The Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

by Joseph Kihika (Kenya)

I didn't expect to find Kenya

The Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Every time I used to watch my favorite TV program, I never missed finding an advert of how beautiful my country Kenya is. My country prides itself on having very diverse tourist attraction sites ranging from coastal beaches, mountains, lakes, exotic trees and the wildlife. The most epic natural phenomenon that caught my attention was the famous annual wildebeest migration that takes place every year between my country Kenya and our neighboring country Tanzania with the animal’s primal instincts guiding them throughout the entire process towards greener pastures following the climatic rain fall patterns over the Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem. In several occasions, I had seen this magical event unfold on local TV stations but I always planned to witness this migration in a natural setup owing to that fact that my country is richly endowed with several National reserves and Game parks that serve as habitats to different species of wildlife. Before deciding on which was the best time of the year to visit the Masai Mara National Reserve, I together with my two other friends, had to visit the offices of one of the local travel agencies in my country and Bonfires Adventures promised us to give us a 2 days world-class tour to the famous Masai Mara in Narok county. The 1st day of our tour was on 15th August 2019 and it still remains to be the best day of my life because I didn’t expect to find many curious travelers like me who had availed themselves to witness one of the World’s most spectacular and thrilling display of wildlife behavior. With my eyes wide open and my mouth agape, I could not contain the joy in my heart as I saw millions of wildebeest together with the zebras and large numbers of others animals undertake the long trek that usually lasts many weeks. The most epic part of our travel at the Masai Mara was getting the chance to witness the migrating animals especially with the danger they faced as they crossed the crocodile infested famous Mara river whereby many wildebeest and zebras could not escape the giant Nile crocodiles that were lying in wait for their prey. The waters of Mara River had turned brownish due to the soiling as the animals crossed in large numbers as they ran away from the waiting crocodiles. I could not let go the pair of binoculars in my hands as my friends stood in amazement as we watched the rare biological phenomenon unfold. As my friends took photos of the different types of wild animals in the reserve, I counted myself lucky for witnessing the wild animals’ struggle to fight for their survival as they searched for greener pastures in Masai Mara. On the second and last day of my travel, the numbers of the wildebeest was not that much as the previous day and our travel guide explained to us that the wildebeest migration takes place over several weeks at different locations along the Serengeti — Masai Mara border and this marvelous biological spectacle is dictated by factors such as the climate, pasture, mating patterns and calving seasons. As my final travel day came to an end, I could not get my eyes off the grazing wild animals as the majority had successfully crossed the Mara river, and they had enough feeding grass for the next three month before returning to Serengeti National Park in late October. As I went back home, I could not contain the joy in my heart of being lucky to witness the eighth wonder of the World as it unfolded in one of the largest National reserves in our country and I still remember that traveling experience as one of the best and it made me appreciate the value of protecting and keeping safe our wild animals for the sake of our future generations and protecting our rich natural environment.