The Masai Mara is Kenya's premier wildlife habitat. Kichwa Tembo is the ideal location for intimate encounters with an overwhelming assortment of animals. The camp overlooks endless, game-filled plains and is shaded by a dense forest canopy.

Home to the greatest concentration of large mammals on earth, the Masai Mara National Reserve is a living tapestry of grassy savannah, spreading thorn trees and tall gallery forests. The reserve is the northern extension of the vast Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, situated at the edge of the Great Rift Valley. The animals are naturally contained by the wall-like Oloololo Escarpment in the west and the Ngama Hills in the east.

Kichwa Tembo is renowned as a vantage point for witnessing the ancient spectacle of the great migration From June each year, like iron filings drawn by a magnet, over two million wildebeest, zebra and other grazing ungulates move through the Serengeti to the Masai Mara. The hungry herds are drawn north by the sweet grass resulting from the long rains. In the course of their journey they brave relentless predators, a shortage of food and water and the huge crocodiles of the turbulent Mara River.

Late July, August and September (dry season) are prime game viewing months, but there is an abundance of resident wildlife all year round and superb viewing is by no means confined to the migration. The black-maned Mara lions are of special interest. Cheetah, giraffe, elephant, a host of antelope and fascinating monkeys can also be seen. There are also thousands of topi, a conspicuous bronze-and- brown-coated antelope not found in other Kenyan parks, apart from Tsavo.

Surrounding Kichwa Tembo is a dense forest filled with smaller mammals as well as entertaining troops of blue monkey and red-tailed monkey.

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Giraffe
Great Migration

The forest embracing the camp is an "island" refuge for many birds that depend on dense cover. Thirteen years ago, the original owners fenced the camp surrounds. This was mainly to protect forest vegetation, as elephant are known to decimate forest cover. The fence preserves the full spectrum of forest-adapted species including birds such as Ross's Turaco and Narina Trogon.

Bird-watching around the camp is outstanding, with many spectacular species to be seen. Grey-capped Warbler, Ross's Turaco, Schalow's Turaco, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, African Blue Flycatcher and African Green Pigeon are all resident and conspicuous. The spectacular Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill and Double-toothed Barbet are occasional visitors.

An extraordinary 450 bird species have been recorded in the Masai Mara, and no less than 57 species of birds of prey. Raptors include the Brown Snake Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Martial Eagle, Long-crested Eagle, Bateleur, White-headed Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Hooded Vulture and African Fish Eagle.

Vultures are highly sociable raptors, supreme masters of the air and a vital link in the food chains of African savannahs. Six species of vulture occur in the Masai Mara. The Egyptian Vulture is a nomad and rarely seen, while the group-foraging African White-backed Vulture is the most common. Others are the more solitary Lappet-faced Vulture and White-headed Vulture, the smaller and thin-billed Hooded Vulture and the gregarious Ruppell's Griffon.

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Bateleur
Vulture

Click here to download an Acrobat PDF Bird Checklist of bird species common to the area.

If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat click here for a free download.

A host of colourful butterflies live in the dappled shade of the forest. Noble Swallowtail, Mocker Swallowtail, Green-banded Swallowtail and Green-veined Charaxes are particularly eye-catching varieties.

With only pockets of bush or the occasional tree dotted on the grasslands, the Maasai today know the area as Mara - the "spotted land." Common trees around Kichwa Tembo are Diospyros/Ebony, Honeysuckle Tree, Quinine Tree, Euclea and Teclea. Three species of Strangler Fig are present, some being absolute giants. There are several types of medicinal plants.

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Figs

The region falls within the Savannah biome, but seven distinct habitats have been recognised within the Mara. These are grassland, bushland, woodland, marshland, rivers, riverine forest and rocky hillsides. Each has its own characteristic vegetation and animals.

Vast open grasslands occupy the greatest part of the Masai Mara. Tufted, perennial Red Oat Grass is dominant. This grass type has a robust underground rhizome that remains alive and stores energy even when the leafy body of the plant is eaten or burnt to the ground. This grass is very edible, particularly when young, and provides fodder for the huge concentrations of wildebeest, zebra and other grazing herbivores that migrate back and forth across the region. Remarkably, such pressure from herbivores and fire stimulates growth and increases the palatability of this grass. During the dry season, the leaf blades wither and the herds move on.

Through the joint forces of fire, elephants and herbivore pressure, the Mara woodlands have shrunk in size and have been replaced by grasslands.

CC Africa, through Kichwa Tembo, plays an important role in the protection of wildlife just outside the northern boundaries of the Masai Mara National Reserve - this is necessary since more than 75% of Kenya's wildlife occurs outside of its national parks.