Масай Мара ұлттық қорығы: Кениянің табиғи кереметі

National Reserve in Narok County, Kenya

Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honour of the Maasai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area, who migrated to the area from the Nile Basin. Their description of the area when looked at from afar: "Mara" means "spotted" in the local Maasai language, because of the short bushy trees which dot the landscape. Maasai Mara is one of the wildlife conservation and wilderness areas in Africa, with its populations of lion, leopard, cheetah and African bush elephant. It also hosts the Great Migration, which secured it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and as one of the ten Wonders of the World. The Greater Mara ecosystem encompasses areas known as the Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Mara Triangle, several Maasai group ranches, and several conservancies.

When Maasai Mara was originally established in 1961 as a wildlife sanctuary, it covered only of the current area, including the Mara Triangle. The area was extended to the east in 1961 to cover and converted to a Game Reserve. The Narok County Council took over management of the reserve at this time. spoke the Maasai language. This number includes not only the Maasai but also Samburu and Camus people in Kenya. Due to its size, the Mara is able to support one of the largest populations in Africa. The population of black rhinos was fairly numerous until 1960, but it was severely depleted by poaching in the 1970s and early 1980s, dropping to a low of 15 individuals. Numbers have been slowly increasing, but the population was still only up to an estimated 23 in 1999. This weakened regulatory system threatens sustainable management of the Mara. The Mara Predator Project also operates in the Maasai Mara, cataloging and monitoring lion populations throughout the region. Concentrating on the northern conservancies where communities coexist with wildlife, the project aims to identify population trends and responses to changes in land management, human settlements, livestock movements and tourism. Since October 2012, the Mara Meru Cheetah Project has worked in the Mara monitoring cheetah population, estimating population status and dynamics, and evaluating the predator impact and human activity on cheetah behavior and survival. The head of the Project, Elena Chelysheva, was working in 2001–2002 as Assistant Researcher at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Maasai Mara Cheetah Conservation Project. At that time, she developed original method of cheetah identification based on visual analysis of the unique spot patterns on front limbs (from toes to shoulder) and hind limbs (from toes to the hip), and spots and rings on the tail. Collected over the years, photographic data allows the project team to trace kinship between generations and build Mara cheetah pedigree. The data collected helps to reveal parental relationship between individuals, survival rate of cubs, cheetah lifespan and personal reproductive history. The resilience of the game park model and the impact of the covid pandemic have also been evaluated so as to include consideration of issues of equality, and environmentalism.

The BBC Television show titled "Big Cat Diary" was filmed in the Maasai Mara. The show followed the lives of the big cats living in the reserve. The show highlighted scenes from the Reserve's Musiara marsh area and the Leopard Gorge, the Fig Tree Ridge areas and the Mara River, separating the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara.

In 2018, the Angama Foundation, a non profit affiliated with Angama Mara, one of the Mara's luxury safari camps, launched the Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of the Year competition, showcasing the Mara as a year round destination and raise funds for conservation initiatives active in the Mara. The competition ran for six years, ending in 2023. The inaugural winner was British photographer Anup Shah. The 2019 winner was Lee Anne Robertson from South Africa. Paolo Torchio won in 2020, Harry Collins in 2021, Preeti and Prashant Chacko in 2022, and Shravan Rao in 2023.

Between 1989 and 2003, ungulates were monitored in the Maasai Mara on a monthly basis; the survey revealed a decline of giraffes by 75%, of common warthogs by 80%, of hartebeest by 76%, and of impala by 67%, attributed to the increased number of livestock grazing in the park and an increase in poaching. The rise of local populations in areas neighbouring the reserve has led to the formation of conservation organisations such as the Mara Elephant Project. The project aims to ensure the peaceful and prosperous co existence of humans alongside wildlife. According to the project, human wildlife conflict is seen as a leading threat to the reserve as the population continues to grow. Tourism has increased exponentially. Less than 10 lodges were in the area in the late 1970s. and grazing opportunities are diminished.