Tsavo or Masai Mara?
The two parks side by side on what you will see, what you can do, what it costs, how you get there and the health picture, with the facts behind every rating.
Our verdict
The Masai Mara and Tsavo are opposite answers to a Kenyan safari. Pick the Mara for the most animals in the least time: lion, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippo and spotted hyaena guaranteed, cheetah and leopard likely, and the migration from about July to October. It is a county reserve, not a KWS park, at $100 a day from January to June and $200 from July to December, and walks and night drives are left to the conservancies around it. Pick Tsavo for space and more to do inside the parks: KWS walking safaris and night game drives, the train to Voi and Mtito Andei, and very few vehicles in Tsavo East's north, at $80 per park, though lion is only a chance. Both guides confirm tsetse and high malaria risk. No road route between them is published; Mombasa Air Safari's daily Amboseli and Tsavo West link reaches the Mara.
Best for big game Masai MaraBest for birding TsavoBest for walking TsavoBest for self-drive TsavoBest for low budget TsavoBest for families TsavoBest for a first safari Masai MaraBest for wilderness Tsavo
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | TsavoKenya | Masai Maraabout 1,510 km² (WDPA); 1,530 to 1,560 km² in the county plan |
|---|---|---|
| 4Sept to Oct | 5Jul to Oct; August busiest | |
4Sept to OctElephants: ±15,000 in Tsavo; Share of Kenya's herd: About 40 per cent; Great tuskers left: ±25 in all Africa | 5bestJul to Oct; August busiestLions: About 465 older than a year, 2024; Elephants: 2,702 in the ecosystem, June 2024; Resident cheetahs: 12 adults in 2024, 28 in 2023 | |
| Elephant | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Fair chance | Guaranteed |
| Leopard | Rare | Likely |
| Buffalo | Likely | Guaranteed |
| Wild dog | Rare | Rare |
| Cheetah | Rare | Likely |
| Hippo | Likely | Guaranteed |
| Giraffe | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
4500 speciesAbout 500 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | Not published | |
| 5Self-drive | 3Self-drive | |
3bestWalking safaris are an official KWS activity at $50 per person per day for groups of up to ten, plus the walk along Mudanda Rock and the ranger-escorted trail at Mzima Springs. | 2The 2023 to 2032 management plan bans walking safaris anywhere in the reserve; guided walks are standard only in the conservancies outside it, at Kicheche's camps and on Angama's escarpment. | |
4bestNight game drives are an official activity at $50 per person, unusual for Kenya, and the guide says they improve the leopard odds. | 2Night game drives are banned in the reserve and the Triangle; they run only in the conservancies, such as Kicheche Valley in Naboisho, and no conservancy publishes its own rules. | |
1No boat activity is listed; Mzima Springs has an underwater viewing chamber for hippo and crocodile. | 1No boat activity exists, swimming in rivers inside protected areas is illegal and the Mara and Talek rivers hold crocodiles and hippos; the Mara Bridge hippo pool walk was closed in September 2025. | |
5bestSelf-driving is normal with no guide required: Nairobi to Mtito Andei is 233 km and about 3 h, and Tsavo East's main circuits take a high-clearance 2WD in the dry season, though Tsavo West needs a 4x4. | 3Tarmac runs all the way from Nairobi to Sekenani Gate, 228 km, and the Triangle admits any 4x4, but a June 2024 memo banned private vehicles for game drives on the Narok side, with 2026 enforcement unclear, and fuel inside is sold only at camps. | |
| $20cheapest bed | $40cheapest bed | |
$80bestInternational adult per day ({'name': 'KWS Conservation Fees, effective October 2025', 'url': 'https://kws.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/KWS-Conservation-Fee-October-2025.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | $200International adult per day ({'name': 'Narok County Finance Act 2023 (No. 3 of 2023), First Schedule: Maasai Mara National Reserve Park Fees and Charges (read 6 Oct 2026)', 'url': 'https://narok.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Narok-County-Finance-Act-2023-UPL_compressed.pdf'}, 2026-10-06). | |
$20bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 37 places; 12 are budget tier. | $40Lowest listed rate per person per night across 78 places; 7 are budget tier. | |
$100bestMedian of 15 priced places; top end $1,590. | $700Median of 38 priced places; top end $2,708. | |
4bestCheapest listed bed $20, 12 of 37 places in the budget tier, park fee $80 a day. | 2Cheapest listed bed $40, 7 of 78 places in the budget tier, park fee $200 a day. | |
| $1,495mid-range | $1,582camping | |
$795bestBudget one: self-drive camping at Ndololo, the cheapest real version | $1,582Budget one: self-drive camping in the Mara Triangle | |
$1,495Budget two: mid-range at Ashnil Aruba Lodge | Not published | |
$9,180Budget three: fly in to Finch Hattons, the top end | $5,020bestBudget two: a mid-range camp on the Talek, flying in | |
| Kilaguni airstripnearest airport | Keekoroknearest airport | |
Kilaguni airstrip, 50 min from Nairobi Wilson; Mombasa 2 to 2.75 h by road to Voi gateFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Keekorok, Ol Kiombo, Musiara and Mara Serena strips, 30 to 80 min from Nairobi Wilson; Nairobi 5 to 6 h by roadFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | |
Not needed on Tsavo East's main circuits in the dry; effectively essential in Tsavo WestFrom the getting-there page. | 4x4 inside the reserveFrom the getting-there page. | |
| Sept to Octpeak game viewing | Jul to Oct; August busiestpeak game viewing | |
Sept to OctFrom the best-time page. | Jul to Oct; August busiestFrom the best-time page. | |
Open all year; April the month to avoidFrom the best-time page. | Open all year; long rains Mar to May, with camps closed in April and MayFrom the best-time page. | |
| High year-round (NaTHNaCmalaria | High all yearmalaria | |
High year-round (NaTHNaC, Sep 2026)From the health page. | High all year, tablets advised (NaTHNaC)From the health page. | |
PresentLong-standing tsetse habitat with flies still trapped in surveys; expect bites in thicker woodland and riverine stretches, especially in Tsavo West. | PresentA 2021 study trapped 1,167 tsetse at 10 sites in the reserve, with no human-disease trypanosomes found; a painful daytime bite, so wear neutral colours. | |
February, 32.2°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | Not published | |
Moi County Referral Hospital, Voi, 14 min from Voi gateAir evacuation: AMREF Flying Doctors, Nairobi Wilson. | Narok County Referral Hospital, about 87 km from Sekenani; serious cases flown to NairobiAir evacuation: AMREF Flying Doctors, up to USD 5,000 without cover. | |
| 4Wilderness | 5First safari | |
4Moi County Referral Hospital in Voi is fourteen minutes from Tsavo East's main gate and lodges such as Voyager Ziwani run children's clubs; malaria is high year-round and tsetse bite in thicker bush. | 4Children 8 and under enter free and many camps have family tents, Angama welcoming children of all ages; but malaria risk is high all year and the nearest public hospital is Narok, about 87 km from Sekenani, so serious cases are flown to Nairobi. | |
3Elephant, zebra and giraffe are guaranteed and access is the easiest in Kenya by road, train or a 50 min flight, but lion is only a chance and animals sit far thinner on the ground than in Kenya's small famous parks. | 5bestLion, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippo, zebra and spotted hyaena are guaranteed in two or three days and cheetah and leopard likely, with three airlines flying daily from Nairobi Wilson in 30 to 80 minutes. | |
4bestWilderness the size of a small country, with very few vehicles in Tsavo East's northern area beyond the Galana; the Voi circuits are the busiest sector. | 2The Mara Conservancy recorded June 2025 sightings with more than 200 vehicles and August is the busiest month; conservancies set lower vehicle limits for those who stay outside the reserve. |
Compare all of Kenya's parks on the comparison page. Masai Mara has its own guide at visitmasaimarapark.com.
How the ratings work
- Big game is calculated from each park's sightings table on its wildlife page: guaranteed counts 3, likely 2, a fair chance 1, rare 0.5 and absent 0, across elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog, cheetah, hippo and giraffe, scaled so that 16 points is 5 out of 5.
- Birding follows the species count on the wildlife page. Low-budget safari follows the cheapest listed bed, the share of budget places and the daily park fee.
- Walking, night drives, water, self-drive, families, first safari and wilderness are our ratings, whole numbers from 1 to 5. Press "Why?" on any row to read the facts each one rests on, with the page they come from. Where a rule is not published we say so rather than guess.
- Prices are per person per night in US dollars as listed on the lodges pages, before park fees; the three-night totals come from each park's costs page and use the dated rates there. Fees are the international adult rate per day.