CULTUREFOCUS: Africa safari photos. Wildlife pictures from the Serengeti and Masai Mara

LAND OF THE GREAT PLAINS

Welcome to a safari through the wild parts of Tanzania and Kenya - expanses of wilderness set aside to help preserve what is left of the wildlife that once roamed across much of the vast African continent.

The Serengeti in Tanzania and the adjoining Masai Mara in Kenya are renowned for immense savannas that reach to the horizon. Huge gatherings of animals still migrate with the seasons across these grasslands, following fresh grazing just as they have done for millennia.

Where the herbivores graze, the relentless predators wait out their chance for a kill. The Serengeti and Masai Mara boast one of the world's greatest concentrations of big cats...

In the realm of the big cats

Lions are still a common sight on the Serengeti and Masai Mara despite centuries of persecution across Africa. Together with leopards and cheetahs, these hunters form part of the violent natural order on these African plains.

A leopard stalking the Serengeti.

A cheetah on the Masai Mara grasslands. Famed as the fastest land animals, these sleek and powerful killers are built for the short-distance speed that is their main hunting weapon.

On safari through the Maasai homelands
When most people close their eyes and think of wild Africa, they imagine the game-filled plains and acacia woodlands of the Serengeti and Masai Mara. This is the home of the Maasai, a people synonymous with this part of Africa.

In the face of cultural pressures and the loss of their lands and cattle grazing rights, the proud Maasai strive to maintain their traditional life and culture. It is from their language that the evocative name Serengeti - meaning 'great plains' or 'open space' - is derived.

Rivers and pools are homes for the seemingly cantankerous hippopotamus. The hippo's ungainly appearance is deceiving. Underwater, they are good swimmers while out of water they have the unenviable reputation of being one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Face to face with one of the most evocative animals of the East African plains. Years of rampant poaching in Tanzania and Kenya left elephant populations in ruins. Now, conservation efforts in Africa are symbolized by the struggles to protect these magnificent animals.

As the tallest land animals, giraffes can browse foliage beyond the reach of all other grazers except elephants. Their long, muscular tongues help them strip leaves from thorny acacia trees.

The plight of the rhinoceros

The rhino has no natural predators, but has been hunted relentlessly to near extinction by poachers seeking their horns.

Many of the last surviving rhinos are in small populations restricted to areas where they can receive at least some protection from this wanton destruction.

A black rhino at Laikipia in Kenya.