Geo answer

Wildebeest, zebra and gazelle figure in today’s Geo Quiz.

The Maasi Mara: source wikipediaThe Maasi Mara: source wikipedia

The Maasai (or Masai) Mara is one of the places in the world “where the wild things are”. It’s a sprawling wildlife park in East Africa with wide open stretches of grassland and plenty of seasonal waterholes.

The wildebeest are on the move there every summer. The “great migration” is quite a spectacle.

“It’s kind of like being in a river of animals, I mean as far as you see, from horizon to horizon, you see thousands and thousands of wildebeests, but also you see impala an zebra and many other species so they kind of spill around you as if you were a rock in a river, and they come around you as they walk by.”

We’ll hear more from this researcher…when we reveal the answer. She warns the numbers of wild animals of the Masai Mara are, like auto industry stock prices these days, dropping sharply.

We’ll “do the numbers” of wildlife when we reveal the answer…

We asked you to locate the Maasai Mara National Reserve in today’s Geo Quiz.

The answer is south western Kenya.

Kenya map: source CIAKenya map: source CIA

The Masai Mara is a famous for its amazing wildlife. Wildebeest, zebras, impalas, and giraffes — all roam across the plains of the Masai Mara. But Kenyan conservationists are now sounding an alarm.

They say the animals of the Masai Mara reserve are at risk and in widespread decline.

Listen to our interview with one of the scientists who helped to carry out a new study of the Maasai Mara wildlife. Robin Reid is Director of the Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University:

According to the study, the number of giraffes, impala, and warthogs has “decreased substantially” in only 15 years as they compete for survival with a growing concentration of human settlements in the region. A total of six species-giraffes, hartebeest, impala, warthogs, topis and waterbuck-declined markedly and persistently throughout the reserve.