Maasai Mara National Reserve has won the Africa’s Leading National Park award for the sixth time in a row this year.
The recognition during the 25th World Travel Awards (WTA) boosts the reserve’s global image as a top tourist destination.
The best wildlife viewing months in Kenya are during the Dry season from late June to October. The wildebeest migration usually reaches the Masai Mara in July and remains until October when they move back to the Serengeti in Tanzania. Wildlife viewing is good year-round, but this can differ for some parks. 
The Masai Mara is one of Kenya’s smaller reserves at 560 sq miles, yet more than 290,000 tourists already visit it every year, staying in the 25 permanent lodges and campsites.At peak times, especially during the migration from June to August, more than 8,000 people can be in the park at the same time, leading to lines of 70 or more safari vans queuing at prime viewing points.
The Serengeti National Park is four times the size of the Masai Mara, and also hosts the wildebeest migration, yet has only nine lodges.
A lot of effort goes into making sure that customers who pay a premium enjoy a premium experience in the Mara, but if the place is so crowded a lot of the magic is lost.
The Masai Mara region is comprised not only of the Masai Mara National Reserve (the original, state-run park) but of a vast area to the north of the Reserve, and for many years now, some of this has been set aside for wildlife and conservation of the habitat adjacent to the Mara Resreve. These are private areas of pristine wilderness with strict controls on the number of visitors and vehicles permitted.
Welcome to the Marsh Pride of lions in Kenya’s Maasai Mara#Dynasties pic.twitter.com/EdF8CZ7jzm
— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) November 25, 2018
In each Conservancy there are normally just a handful of small safari camps with their guests gaining exclusive access to thousands of hectares of prime game-viewing land.
Nature doesn’t recognize borders and as a result the Mara conservancies have provided an additional area of sanctuary for many animals wishing to disperse beyond the National Reserve where there may be higher volumes of tourists and safari vehicle traffic especially in the peak season months.
Guests staying on the conservancies also benefit from additional activities not allowed in the main Reserve such as guided safari walks, off road driving with experienced driver-guides, meals in the bush and night game drives to observe the area’s nocturnal species.
Is Maasai mara worth to be an international travel destination?