Masai Mara National Reserve

Beatiful Park but watch out for corruption

We flew into Masai Mara and were held up for some time from entering the park as the agents said the network was down and they could not verify our pre-paid fees. When our guides refused to pay the bribe the network suddenly was back up and we were allowed entry. Almost immediately upon entry we were pulled over by a "ranger" who stated we had driven in an area where we should not have. Even though there were at least 7 other vehichles doing the same thing and one that was still stuck in mud, we were the only ones stopped. Our guide was threatened that we could lose our access to the park for the entire time we were to be there (2 days). In the end our guide paid the bribe and we were on our way. I stongly suspect that the officals at the airport contacted the ranger to extract our "Fee" since we hadn't paid the bribe at the airport.

We stayed in 3 other parks and never saw anything close to this corruption. It made us not feel safe in this park. While the park itself was amazing I would not go back to this park and would advise anyone wanting to visit Masai Mara to reconsider or just know that there will be "Fees" to pay.

Being a popular tourist destination it’s hard to enjoy the sightings as there are marred by the dozens of other vehicles maneuvering for the best shot. This takes away from the wild element unless you’re the first vehicle to spot the animal. But the changing landscapes are breathtaking, especially for sundowners or morning coffee in the bush.

Use to be fantastic for wildlife, now saturated with noisy disrespectful tourists vehicles

I first came to the Masai Mara 13 years ago, where it hooked me for life on wildlife and photography. Subsequent visits over the years, this was the forth, has shown a continuing decline in wildlife and a explosive increase of vehicles and the type of tourist that has little or no respect for the animals or landscape. Every spotting was swamped in minutes and upwards of 40 vehicles corralling the animal. Stressed animals, disrupted hunts and animals forced off rest-ups where common, and the norm. I would be surprised if you saw a hunt these days by any of the much rarer cheetah or leopard.

Parts of the reserve now seem devoid of wildlife, Rhino Ridge, Paradise Plains, Talek river, this was strange to us as these areas have always been good for wildlife. This could be seasonal but our guide, very experienced and many years in the Mara as a guide, indicated that it was rare to bother going over to these areas now unless a migration crossing was happening. So it sounds liked something else is happening to the wildlife. He indicated that a lot of resident wildlife is heading to the surrounding conservancies for a more peaceful life.

The lion population is still very good. Lions being lions spend most of the time sleeping so easier to find, although again if they had cubs they tended to hide much deeper in the bush.

The landscape is still beautiful and with the right timing you can get a vista without the ubiquitous white top safari van marring the view (why can't these trucks be in muted colors that blend?)

One of most my most loved parts of Africa seems to have become a victim of its own success, hopefully more controlled access and a cap on new developments will be implemented soon.

Too many vehicles chasing the same animals - almost quasi chaos

Fascinating to be there and the animals were all present, but not so easy to see given the size and also the sad state of our vehicle. The driver was young and followed the herds, so we missed out on cheetahs and rhinos, but still we did see a great deal in the short time we had.

Was expecting to see the wildebeast migration, but they were very late. Without that volume of animals it was actually very empty. I've just seen better wildlife in other parks.

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Ok game viewing but pale in comparison with Serengeti

The best part - migration and crossing of the Masai River

The less desired part - cars driving off road and very close to animals to the extent impacting their hunting.

No Rhino sighting in 2 days - sad to not have a complete big 5 viewing

Have been both during and after the "great herd migration". Wonderful for both wildlife (all the big 5 plus cheetahs, hippos, and more) and local Masaai village visits. The accommodations were lovely. Don't remember where we stayed the 1st time, but the 2nd was associated with the Fairmont hotels.

Although the "great migration" is one of most beautiful things you can experience, the park is overcrowded by tourist, if you want to see a lion you just have to check how many minivans are concentrated in one place - That's not Africa!!!!