The animals, also known as gnu, journey some 2,000 total miles (3,200 kilometers) each year, often joined by thousands of zebras and Thomson’s gazelles. They face deaths at Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, as the herd begin its swing to the east on its way back to the Serengeti National Park. The animals’ bodies have washed downriver, beaching on the Mara’s muddy banks and getting caught under a nearby bridge. The remains form pungent islands of bloated carcasses. For next number of days, the crocodiles, storks, and vultures have not had to worry about where to find their next meal.
“Those that aren’t consumed will be left and will eventually decompose in the water. These thousands of carcasses will undoubtedly affect the health of the water, but to what extent, only time will tell.” “
In a bizarre mishap that Kenya Safari Operators describe as “heartbreaking,” an estimated 10,000 wildebeest have drowned while attempting to cross Kenya’s Mara River during the Great Annual Wildebeest Migration. The deaths, which occurred over the course of several days last week, are said to account for about one percent of the total species population. Mid June to October making the best time to visit Masai Mara, you will see it all.
Without a witness to this spectacular watch, you can’t have a testimony of the wild. Bing a tour operator, I have witenessed every year, after part of the migrating herd tried to ford the Mara a particularly treacherous crossing point of Mara river, the drowning creat a grotesque wildlife pileup. The first animals into the river failed to cross and drowned, while others continued to stampede into the water behind them. “Once they jumped into the river they were unable to climb up either embankment onto land and, as a result, got swept up by the current and drowned Some 2,000 wildebeest drowned at the crossing in a single afternoon. For reason known to them, each year the wildebeest merely chose a crossing point that was too steep.”
The Maasai Mara Game Reserve is considered to be Africa’s greatest wildlife reserve. The Masai Mara game reserve is rated the 4th (forth) best tourist destination in the world and lately named the 7th (seventh) wonder of the world by the ABC.It is located in the South Western part of Kenya. The Masai Mara and the Serengeti plains cover 10,000 sq miles of open plains, woodlands and riverine forest. Maasai Mara is usually referred to as “The Mara” which in the Maasai word means patchy landscape. The spelling of “Masai” and “Maasai”are both acceptable; the latter refers to the people. The Masai Mara is both referred to as a Game Reserve and a National Reserve.
It is also treated as a National Park. This is because Masai Mara is managed both by the local authority and the Kenya Wildlife Service. Reserves allow camp sites, lodges, luxury tented camps, semi permanent safari camps and the settlement of local tribe’s people with their cattle, while the National Parks are normally managed centrally and do not allow human inhabitation apart from people on safari and park rangers in the parks. Both management co-exist in the Mara.
The Mara is an awesome natural wonder, a place where Maasai warriors share the plains with hunting lions, a place of mighty herds and timeless cycles of life, death and regeneration. It spreads into the plains of Serengeti National Reserve in Tanzania. The Loita Hills and the Nguruman Escarpment, both considered sacred to the Maasai, offer high forest trekking opportunities for the adventurous traveler.
Tags: maasai mara, mara river, muddy banks, pileup, point of mara, safari operators, serengeti national park, species population, storks, wildebeest migration