Attractions in Narok County
17. Masai Mara Ecosystem
“The geographic precinct of the Masai Mara Ecosystem in Kenya consists of the Masai Mara National Reserve and the surrounding community of former group ranches and conservancies, including the Masai Mara River and its catchment area and parts of the Mau Highland” – Maasai Mara Science and Development Initiative. Sequentially, the Masai Mara Ecosystem is a part of the greater and contiguous Serengeti-Masai Mara Ecosystem covering a whopping 24,000 km2 area, with the Serengeti in Tanzania in the south and the Masai Mara in Kenya in the north. Within Kenya the Masai Mara National Reserve covers 1,510 km2, while the peripheral and adjoining ranches and conservancies cover 4,566 km2. The Masai Mara National Reserve is globally unique and world famous for the great annual wildebeest migration – the largest and most species-diverse large mammal migration in the world, comprised of 1.3 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra, hundreds of thousands of Thomson′s gazelles and, of course, the big cats of Africa. On that account, the Masai Mara Ecosystem constitutes a unique and irreplaceable part of Africa’s natural heritage, yet, it is a fragile ecosystem facing a multiplicity of environmental challenges which need to be addressed urgently.
Roads Connecting Gates
- Narok – Sekenani Gate – 73 kms
- Narok – Oloolaimtia Gate – 80 kms
- Narok – Oloololo Gate – 90 kms
- Kilgoris – Oloololo – 60 kms
- Serengeti – Sandriver – 150 kms
Accepted Viewing Circuits (260 kms)
- Sekenani – Keekorok – Mara Bridge – Oloololo (95 kms)
- Olemelepo – Talek River – Musiara Gate (35 kms)
- Oloolaimutia – Keekorok – Sand River (130 kms)
Off Road Circuits
- Olemelepo – Talek River – Kekorok Lodge and back (34 kms)
- Kekorok Lodge – Sekenani- Oloolaimutia and back (30 kms)
- Mara Intrepids – Olave Orok and back (64 kms)
- Governors Camp – Musiara Gate – Olare Orok and back (90 kms)
- Mara Serena – Ilpunyatta – Esankuriai (34 kms)
- Mara Serena – Olpunyatta – Ngiro – Sandlick and back (65 kms)
- Roan Hill – Olmisigiyioi – Outlook-Mara Bridge – Kekorok (90 kms)
- Mara Bridge – Saltlick – Mara Serena (65 kms)
18. Masai Mara National Reserve
Next to claiming the bragging rights for the concept of ‘safari’, the Masai Mara National Reserve is Kenya’s biggest trump-card. The crown-jewel of her faunal sanctuaries. And for all the difficulties of getting to the Mara by road, especially along the 67 kms rough stretch from Narok Town, a dusty, jerky ride with a lot of bumping on the windows, which lasts 2 hours, assuming it does not rain, the journey is well rewarded with memorable sights that most people carry for the rest of their lives. Paradoxically, this state is a means of rationing access to the fragile ecosystem, and is synonymous with all National Reserves. Assuredly, the Government has no plans to tarmac the road sections to the reserves. Of its five gates – Ololoolo, Musiara, Talek, Ololomutiek and Sekenani – most visitors to the Mara access it through the Sekenani Gate. The Mara also has three airstrips at Keekorok, Olkiombo and Musiara – served by daily flights from Nairobi City.
In many respects the Masai Mara National Reserve is firmly the most popular National Reserves in Kenya and between June and September hotels record 100 per cent booking. It is a reserve not a national park meaning it is unfenced and run by the Local County and not the National Government. There’s something for everyone at the Mara, from crawl-in tents to first-rate resort. More than any other reserve and park in Kenya, the Masai Mara is dotted by numerous luxury lodges, tented camps, and campsites. It has around 42 resorts and safari camps, mainly set up in the conservancies around the Mara. And as far as luxury safaris go, few places top the Mara. These conservancies are found chiefly around the Masai Mara N. Reserve and serve as dispersal and migratory corridors. Some of the largest conservancies are Pardamat, Mara North, Mara Naboisho and Siana.
On leaving Masai Mara, most travellers either continue journeying through the foothills of Olol Goben to cross the Tanzania border at Sand River, and thence to the Seronera Lodge, within Serengeti National Park, a 96 kms drive away; or circuit back to Nairobi. Holiday-makers with a day or two to spare can take an alternate route to Nairobi en route Western Kenya through Kilgoris. Here, one can explore the Thimlich Cultural Landscape – a dry-stone walled settlement probably built in the 16th century – which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. It demonstrates, in part, how communities living around Masailand were influenced by the dominant Maasai, a whilom fierce pastoralist tribe with great reputation for ferocity; the early explorer and traders having, in most cases, to fight their way or pay when bordering or traversing their country.
19. Keekorok Lodge
A problem of less concern when planning a trip to Mara is a place to stay. With nearly 290,000 holiday-makers visiting the colossus wildlife theater each year, development of hotels has been rapid in response to demand, particularly along the outer perimeter of the Masai Mara National Reserve within the profusion of wildlife conservancies. Unique to the Keekorok Lodge is that it was its foremost establishment within Masai Mara National Reserve and in the Mara Ecosystem. Established in 1962, with a bed capacity of 25 and the inestimable privilege to select the best vantage, Keekorok Lodge is ideally situated in the direct path of the spectacular migration. And in its favour, development of hotels within the Masai Mara National Reserve is highly restricted. Into that bargain, the lodge enjoys all 1,510 km2 of the abundant game and wonderful scenery consisting of rolling grassland plains, woodlands, and thicket patches. Still and all, Keekorok Lodge has stayed the course of providing many a memorable holidays and now has 85-Standard Rooms, 12-Chalets, 1-Executive Suite, and 1-Presidential Suite.
Abiri Kenya 