Masai Mara question
 

We are working on a safari in January 2009 that includes 7+ days in the Masai Mara. Is there good game viewing (cats in particular) outside the park? Which area would be better? Or do all the lodges outside the park bring the guests into the Mara triangle?

Thanks,
cj

kiboko
great to hear that you go to kenya!
regarding cats outside the reserve which you are particularly interested:
big cats leave the reserve as they wander constantly in and out - some of them at least!
predicatble is nothing!
you of course will find bid cats within the reserve at that time of year.
you even might be lucky and see river crossings - depending on the rain.

but what makes you decide to stay 7+ days in a camp outside the reserve?
why don't you stay within the reserve?
spending outside 7+ days doesn't make sense to me at all! especially as you have to pay conservation fee anyway plus reserve fee if you decided to enter!

could you pls tell us what your concept of the safari is going to be.....

I agree that cats and other animals know no formal boundaries and wander all over at will. The northern Aitong area is especially good for cheetah.

All the lodges can take their guests where the animals are, whether that is in the park, in the Mara triangle, or wherever. It may require taking a picnic lunch to get to some locations, though.

Why stay outside the park? You may be able to do night drives and/or walks. If the property you want is outside the park, I don't see a disadvantage.

With 7 or more days, you may want to split your time between two locations. I did that once and twice just stayed in one place. Either works, but you may need to spend a certain # of nights at one location to get discount pricing.

Have a wonderful trip.

Lynn,

You know better, that your Northern Aitong reference caught my eye ......... can you tell me more about this?

Thanks
Hari

The area is named for the Aitong Hills and it is located north of the Maasai Mara National Park. It is good habitat for cheetah. I’ve driven up there and spent the day watching cheetahs, but have not stayed lodging in that region.

Below is a link to a good Mara map if you scroll to the the very bottom of the site. It shows the camps located way north. This area also is known for wild dogs.

http://www.sarunicamp.com/whereweare.php#

Thanks! That's wayyyyy north of the triangle ....

If I were you, I would stay in the Mara Triangle - it's fabulous there.

For more info about the place, see http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org

Tanya
http://www.wildernessdiary.com

Hi Tanya,

Thanks .... I noticed the updates on that site, the zebras have already arrived it appears! albeit a different wing of the migration from the north!

Better get there ASAP, Hari!

Thank you all for the information. We planned to spend most of our time inside the Mara triangle. My question really was should we spend a few days outside the park in addition. We would not stay outside the park just for the night game drives.

atravelynn: The Aitong Hills area sounds really interesting. We hope to have our own driver/guide and vehicle so the accomodation choices may be limited.

cj

The Triangle is my favorite choice too. Apart from the amazing variety of wildlife, I like the fact that the community is benefiting directly from tourism there. It seems to be working very well, from what I can tell.

Kiboko

I have made a number of visits to the Mara in the last couple of years and recommend you split your stay across two different sites (or even three sites if you stay 9 nights). You will be lucky to catch the migration in January but you never know as it depends on the rains in the Serengeti !

You will see pleanty of cats both in and out of the reserve. One reason there are more cheetah outside the reserve is because of the incredible lion numbers inside which are a threat to cheetah. You will see cheetah both inside and out but in my view the better sightings are outside. The Aitong area is 'only' around an hours drive North of the reserve. The best place in the Mara for leopards is near the Talek river (Explorer, Intrepids, Rekero camps etc ...) although we recently had three very good sightings of a leopard and her two cubs in the Aitong area.

The Mara triangle is actually the area to the West of the Mara river, i.e not all of the reserve is in the triangle (if thats important to you). Its a lovely area and has few lodges / camps so generally more quiet from a traffic perspective than the East side of the river.

Happy to offer an opinion of the various camps in each area if you want (depends on what you are really looking for e.g. luxury, location etc ...)

Hope this helps.

Phil

Hi Phil,

Question about the Serian area of the Mara ..... that's outside the reserve too, so would you think another productive area for cheetah? How far is Aitong from there?

I haven't been to Mara since 2002 - but, the cheetah viewing in the Governors area wasn't great that year due to the numerous lion prides in the area. From memory from that Year, the BCD had a cheetah with 3 young cubs and we got a glimpse of it!

Cheers
Hari

I only took one trip to Kenya, with eight nights in the Mara, so not much experience, but my experience was different than what others are telling you.

Inside the park (5 nights at Intrepids) we saw many more lions, all our cheetahs (I think 9), and had the two best leopard sightings ever for us, including filming one stalking and just missing a dik-dik. The cats were much more relaxed here, where the Big Cat Diary crews film often. Most of the lions were on kills, a couple were mating, young mature ones were play-fighting, etc, doing stuff in the daylight.

Outside the park, at a well-known CCA property, there were cattle and goats with herders, and this seemed to make the lions and leopards more wary. We still saw several lions but they were more active at night according to the guides. Got just a fleeting glimpse of a leopard as he scurried down a tree (we saw the kill in the tree and went over). Didn't see a cheetah, though we were told that's because there were few gazelles in that area because it was a bit drier than usual.

The guy who outfitted our trip used to own a lodge near the CCA property outside the park and told us he shut it down because of over-crowding and over-grazing from the tribes.

This is consistent with what others have told me (and with common sense), that lions and leopards are more wary in areas with livestock because the stock-killers are quickly killed themselves. Supposedly there are more cheetahs (or more relaxed cheetahs) in these areas because there are fewer lions.

Just my 2 cents worth ... as I said I was only there once, but that's what we saw.

Bill

We were able to stay at Kicheche camp with our own vehicle and guide in late 2005. I'm not sure if they've changed their policy since then. We saw several lions including some very young cubs but no cheetahs. As Bill mentioned you'll see cattle grazing up here.

We also had good luck with leopard sightings near the Talek inside the reserve.

This was just one visit so take our experience for whatever it's worth.

Phil- Thanks for the clarification of the term "Mara Triangle". I see on the map what you mean. Your other suggestions about the cats are appreciated.

Bill- We experienced the lions fear of the Masai at Ndutu this year. We were watching a lion in a tree with a couple of other vehicles. A Masai guide was in one of the vehicles, he stood up with the traditional red on and the lion was out of there so fast it was hard to believe.

We will probable try two or three lodges/camps within the reserve and then drive up to the Aitong area for the day.

cj

Hari

We stayed at a camp ten minutes away from Serian and it took us around 30 minutes to get to the Aitong area. In fact we made this trip on around half the journeys becaus it was so rich in game. Saying that, there was also good viewing near the camp (cheetah and two almost adult cubs ten minutes from camp).

I can also understand the comments from Bill rgarding cattle. It does vary considerably and is very localised. When we went to Cottars to the Sout East of the reserve at a time when there was an awful drougth it did adversely effect game viewing. By comparison we were at the camp next to Serian for 6 nights in February and saw very little cattle at all. Conversely, a bit further North it gets worse ...

Phil



Phil

Last year I saw lions and a cheetah with their natural wary behaviour in the Aitong area, but then I also saw relaxed individuals of all the 3 big cats there. Inside all cats were rather calm and I saw more leopards than outside. You’ll definitely see more cattle outside and you’ll be able to do walks and night drives. If going on a game drive in another area than the one where you’re staying you’ll have to pay double park fees. This year I’m getting a selection of park tickets to be able to visit different areas, but I have no idea how that will work out as I’m sleeping in one area all the time.

Thanks Phil and Nyamera - valuable information! Appreciate it!!!!

Bill and Patty - those areas look good too!!!! - i.e., Intrepids, Kicheche