Masai Mara wildlife Safari Kenya, Reviews , Rating Maasai Mara Tour Vacation

MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE: WILDLIFE

Masai mara boils in wildlife. July to October, which is a dry season, when the big herds walk around these grounds, wildlife admiration is better all over the world, bringing back memories of what Africa must have been in the past days of the “great white hunters”.

Masai mara is a home for mammals, this must be made clear. Even if the number of bird species is over 450, the scattered geography makes looking t the birds here a less profitable experience than in areas where the concentration of bird life is higher, for example Samburu or the sanctuaries of the great lake side. Inspite of all this, in this section we shall also look again at the main bird species to be found.

It is important to know where to look at and when in this extremely large territory. There is an easier answer to the second question. Viewing wildlife can best be done at the time of day when the light has almost gone, but it is not yet dark, and dawn. Mammals that move at night continue to be active more so at the time when the sun first appears in the sky in the morning, whereas those that move during the day like the cool hours to walk around or look for their hunted and dead animals or birds for food. It is at this moment when it is yet to see a kill, or just to look at the big cats moving around the grasslands, before the sun falls suddenly over the plains and it is time to search for an area that is dark and cool to have a rest.

In the afternoon hours, extreme heat fills the bush with a state of feeling very tired in mind and body, that shows up in the animal’s behaviours.

Movements are reduced, racing also comes to an end and animals leave for an area that is dark and cool under the nearest acacia. This explains the safari companies’ planning for their game drives during dawn and at the time of day when the light has almost gone, but it is not yet dark, leaving tourists in their rooms for the other time of the day.
Although actually, the noon hours are also very good for the wildlife tourist. First , the few wildlife watchers allow for a quieter enjoyment destitute for the tiresome minibus races looking for lions at the time of the day when light first appears. Apart from that, felines are the only animals that move during daytime, you might find it hard to see during day (not actually true, scan the trees’ shades). The rest of the wildlife is also seen at this time unless you are only intending to look at the reality (show of the kill-a behaviour extremely similar to watching the bull fight or the “tablao flamenco” in Spain, making the gondola trip in Venice, or boarding the “Bateau Marche” down the Seine in Paris. i.e. things that may be done but are not all these places have to offer-, you will like your drives at all time of the day. More still, you can also watch a kill during daytime. Most animals usually don’t allow attacks from human beings and they have made their habits less extreme accordingly. It is now common to see a cheetah killing at noon, which needs a lot of effort from them and slows the output of their competitions, but it is only at this time, that such shy cats which enjoy being alone can do their fast chases without the interruption from vehicles.

It is also important to talk about the seasonality, no matter “when”. A very common question is whether very few animals are seen during the dry season. It is all the way round.
Normlly, the dry season realises a very limited wildlife watching. Most animals do all that is possible to remain un seen, they enjoy and like getting hunted and dead birds plus animals for food, without chasing them and predators for not being adverted. When water becomes so much, retire in the bush or s woods, where almost all puddles act as waterholes. During the dry season, sources of water that are temporary get dry and hence, the animals which live in the bush and forest become so many to the permanent waterholes, that can be located by human visitors and for animals that kill and eat other animals, which keep on hiding close at hand.

Where to look for animals is the issue waiting to be settled that we had. The answer to it is not very clear, but you will get some thing that can help you to make a decision or form an opinion, and this will be both from my experience and from other sources. It is important to note that it doesn’t mean to be a set of beliefs, which you are expected to accept without arguments, but rather likely possibilities.

The plains from Mara River to Soit Ololol Escarpment (Esoit Oloololo or Siria), at the west part, is afavourable haunt for Masai mara’s famous black-maned lions, that normally roam around these grasslands looking for birds and animals for food, and sleep under the dispersed acacia trees during daylight. This area has got beautiful scenics, trees with flat tops that keep on vanishing in the air before the backdrop of the far-off bluish mountains.
Musiara swamps is yet another area where lions can be found. These swamps usually remain without water for a longer period of time of the year.
Probably, Masai mara’s main attraction is lions, because it is so hard to leave the park without seeing some of them since they have got the largest population here in Kenya.

Another animal that can be found between the Mara and Oloololo is the Cheetah. However, it can also be spotted in the Talek area, along the Sekenani-Talek road. It is important still to note that these animals can as well be seen lying under the acacia trees in the lonely prairies near Sand River.

Masai mara has also got a lot of leopards, but these ones prove not to be easy in targeting simply because they normally move at night, and on top of that, they like climbing trees, thereby making themselves appear like the leaves and branches of the acacia canopy, which are near the water courses. Therefore, because of the fact that Masai mara has so many trees as well as streams, makes these leopards to be spotted so rarely. All you can find are their prints on the sandy Mara riverbanks at the north end, outside the premises of the conservation area.

The viewed hyena’s ungraceful shadow can be spotted playing happily all the time. They are normally seen encroaching the big herds of lions with an aim of coveting their remains. But far from this fact which has granted them the general dislike-partly enhanced by the Disney factory-the fact that hyenas also earn for a living, but usually kill at night. It is true that you may find a lion pride surrounding the dead body of an animal at the time of the day when light first appears, but this wouldn’t be usual or a must that such a killed animal corresponds to prey killed by hyenas during then night.
However, inspite the fact that hyenas have got ugly looks, it is so interesting seeing the activity in their homes.

During daytime, Hippos stay under the surface of water of the many available Mara pools, more so around Mara Serena Lodge and at the southern ends next to the New Mara Bridge.
At this place still, there is also a basking crocodile colony. According to the driving time rules, it is not common for the night to get you on the road, however, if it happens, you may spot very large silhouette of a hippo moving quickly and easily s it crosses the road in a way that does nor fit its rude looking way. By night, either these animals do not feed, or they graze quietly on the grasslands and get onto very long journeys a cross the plains, making false ideas that they keep on popping up in every waterhole as if they had fallen with waters from the sky.

All round the conservation, those animals that only eat plants can be spotted. For example, elephants feed on the leaves and branches that are next to the rivers. These elephants can be seen moving in family groups through the plains as well as a round the Musiara swamps.
It is hard for the photographer to target Black rhinos because, they hide amongst the bush to eat trees and shrubs, however, their shadows can be spotted standing out against the shrubbery over a hill at Rhino Ridge.
It is important to note that now South Africa exports a number of white rhino to the park.
With their corruption corpulent ox-life aspect, Elands can be sighted round the bush lands and at the hills’ slopes. There are other animals still that live nearly in every region of the park, these include; Wildebeests, Zebras, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, Maasai giraffes, Coke’s hartebeests or Kongonis, Impalas, Warthogs and buffalos.

Some mammalian species which are sparsely found in other Kenyan parks also inhabit in Masai mara. In the Mara, there is completely no sight of the topi; a Kongoni-like bluish antelope with a smooth and shinny coat. However, it is rarely seen in other parks. Topis live in groups and they form large herds that normally choose a guard on duty. Roan antelope, a voluminous animal with a proud standing and long curved horns which are thick, is another rare species that can only be spotted at the southern part of Masai mara in Kenya, at Shimba Hills conservation and at Ruma natioal park (formally Lambwe valley).
Last is the bat-eared fox, a nice pet that has got long ears, this is a bit commonly seen, because it has bulky hiding places, which are easily spotted.

I noted before that I would have to talk about birds. The starring is monopolized by Raptors that have over 50 species. For example, vultures, which are always present and keep on flying in circles above the herds killed predators, sometimes they keep on the ground but at a reasonable distance from the lions with their fresh prey, or even they can be seen dipping their beaks and heads into the large organs inside the body of the dead animals that lions and hyenas leave behind after enjoying the most delicious parts.

Marabou storks, probably weirdest and ugliest birds in the universe, can also be seen moving quietly and carefully around the decaying flesh of dead animals. Looking at their ugly faces so strongly reminding the murderer of the wax museum’s crimes, it is not easy to believe that their feathers have ever been luxury article for high-cradle ladies and high-bed starlettes. The plain grasslands also have other prey birds which have a civil servant look wearing visor and oversleeves, which keep on moving around with their ‘arms’ at the back looking for reptiles, and these are non other than the secretary birds. Just like many species of migratory water birds do, crowned cranes too move around the marshes ore so during the rains. Schalow’s amd Ross’s turacos, Pel’s fishing owls and nervous flocks of crested Guinea fowls are inhabited by the ground at the edge of the river.

The driest lands are the homes for ground hornbills and Jackson’s and Hartlub’s bustards.

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