hi

a friend just got back from Keekorok, he says the migration is not there yet, although there are some nice herds on the Loita plains

He says the Tanzania side has a lot of burned grass patches
-after burning, if a rain occurs the herbivores will stay to feed on the fresh green grass
<font color="red">Kenya &amp; Tanzania wildlife-management teams are &quot;fighting&quot;? manipulating the migration... </font>

22-28 June I saw small herds of zebras and wildebeests everywhere on the Aitong Plains and 1-5 July I saw very few zebras and not a single wildebeest inside the reserve.

Nyamera,
So you went back to the Mara? Trip report, trip report, trip report!

Can anyone recommend a good website that tracks the migration? We're not going to be there until late September, but it would be fun to read about what's happening between now and then (in addition, of course, to reading trip reports! )

MyDogKyle,
http://www.atta.co.uk/nomad/index.html
http://www.atta.co.uk/heritage/index.html

Patty,
I went to the Mara twice and a trip report is on its way, but I’m having some concentration problems.

Thanks!

Aby, the park authorities in both countries often set fires early in the dry season in order to prevent potentially damaging late dry season fires. This practice improves grazing quality for wildebeests and gazelles, perhaps at the expense of animals such as hartebeests.

The Maasai who live just north of the Maasai Mara reserve frequently set fires to improve grazing for their cattle. Some believe this has also benefited the migratory wildebeests. In fact, 40-50 years ago the migration never reached the Mara. Some 30 years ago, the migration would occur in the Mara but rarely north of the Mara. It is recently in the last 20-25 years that the wildebeest numbers have exploded and they are often found on good grazing land north of the reserve. It is interesting that the hartebeest and buffalo (both rank grass grazers) numbers have declined significantly in the Mara. So, one could say that the migration has been manipulated by man for a long time.