Maasai Mara

The Maasai Mara National Reserve runs to about 1,510 square kilometres and shares an open border with the Serengeti, which is why the migration flows straight through it. There are no fences on that line; the herds arrive in Kenya from around July and stay until the short rains push them south again in late October or November.

What the Mara adds is the river. The Mara River cuts through the reserve, and the crossings — the massed hesitation on the bank, the plunge, the crocodiles waiting in the current — are the most-filmed wildlife event in Africa. Beyond the migration it holds superb resident game all year, with the lion densities that made the reserve famous. The community conservancies along its northern edge — Mara North, Naboisho, Olare Motorogi — cap vehicle numbers strictly and permit night drives and walking safaris that the reserve itself does not.