Maasai Mara National Reserve

Established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1961 and raised to its present standing as a national reserve in 1974, the Maasai Mara takes its name from the Maasai people who still graze cattle around it and from the word mara, which in their language means spotted — a reference to how the landscape looks from a distance, dappled with scattered acacias. It is the Kenyan extension of the great Serengeti-Mara ecosystem and the most famous setting for the Mara River crossing during the Great Migration, when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest throw themselves into water thick with Nile crocodiles to complete their route, an episode that has become one of the most iconic images in wildlife film. Unlike the Kenyan national parks run by central government, the reserve is administered by the local county councils, with the Maasai communities taking a direct share of the tourism income.