The Masai Mara is Kenya's best known reserve and a world-famous game park, with good reason: it is home to a breathtaking variety of wildlife, as well as vast landscapes of rolling savannnah, acacia woodland and riverine forest. The 1039 square miles of the Mara is the staging ground for the Great Migration, one of the most awe-inspiring natural events in the world in which millions of wildebeest and zebra leave the plains of the Serengeti and cross the Mara river in search of fresh grazing, closely followed by lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, crocodile and vultures. Other wildlife includes elephant, black rhino and hartebeest.

Best time to go: The migration takes place during August and September although game viewing in the Mara is superb throughout the year.