The Altitude and Geology of Maasai Mara has very unique wildlife due to the many years of good conservation efforts here. The area offers the best experience of the big cats with the area being the best location to see the leopard in Kenya. Some of the unique wildlife here include: Lions, Cheetah, Elephant, Rhino, African Buffalo, Wildebeest, Giraffe and Zebra.
This National game reserve is the most visited conservation area in Kenya. This is no wonder that is also on the list of the wonders of the world. One of the attractions that make this place marvel is the wildebeest migration that happens every year in the dry season when animals from the Serengeti move to the Masai Mara to look for greener pastures. The Masai tribe here is another marvel. This group of people is very unique in their ways of life. They are nomads and they used to live in the park before it was declared a protected area.
The park gets its name from the locals of the area. The work Mara mean ‘spotted’ which generally refers to the flat topped acacia trees, shrubs and bushes that dot the landscape across the reserve. The great migration of the wildebeest here usually happens between July and September and over a million of wildebeests and other animals like Zebras and some cats move to the Masai Mara from the Serengeti National park. It’s interesting how they cross and make it t this area through all the huddle like the waters infested with crocodiles and the many predators.
Altitude and Geology of Maasai Mara
The Masai Mara National reserve stands at an altitude of between 1,480 – 2,280 meters above sea level. This makes it a cooler place compared to other safari destinations around the equatorial region. The soils of the area are believed to have formed over 600 million years ago in the Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian age.
People have a lot of imagination of the Masai Mara National reserve before getting there. The Masai Mara is golden grassland plain with very blue clear skies and oddly shaped trees. The national reserve is located within the rift valley arm of Kenya with a stretch line that stretches for about 5,600 Kilometers right from Ethiopia, through Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The eastern sector of the Masai Mara is the Ngama Hills which has very sandy soils and dense vegetation. The Mara Triangle is located on the banks of the Mara River and it has lust savanna vegetation and acacia trees. This is the reason why this is the path of the wildebeest migration as they look for greener pastures after escaping the dry plains of the Serengeti National park.
The rivers in the Masai Mara are responsible for the presence of the riverine forests in the Masai Mara National park. During the dry season; these areas remain a source of water for all the creatures in the Mara. The presence of water enables the growth of broad-leaved evergreen trees.
Visit Masai Mara in Kenya with these recommended Kenya tour operators or drop us an inquiry below to book your safari in Kenya directly through this website.
