The mind-boggling Great Migration, in which zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles sweep across the savanna, looks sensational on TV and thrilling from the safety of a vehicle. However, to really get an eye on the action, try making your own way across the Serengeti on horseback. Riders can join tour groups in Kenya on trips lasting a week or longer, cantering alongside and amongst the herds, while spotting lions, hippos, and elephants along the way.
You do need previous experience in the saddle (most companies will only take skilled riders), but the area’s altitude means that neither the temperature nor the mosquitoes are too troubling and, while the days can be exhausting, expeditions generally come with luxuries such as chefs, beer, and ice cubes.
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 honor 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, due to the many short bushy trees which dot the landscape.
Maasai Mara is one of the most famous and important wildlife conservation and wilderness areas in Africa, world-renowned for its exceptional populations of lion, African 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. Wikipedia