Also known as“Home of the Great Wildebeest Migration’’, Masai Mara Game Reserve is one of the most popular tourism destinations in Kenya. This reserve is home to the world famous annual Wildebeest Migration crossing from Serengeti (Tanzania) that consists of hundreds of thousands of animals.

The highlight of this spectacle is the crossing at Mara River where the strong current and crocodiles eliminate the weak ones and those that cross the river have another fight with predators lurking on the river banks. The reserve is located in the Great Rift Valley in primarily open grassland. Wildlife tends to be most concentrated on the reserve’s western escarpment. The Masai Mara is regarded as the jewel of Kenya’s wildlife viewing areas.

Every year from June to October the world takes a front seat in Masai Mara for wildebeest migration. Annually, over 1.5 million wildebeests, gazelles, gnus and Zebras converge at the border of Serengeti and Masai Mara thereby making a spectacular entrance in a surging column of life that stretches from horizon to horizon before finally plunging wildly into the raging waters of the Mara River. This creates a frenzy as the fight against swift currents and waiting hungry crocodiles takes priority. Those that survive crocodiles and raging waters cross over to the patiently waiting predators such as hyenas, jackals, leopards and lions for another survival battle.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Masai Mara during the migration, pick a spot by the river bank and watch as crocodiles and predators compete to pick-off strugglers from the clattering herds of wildebeest and zebras in the Mara River.

Masai Mara Game Reserve has got two rivers namely Mara River and Talek River both of which are full of crocodiles as well as hippos and note that these rivers do not dry up throughout the year. The abundance of water and excellent availability of food are the reasons why the Masai Mara has the greatest population of wild animals in the whole of Africa.