You go to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, you go to get the best photos of ‘the Big Five’ or to witness the migration of the wildebeest. I didn’t realise this, I went to front-end a trip to Ethiopia and at the suggestion of a friend. Turns out it was the trip of a lifetime that I didn’t know I needed.
Before I went to Kenya, everyone asked me if I was going to see ‘the Big Five’, and when I came back I was asked in reverse if I had seen the Big Five. For the record these are lions, African elephants, rhinos, buffalo and leopards – and their fame as the big five is due to the level of difficulty and danger in hunting them.
If you have asked me, I would have named the Big Five as lions, giraffes, tigers, elephants and zebras. Maybe substituting tigers for hippopotamus, if I’d given some thought to the fact that tigers come from Asia.
These are the animals that are synonymous with Africa, and as children we grow up with pictures of these animals – and that somehow these are the archetypal animals. It is something that is deeply embedded in my childhood. A strange thing for an Australian to say, given the peculiarity of the some of the Australian animals – kangaroos, koalas and platypus to name a few.
The trip to the Maasai Mara was three days / two nights. The list of animals that we saw in those three days is long and I swore that the first thing that I did when I got back home would be to watch The Lion King with a checklist.
We saw lions, of course, also elephants, hippopotamas(s), giraffes and zebras. We saw hyenas, mongooses, gazelles, wildebeest by the thousands, warthogs, vultures and other birds, cheetahs, leopards, crocodiles, and buffalo. Missing from the Lion King list were rhinos and meerkats.
The Maasai Mara is 1,510 km² of mostly savannah. It is divided by a border with Tanzania and on the other side of the border is the Serengeti which is five times bigger.
Safari vehicles are clearly not on the list of predators, because the animals were completely indifferent to us. They were eating each other, but if we stayed in the car we were apparently regarded as moving rocks. We saw three lionesses devour a zebra and a hyena getting first digs on perhaps a warthog, while of a committee, venue or volt of vultures. (If the vultures had been feeding together at a carcass, the then it would be a wake). Yes, there was a lot of discussion in the jeep about collective nouns.
The current estimate of the number of wildebeest that constantly move between the Maasai Mara and Serengeti is 1.5 to 2 million. Wildebeest and zebras migrate throughout the year in a continuous search for the food and water. Although the journey follows a similar annual route, exact timing depends on the rains. At one point in the journey they cross the Mara River and at this point they are vulnerable to attacks by crocodiles, lions and other predators. By late August when we saw it the migration of the wildebeest from Kenya back to Tanzania was coming to an end.
Getting There
There were eight plus the driver in a special safari spec Land Cruiser that left from Nairobi early in the morning and it took about five hours to reach the Maasai Mara and the hotels. Depending on your budget you can also fly on a light craft and land inside the Maasai Mara. There is a range of accommodation options, from high end glamping to lodges and hostels. The Jambo Mara Safari Lodge was a five minute drive from Sekenani Gate, and a mid-range option. You can also do self drive, and take a tour from your chosen hotel.
Keep an eye on the weather. In August, when its peak season because of the great it is cold, and at night gets down to 10 degrees Celsius.
Other Agatha Bertram blogs
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam https://www.agathabertram.com/pobitora-wildlife-sanctuary-assam/
White Tiger : https://www.agathabertram.com/book-review-the-white-tiger-by-aravind-adiga/
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