Game Drives and other Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya Things to Do Tips

People come here to view wildlife, and thus the "game drive". The typical vehicle for this at Masai Mara is a white (in almost all cases) Japanese made van that may carry any of various brand names, but all look exactly the same. The center section of the roof raises up, allowing for decent to good photography while still keeping the passengers in the safety of the van. (The rear seat I would count as "decent" because while still good, looking behind the van usually means looking through a cloud of dust. Shots taken looking forward from the rear seat may require a telephoto lens from the back to remove various parts of the van from the photo.)

Certain other vehicles are used for game drives here. However, they are very rare. Most of the time these are decorated to look like "real" safari vehicles, and painted a rather dark green like what people see in the movies supposedly filmed in Africa. These also stick out like a sore thumb when driven into a virtual ocean of bright yellow dry grass, but it sure looks a lot more African bush stylish - for movie types anyway! They may be 4 wheel drive, but with a skilled driver the two wheel drive white vans go anywhere that the 4 wheel drive trucks go. This includes very rough dirt roads that exceed in difficulty what most 4 wheel drive vehicles back home never see.

It is against the rules of the Masai Mara park to drive off the road while chasing wildlife. Some of the drivers will chase wildlife anyway, hoping for a higher tip because you saw more animals. If you are concerned about the long term survival and condition of the animals in these African game parks (and I know for certain that there are many visitors who only care about seeing animals and don't care about long term conservation) please make it clear to your driver or guide that you do not want them doing this.

Having the top of the van open allows for great photography opportunities, but it also means that there will be a lot of dust that gets into the van, and if you are in a crowded area of the park it also means that the other vehicles that pass or drive in front of you will kick up large clouds of dust. Be prepared to fight this dust. Wear clothes that you don't mind getting dusty. Keep your food covered. You may wish to either bring a dust mask or a cloth of some sort to tie over your mouth and nose. A hat may be useful, but you will want something that you can either rinse out afterward or give to one of the locals as a gift.

Remember that other people are in the park to enjoy wildlife too, and unfortunately (as seen in a few of the photos) that means getting in eachothers way. Try to be polite to eachother.

Prey animals (zebra and the many different antelope types, for example) are rather quick to run. They don't necessarily associate vehicles with people, so it may be possible to get close. However, if they hear voices they may run, or at the very least turn so that they are facing away from the voices so that they can run away from the threat if they need to. This means that if you are noisy you may wind up with a lot of photos featuring the less attractive end of the animals. While many of the animals do this, elephants and cape buffalo do it less often - probably because they are more capable of defending themselves.

Toilet facilities are very limited in Masai Mara. Even hiding behind a bush or tree isn't that good of an idea due to the possibility of lion, leopard, snake, or any animal with young deciding you are not welcome. Therefore, open areas are better so that you can make sure there isn't anything dangerous around, but at the same time that also means any tourist bus that comes by is a bit of a problem. Generally they will always stop to try to figure out what animal your tour bus is stopped to look at. Please try to cover your toilet paper so that it eventually degrades and doesn't blow around - you came here to see animals and not trash.

There are some toilet facilities. The pit toilets at the hippo pools at the Mara River offer at least some privacy and safety. Keekorok Lodge is located well into the park and apparently it isn't unusual for people to stop there to use the facilities. It appears that the small landing strip near Keekorok Lodge also has some sort of toilet arrangement.

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You will find that eastern Africa's wildebeest migration is listed as one of the wonders of the world, and one of the last great animal migrations left in land-dwelling creatures (birds and fish also have huge migrations, but aren't quite as visible as large land animals).

It is true that the herds are huge, but it should also be understood that the location and crossing of the rivers depend a lot on the amount of rain received in various locations. You may not see the spectacular river crossings right on the timetable that some people say you will, because it depends on the weather not the month of the year.

Also, the wildebeest is not the most appealing animal in the world. See the photos for yourself!

Even so, it is impressive to see these huge herds on the move, and is somewhat reminiscent of the large bison herds in the stories of the old American west. For a great photo taken with a telephoto lens, see the photo of a migrating herd provided by Cindy L., who was a member of our team and had better telephoto equipment than I did.

Zebras also seem to join these herds sometimes to create mixed herds.

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The "Hippo Pools" are a fairly common lunch and snack spot for those touring the Masai Mara reserve. Unfortunately, that also means that it takes on a bit of a tourist trap feel due to the sheer number of safari vans that park here all at the same time.

There is a "toilet" of sorts here: it is a two hole "squatter" (simply a hole in the concrete floor) and a urinal that provides only slightly better privacy than using a tree or bush (there is no door - only a shoulder-high wall between the user and the parking lot).

Keep in mind there are dangerous animals around (especially hippos!) and therefore if you walk any distance away from the parking area you are pretty much required to take an armed ranger with you. There are in fact armed rangers at the hippo pools, and they accompany visitors on a short walking trail that runs along the top of the river bank. Possibly, you might see certain wildlife from this vantage point, including large crocodiles.

Most of the time, during the day you will only see hippos in the water with only their eyes showing. Here, the hippos occasionally venture out of the water during the day.

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Directions: You will have to have your safari guide take you here - but generally they will anyway.

The border between Tanzania and Kenya wanders across a bend in the river at the very south side of the Masai Mara reserve. This creates a very small and relatively unimportant part of Tanzania that can only be accessed from Kenya.

I have no idea how the border agreements work here - do the game rangers come from Tanzania or Kenya?

Other than a bunch of bushes and a well worn dirt parking area that is somewhat disorganized, there is a concrete monument marking the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

There are no border guards, and nobody will stamp your passport.

Other than a photo, you will have no evidence that you once visited a corner of Tanzania.

Being on a game drive, it is quite hard to tell exactly how to get here, but I can tell you that it was very close to the hippo pools, and it is quite possible that the hippo pools are in fact in Tanzania rather than Kenya. Based on the amount of traffic by the monument, it seems like this is a standard place to visit if you are visiting the Masai Mara reserve.

Photos 2, 3 and 4 are from Cindy L's collection.
Photo 5 is from David W's collection.

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Address: southern part of Masai Mara
Directions: Chances are, if you are on one of the all-day game drives operated out of Keekorok or Masai Mara Sopa lodge, you will at some point come here.