One of Africa’s most important wildlife conservation areas, the Maasai Mara National Reserve’s vast wilderness hosts 95 mammal species (including the so-called ‘Big Five’ of elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and black rhino) and an astonishing array of birdlife. But for more than 100,000 visitors who head there between July and October, the Mara means one thing: the Great Migration.
The migration sees up to a million wildebeest, accompanied by thousands of zebras and other grazers, making the epic round trip from the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara and back in search of water and grazing. The vast herds are an awe-inspiring sight at any point, but for sheer drama, their arrival into the reserve takes some beating. Breathtaking and brutal, the frantic swim across the croc-infested waters of the Mara River, that many of the wildebeest undertake, is widely viewed as a ‘must-see’.
Maasai Mara National Reserve: A victim of its own success?
But overtourism, especially during the migration, threatens the Mara’s long-term survival. Whereas neighbouring private conservancies (as often favoured by Expert Africa) limit visitor and vehicle numbers, the national reserve has no such cap. In 2023, it welcomed 419,000 visitors, a jump of 44% since 2019. And despite the entry fee rising to US$200 per traveller per day in peak season, visitor numbers in 2024 seem so far unaffected.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve’s management plan for 2023-32 acknowledges “severe overcrowding and vehicle congestion in parts of the Reserve, especially at Mara River crossings during the migration (where more than 150 vehicles have sometimes been recorded at a single crossing), and around kills, predators and the Big Five species”.
Overcrowded safari experience aside, the critical issue is the effect this traffic has on the reserve’s ecosystem and wildlife. Such large-scale harassment can force predators to abandon kills and alter the behaviour of the herds at the river crossings. Add in the threats of poaching, human-wildlife conflict, land encroachment, and climate change, and it’s no wonder key wildlife species are in decline.
So how do you protect a 1,500km2 wilderness without an army of rangers?
The answer perhaps lies in new technology.
EarthRanger: Empowering conservation globally
A game-changer for conservation, EarthRanger is a cutting-edge data visualisation and analysis software platform revolutionising wildlife protection. Developed by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2), EarthRanger’s protected area management system enables conservationists to monitor and safeguard entire ecosystems swiftly, smartly, and easily.
Simple to use (and, rather wonderfully, free for conservation missions), EarthRanger gathers real-time information from sources like rangers’ reports, individual animals’ GPS tags, vehicle trackers, and in-the-field sensors. Transferred via satellite, LoRaWan, digital radio, and phone networks to a central operations room, this information is instantly merged with all historical data to give a live, unified view of the protected landscape and its wildlife. Armed with EarthRanger’s mobile app, rangers in the field can easily see and add to the bigger picture, giving them the ability to monitor and log wildlife, tourists, human-wildlife conflict, and potential threats like poachers.
See EarthRanger in action:
For the past two years, the Footprint charitable trust, Narok County Government (which controls the Maasai Mara National Reserve), and the tech and conservation experts 51 Degrees, have worked tirelessly to install EarthRanger across the reserve. The Maasai Mara Conservation Centre, complete with its state-of-the-art EarthRanger Operations Room, was officially opened in October 2024.
“An amazing tool, EarthRanger creates a virtual surveillance web over the entire ecosystem. So, rangers can monitor wildlife, livestock encroachment, invasive species, and tourists in real-time, and have additional tools to protect key species like rhino, pangolin, lion, and cheetah”, explained Footprint’s Mikey Carr-Hartley. “As the system develops, it will become a brilliant early warning system. Rangers will see where crowds are forming (or are likely to) around, say, a cheetah and move quickly to disperse them. In time, guides and visitors may also be able to upload sightings using their mobiles, which will alert the op’s room to proactively deploy a ranger to manage crowds. Ultimately, EarthRanger even has the power to help rangers control the Mara River’s busy crossing points by replacing the current free-for-all with a ‘virtual queue’ based on each vehicle’s arrival time.”
“By the end of November, some 90% of the reserve and most of the conservancies will be covered by EarthRanger, allowing extensive monitoring of animal and ranger activity, and providing a more detailed understanding of how tourism affects wildlife
behaviour. EarthRanger’s fluidity means it can be adapted to meet new concerns as they arise. With its help, we hope to improve sustainable management and conservation in the Mara significantly.”
Visiting the Maasai Mara and seeing the Great Migration is an incredible experience. At Expert Africa, we’re delighted to see this effort to protect local wildlife and reduce overcrowding in the national reserve, especially at the Mara River crossings.
Planning your trip? Speak to one of our Kenya Experts for tailored advice, insider tips, and seamless arrangements to ensure that you experience this incredible spectacle at its unforgettable best.
