Maasai Mara (also known as Masai Mara) is regarded as Africa's Greatest Wildlife Reserve, situated in southwest Kenya. Famous for the abundance of lions, the Great Wildebeest Migration and the Maasai people, well known for their distinctive custom and dress, it is rated Africa's most famous safari destination.

Maasai Mara National Reserve stretches 1,510 sq km (575 sq miles) and raises 1,500-2,170 metres above sea level. The terrain of the reserve is primarily grassland and riverine forest with clumps of the distinctive acacia trees. It's about 270 km from Nairobi city and takes about 5-6 hours by road or 40-45 minutes by flight.

The Maasai Mara Ecosystem holds one of the highest lion densities in the world and this is where over 2 million Wildebeest, Zebra and Thomsons Gazelle migrate annually. It hosts over 95 species of mammals and 570 recorded species of birds (although these figures may now be significantly low according to a shocking report published recently in the Journal of Zoolgy which states that the Mara ecosystem has lost more than two-thirds of its wildife in the last 33 years. Read the full story here.)

Most years the great Wildebeeste migration from the Serengeti across the border in Tanzania reaches the Maasai Mara around July or August and the 'clowns of the wild', as they are known, often remain until December.