeastern part. Many species of animals live in the western regions, since these are swampy places, there is unhindered access to water. And the number of tourists here is small due to the difficult terrain. The easternmost point of the reserve is located 224 kilometers from Nairobi. This area is a favorite place for tourists.
Features
The reserve is named after the Maasai tribe, whose representatives are the indigenous population of the region, as well as in honor of the Mary River, which carries its waters through the park. The Masai Mara National Park is famous for the large number of animals that inhabit it, as well as the annual wildebeest migration (September-October), which is an amazing sight. During the migration period, more than 1.3 million wildebeest move through the reserve.
The warmest time of the year in these places is December-January, and the coldest is June-July. Night safaris are not arranged in the park for tourists. This rule was created so that no one interferes with hunting animals.
Masai Mara is not the largest Kenyan reserve, but it is known all over the world.
Fauna
To a greater extent, the park is famous for the lions that live in it in large numbers. A pride (family group) of lions, called the swamp, lives here. It has been monitored since the late 1980s. It is known that in the 2000s a record number of individuals in one family was recorded - 29lions and lionesses of different ages.
You can meet in the Masai Mara National Park and endangered cheetahs. Such a factor as irritation of animals influences, tourists quite often interfere with the daytime hunting of predators.
Leopards live here too. And there are a lot of them in the Masai Mara. Much more in comparison with protected areas of similar size in other parts of the world. Rhinos also live in the park. Wildebeest are the most numerous animals in the park (more than a million individuals). Every year in the middle of summer they migrate in search of fresh vegetation from the flat terrain of the Serengeti to the north, and in October they return to the south again. You can also meet here herds of zebras, giraffes of two species (one of them is not found anywhere else).
Masai Mara is the largest research center for the life of the spotted hyena.
Birds
Many birds fly to the Masai Mara National Park. Here you can see vultures, crested eagles, marabou storks, predatory Guinea fowls, Somali ostriches, crowned cranes, pygmy falcons, etc.
The park is home to fifty-three species of birds of prey.
Park Features
The word "Mara" in the language of the Mao (or Maasai) people means "spotted". In fact, when viewed from the air, the plain seems to be speckled with sparsely standing small trees.
Once a year during the migration period (July-September), the Mara plains are painted inblack stripes in connection with the movement of huge masses of ungulates from the south, from the plains of the Serengeti. This is truly a unique and grandiose spectacle. At this time, about two million wildebeest, about two hundred thousand zebras, about half a million gazelles and other herbivores move through the territory of Kenya. And without fail they are accompanied by such predators as leopards, lions, cheetahs, hyena-like dogs, as well as hyenas, jackals, vultures and marabou. During this period, it is much easier and easier to see predators in the Masai Mara National Park, as they are always full and become lazy, fat and most often rest in the sun.
Environmental Issues
The reserve is managed by the government of the country. In Kenya's Masai Mara National Park, there are many units whose duty is to combat poaching. They are based away from areas frequented by tourists. More remote areas are also being monitored by the Maasai.
The territory of the reserve is a unique place where death and life are in a natural balance established by nature itself.
