The Masai Mara (also known as Maasai Mara) is one of the best-known reserves in the whole of Africa. It is named after the Maasai people, who are the indigenous people of that land. It is globally renowned for its exceptional wildlife. Despite comprising only 0.01% of Africa’s total landmass, more than 40% of Africa’s larger mammals can be found here. Across the vast plains of the Mara, visitors are able to witness lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, and an infinite variety of other species in their natural habitats.
LANDSCAPE
Masai Mara ecosystem contains some 25% of what is left of Kenyan wildlife. The estimate says that around 70% of Kenya’s wildlife lives outside national parks and reserves. Thus; the need for new role models preserving the Mara wildlife, on private land is paramount. Naboisho plays that role today! Africa has lost some 95-98% of its most iconic mammals over the last hundred year or so, elephants, rhinos, lions, and cheetah. WWF estimate that the world will lose 2/3 of its vertebras in the incredibly short period 1970-2020, ie 50 years. Some 70% of the world’s ecosystem is under stress. Loss of habitat is the main reason for this decimation.
LOCATION
The Maasai Mara lies in the Great Rift Valley, which is a fault line some 3,500 miles (5,600km) long stretching from Ethiopia’s Red Sea through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and into Mozambique. Here the valley is wide, and a towering escarpment can be seen in the hazy distance. The animals are at liberty to move outside the park into huge areas known as ‘dispersal areas’. There can be as much wildlife roaming outside the park as inside. Many Maasai villages are located in the ‘dispersal areas’ and they have, over centuries, developed a synergetic relationship with the wildlife.
There are four main types of terrain in the Mara – the Ngama Hills to the east with sandy soil and leafy bushes favoured by black rhino; Oloololo Escarpment forming the western boundary and rising to a magnificent plateau; Mara Triangle bordering the Mara River with lush grassland and acacia woodlands supporting masses of game, especially migrating wildebeest; and the Central Plains, forming the largest part of the reserve with scattered bushes and boulders on rolling grasslands favoured by the plains game