The Last Glimpse of Tira – Maasai Mara’s Unique Polka Dot Zebra

In 2021 I had the unique opportunity to go to East Africa for work for the acquisition and integration of a number of companies, an incredible experience that allowed me not only to discover this beautiful part of the world but also to experience the (work) culture and meet some truly inspiring people.

Since I wanted to visit friends in the Maasai Mara whom we had kept in touch with from our last safari trip, two work colleagues and I decided to head there over the weekend. After an already thrilling day of witnessing a lion hunt, spotting both a leopard and a cheetah, our guide suddenly received an exciting call from one of his fellow guides—Tira, the rare zebra, had been spotted again! And off we went to find Tira—all the way to the Tanzanian border.

Who is Tira and why was he so special?
Tira born in 2019 and was a sensation. As is customary, he was named after the guide who first spotted the foal, Anthony Tira. Tira's incredibly rare pattern, caused by pseudomelanism, a genetic mutation that distorts the typical zebra stripe pattern, made him famous worldwide and people were tripping over themselves to find this special zebra. Instead of black and white stripes, Tira had dark spots on a brownish coat, which gave him a polka-dotted appearance. In late 2019 Tira and his herd returned to Tansania with the great migration and he had not been spotted since then.

After racing through the Mara, we finally reached the area near the Tanzanian border where Tira had supposedly been spotted. Sure enough, there he was—what an incredible sight. We stayed for a while to observe the herd and Tira always stayed close to one particular zebra, which must have been his mother. The photo below captures the beautiful bond between them

Since that day in 2021, there have been no confirmed sightings of Tira. It appears he returned to the Maasai Mara for just that one day, as we couldn’t locate him the next day. My friend and guide also confirmed that Tira has not been seen again.

We may have been among the last people to see him. While his fate remains uncertain, zebras with such distinctive markings often face a greater risk of predation due to their visibility in the wild.

Seeing Tira in the wild was both a privilege and a reminder of nature’s fleeting beauty. His story is a testament to the unpredictable and awe-inspiring ways nature manifests itself. For wildlife enthusiasts like myself, Tira remains an iconic figure.