Land Cruiser Across the Serengeti Plains 
in the Masai Mara National Reserve of East Africa

Dr.  Williams dental mission team took the last few days before returning home 
to photo shoot the wild game in the Masai Mara Game Reserve

Cheetah with its fresh kill of gazelle on the Serengeti
Digital Photo by Dr. Bill Williams
6-12-01

Masai Mara National Reserve (373,000 acres/ 151,000 hectacres) is the northern extension of Tanzania's famous Serengeti Plains and is usually called "the Mara".

Reachable by road or air from Nairobi, the Mara is Kenya's premier place for seeing wildlife. It features Masai Mara National Reserve (373,000 acres/ 151,000 hectacres) is the northern extension of Tanzania's famous Serengeti Plains and is usually called "the Mara".  It features many excellent game lodges and camps, and a wide network of dirt roads slice through its open rolling grassland and wooded savannah.

Two sizable rivers, the Mara and Talek, wind through the landscape, flanked by gallery forests and seasonal marshes, game lodges and camps, and a wide network of dirt roads slice through its open rolling grassland and wooded savannah. 

The reserve is most extraordinary between July and October, when well over 1 million migrant herbivores
(especially wildebeests and zebras) settle in for dry-season grazing. Besides migrants, the Mara hosts resident populations of elephants, hippos, topis, hartebeests, buffalos, giraffes, Thomson's and Grant's gazelles, impalas, Kirk's dik-diks, and a few black rhinos.Predators are plentiful, notably cheetahs, leopards, and unusually large prides of lions. 

Birding is excellent around the lodges and from vehicles; 450 species have been recorded, including 54 raptors.
The gallery forests host primates and a number of birds usually found farther west. The pastoral Masai (Maasai) people lead a semi-nomadic life just outside the reserve.

Alden, Estes, Schlitter, McBride, National Audubon Society
Field Guide to African Wildlife © 1995 p. 79

Momma lion and her cub: 2001

One of many in the elephant herd: 2001

More Animals of the Masai Mara

How to Contribute

A non-profit, 
cross-cultural, non-denominational mission-oriented charity 
that accepts prayer, time, monetary and in-kind donations from individuals, foundations and corporations.

A specially arranged balloon safari will lift you into the clear blue sky at dawn and give you an eagle's view of the wildlife pageant below. You will climb until the Mara is a magical tapestry of landscape and the horizons of Africa are wider than the eye can see. The enchantment does not end with a "bump". As you land, Serena's
hospitality matches the mood, with a sumptuous champagne breakfast - right there in the wild. The journey home is another game drive, to complete what is undoubtedly the experience of a lifetime.

This is only the beginning of the special offerings that guests are invited to experience at Mara Serena Safari
Lodge:

With tables set on the riverbank, experience the unique wildlife of the Mara River by beginning your day with a "hippo breakfast". Guests can also arrange afternoon tea at sunset in this same unique location.

A Masai bush dinner - with dancing performed by Masai warriors in their traditional regalia - is served under the stars on the banks of the Mara River.

Guests are invited to enjoy special poolside barbecues with entertainment following the meal. Evening barbecues in a secluded part of the lodge grounds can also be arranged.

There are Masai dances every other day from 7:15 to 7:45 pm

Slide shows of Masai Mara, and the animals found within the reserve, are presented by the resident
environmentalist every other evening

Wildlife films are shown in the bar lounge every evening after dinner.