Masai Mara National Reserve

Easy to travel around. Lots of wildlife. Nice Sopa lodge.

It would be great but there was too many people.

Famous.

the best national park

There is not much to tell about Massai Maraanymore. It is well known through yearly migration of ten thousands of animals. But even the the migration is over and the herd have moved back to serengeti there is still lots of wildlife to spot. The big cats and other predators do not migrate. In the short grass it is difficult to spot lions or cheetas.
The backdraw during my visit were the ongiong presence of tons of cattle, goats and donkeys in the park.

Exelent lodges. Large area lots of animals. Tends to be crouded by tourists

Much to see during a short time.

In the summer of 2011 I worked as a volunteer in Kenya. During that time I and seven other volunteers went together from a Friday to a Saturday to Masai Mara and I must say that this was one of the highlights of my six weeks long stay in Kenya. I have heard before that this national park is a good one, but still it exceeded my expectations.

After entering the gate we saw a lot of gnus and zebras together in flocks. Two of the gnus butted each other and I immediately realize that this trip would be something special. The savannah of the park was open and because of that the sight of animals is good. It only took thirty minutes before we encountered lions. Then it was also possible to drive two meters close to them and I could shoot really nice pictures. During the time in Masai Mara we came to see many lions; flocks of lions, young lions, a lion eating gnu and even grown-up lion males.

However, we came to see a lot more and at the end we had seen almost all animals that one can imagine to see when going for safari. There was only exception; the rhino. Rhinos are the rarest animals in Masai Mara, but it happens quite frequently that they are observed in the park. Consequently, we had bad luck with respect to that, but because everything else was so good I am more than satisfied with the wildlife in the park. There is also a river, where we could see a lot of hippos and crocodiles. At some places it was possible to leave the vehicle and when we ate in free air, a baboon came and wanted our food. The driver did not let him come to close, but I went against his will quite close to the monkey anyway and this was really an amazing encountering. I also liked that we could face cheetahs and some leopards sitting in top of trees, but as I mentioned we saw every kind of animal except the rhino. As implied we were for three days in the park and I would recommend not be there less than that, because the park is huge and there is so much to see. I am interested in photographing and I must admit that the best photos ever taken by my come from this trip.

We lived in Entumoto Safari Camp. The camp consisted of sturdy tents, each suited for two people. I had no problems sleeping there, but I must say that the food was not good. One day we got Spaghetti Bolognese and unfortunately it only consisted of ground beef and water. I had expected some dessert, but we never got any. What I liked about the accommodation is that the camp is guarded by Maasai people. During first evening we sat around a camp fire and heard their stories and experiences of life. We also heard a lion roaring quickly the Maasai guards started to see what was going on. The last day we also got invited to visit a Maasai village. The guards took us there. I am not against paying 1000 Kenyan shilling for that, but I did not like that they did not tell us that before they started to take us there, but first at the entrance. There was also a market in the village, but sadly the same low quality souvenirs as anywhere else in the country were sold there. I think that the Maasais can be seen as real Maasais, but the thing is just that their presence in the park has become to commercialized.

The price for the trip was good and everything was included in the price. Unfortunately, the contact person from the travel company was rude. She told us that everything was included in the price, but when the driver noticed that the entrance fee was increased, we became forced to compensate for that. When we drove home, the driver stopped by the road and bought a sack of dried leaves as fuel for his stove at home. I found it unprofessional doing personal errands when being on duty.

To summarize I am very satisfied with the wildlife experiences of Masai Mara. I could really recommend other tourists to go to this park. Concerning food and accommodation I am not complaining, because we as volunteers chose a low-budget option and we got what we paid for. If you would like to also experience good food during the evenings and good accommodation, which I actually think could be a pleasant part of a safari trip, I would like to recommend you to investigate the offerings of hotels in the park or other camps.

After all this park was made out to be we were fairly disapointed. We saw a good variety of wildlive but only small isolated groups. Mush of the terrain was burnt and void ao anything. This was not due to natural bush fires but controlled burning and it completely ruined any feeling of bush atmosphere.

Not a bad place to visit but Disappointing

The driver/Guide and myself left Nairobi at 0700 in the morning and drove to the Sarova Mara game Camp. We stopped on the way at the Rift Valley Lookout and a then a Souvenir shop a bit later on. Both places have clean toilets and expensive souvenirs, you can get them for a third of the price in Nairobi. The Game Camp was very nice with fast Wifi and comfortable luxury tents. They turn off the power during the day and there is no air-conditioning in the tents which get quite hot in the afternoon. Our first drive through the park started in the afternoon and we saw all the various deer, lions, elephants, giraffe, buffalo, hyena, fox and some birds. The food at the Camp was excellent with a huge buffet but they charge you for a bottle of water ridiculous but juice is free. The next day we started early at 0700 and drove around the park until 1300 when we ate a packed lunch, continued driving until 1600 at which point we returned to the Camp. We saw the same animals today and a Cheetah. We never saw a Leopard or a Rhino which was disappointing as this was one of the promises made which I think are false promises because if these animals had been in the park we would have seen them. The next day a later start at 0900 and we visited the Masai village in the Park an additional cost of $20 quite interesting and then returned to Nairobi. I would not come back here or recommend this park, there must be more interesting Parks in Africa where you can see the famous Big 5 in the wild.

In October, there were very few animals around. Migration had already ended. However, the amount of lions we saw was very big, and we had the opportunity to watch how they behaved. The fact than migration wasn't on, reduced the number of vehicles around and we could see some lions and other animals alone.