Africa – Masai Mara National Reserve – Part 3

trumstravels

February 21

This post is about the Great Migration from Tanzania to Kenya which happens every year when 2 million Wildebeest, along with another 1-2 million Zebras, Topis and other animals, cross the border from Tanzania into Kenya for food. It happens between July and October and our Guide told us that by November there will be little to no grass left. I have photos but it's hard to really tell the the amount of animals that we saw milling about on the plains. I also read that really this event can occur, to a certain extent, all year long as animals search for food.

Tens of thousands of animals we saw
One horned Wildebeest
Topi, also called Blue Jean Babies because of the dark blueish colour on their hips
Topi up close and personal
Zebra
Lots of Wildebeests
Just chilling and milling about
Some of the roads

They cross the Mara river where I read that over 3,000 crocodiles await them; not to mention the big cats which are also happy to see these herds. If you have ever watched the National Geographic channel and watched their episode on this migration, this is the spot where it happens. We also saw some metal tracks built along the water by National Geographic that they leave there and use them for their cameras to record this event.

When we were there we saw a lot of hippos lounging around in the river.

Those rock like things on the bottom right are hippos
The river
Another view
Hippos
He thought I could not see him but I did !
He is posing for me
Uh oh

While we were there we could see smoke in the distance and we were told that the people in Tanzania set fires near the border so that the animals won't cross to come onto the Masai Mara. They say it's because of tourism, they don't want the animals to leave because they want tourists to see them. That's what we were told but I also read that it's controlled burning to allow the grass to grow.