Masai Mara National Reserve
The Masai Mara National Reserve is one of Africa's most popular and well-known. At some times of the year, it can be quite crowded with tourists, but there is enough that's special about it that it brings people back time and time again. From travel journalists, documentarians and researchers to safari travelers, many say that the Masai Mara National Reserve is one of their favorite places in the world. The savanna, the open sky and even the yearly wildebeest migration are also a great tourist draw.
The Masai Mara National Reserve is in the Great Rift Valley, a fault line that's over thirty-five hundred miles long. The Rift Valley winds from the Red Sea through Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. There are plenty of wild game viewing opportunities on the valley floor, and many lodges offer walking tours outside the park. Animals can come and go as they please, and you will see just as many animals outside park boundaries as you would in them. There are many Masai tribal villages just outside the park, and they live in harmony with the native animals.
The Mara is home to four kinds of topography- hills to the east, plateaus to the west, as well as grasslands favored by bigger game. During the wildebeest migration, you will see thousands of the creatures, as well as topi, giraffe, zebra and impala. If you are lucky, you may even see a cheetah, lion, or leopard- maybe even a hard-to-spot black rhino. The Mara River is home to hippopotamus as well as huge Nile crocodiles, who wait for a meal as the wildebeest cross in search of grasslands.