08/05/2021
In southwestern Kenya, in the Kenya Rift Valley Province, lies 583 square miles (1,510 square kilometers) of protected land known as the Maasai Mara National Reserve. It was established in 1961 and is a popular safari destination, renowned for its wildlife population, according to a 2019 study about the park published in the journal Land Use Policy. The wildlife roam freely across the boundaries of the reserve into areas with several villages, where animals and humans coexist.
Also known as Masai Mara, Maasai Mara or simply the Mara, the reserve lies at between 4,875 and 7,052 feet (1486 and 2149 meters) in elevation and extends south to Serengeti National Park. The name comes from the local Maasai people, who called this expanse of land "Mara," or spotted, in their native language of Maa, because of the way the acacia trees and wildlife dotted the plains.
