What makes it special
The Masai Mara is the northern end of an ecosystem that ignores the border drawn across it: 1,510 square kilometres in Narok County, 224 kilometres west of Nairobi, bounded west by the Oloololo escarpment and south by the Serengeti, into which it opens unfenced. Through it move roughly 1.3 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 500,000 Thomson's gazelle, and behind them the highest densities of lion, cheetah and spotted hyena on the continent.
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By air. Jomo Kenyatta International (NBO) is East Africa's principal hub, with direct services from London, the Gulf, Europe and the United States. Almost every safari leg, though, departs from Wilson (WIL), a light-aircraft airport 15 kilometres away on the Langata side of the city. Allow a genuine two hours between them: clients who plan on 30 minutes miss the aircraft.
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July to October — the migration, and peak everything. Dry, warm days in the mid to high twenties Celsius, cold dawns on the Mara at around 1,650 metres, thin grass and concentrated game. Herds arrive through July, work the Mara and Talek rivers in August and September and drift south in October. Best game viewing of the year across Kenya — and also when the reserve is fullest, rates peak and the good conservancy camps sell out a year ahead.
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