The Maasai Mara occupies 1,510 square kilometres of rolling grassland in south-western Kenya and forms the northern end of the Greater Serengeti–Mara ecosystem, which spans more than 25,000 square kilometres across the two countries. It is named for the Maasai people and for the Mara River that runs through it.
First designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1948 and established as a reserve in 1961, the Mara is managed by Narok County alongside a ring of community conservancies. Those conservancies matter for visitors: they permit night drives and walking safaris that are not allowed inside the reserve itself, and they hold a share of the same wildlife at far lower vehicle density.
The Mara is best known for predators. The Greater Mara holds an estimated lion population in the high hundreds, with cheetah on the open plains and leopard along the riverine bush. From July to October the migration herds cross the Mara River from the Serengeti, and the crossings are the single most sought-after wildlife spectacle in Africa.
