When to see the Great Migration in the Masai Mara
Every year more than a million wildebeest, with hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle, follow the rain and fresh grass in a loop through Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara. It is one of the great wildlife spectacles anywhere, and the part most travellers want to see, the crossings of the Mara River, happens on the Kenyan side.
The migration month by month
- January to March: the herds are in the southern Serengeti and Ndutu area in Tanzania, where most calves are born in a few weeks around February. Predators follow.
- April and May: the long rains. The herds spread out and start moving north and west through the central Serengeti.
- June: the herds gather in the Serengeti’s western corridor and cross the Grumeti River.
- July to October: the herds move into the northern Serengeti and across the border into the Masai Mara. This is the main Mara season, with crossings of the Mara River back and forth.
- November and December: after the short rains begin, the herds head south again towards the Serengeti plains.
These months are a pattern, not a timetable. The herds follow the rain, so in a dry or wet year everything can move by a few weeks.
When are the river crossings?
Crossings of the Mara River are most likely from late July to September, and often continue into October. A herd can gather on the bank for hours, or days, and then turn away. Our driver-guides keep in touch with each other through the day, so when a herd starts to build up at a crossing point you hear about it quickly. Patience helps: plan full-day game drives with a picnic lunch rather than short drives out and back.
How long to stay
Give yourself at least three nights in the Mara during migration season. With two full days you have a much better chance of seeing a crossing than with a single afternoon. Many travellers combine the Mara with Lake Nakuru or Lake Naivasha on the way, or continue into the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Not travelling between July and October?
The Mara is excellent all year. Lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants and buffalo live there permanently, and outside the migration months there are fewer vehicles at each sighting and lodge rates are often lower. If you want to see the calving season, look at a Kenya and Tanzania itinerary between January and March.
Book early for August
August is the busiest month of the year in the Mara, and the best-placed camps near the river fill up months ahead. If you are set on migration season, tell us your dates as early as you can and we will hold rooms while you decide.
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