Safari to Serengeti Mara

the best location for the migration Jul-Oct

Serengeti Mara is an absolutely superb and very beautiful sector of Serengeti National Park, the prime location for viewing wildebeest migration river crossings during the Jul-Oct dry season.

During this migration season the area is much less busy and higher quality than the adjoining Maasai Mara across the border in Kenya and contains a remarkable selection of small high quality camps.

The area also offers balloon safari during this period.

The remainder of the year the vast majority of these camps are removed and the place transforms into a fabulous quiet backwater with strong resident wildlife.

Wildebeest migration

The Serengeti Mara area usually hosts the migration during the Jul-Oct dry season months. The lead herds tend to emerge from the woodlands of the Northern Corridor around 15-20 July and spread out across these northern plains. By the end of July there are usually vast numbers of animals around and the big river crossings (for which the area is so well known) should be well underway.

This situation usually persists through August, September and October, with the herds gradually moving around the area in a pretty unpredictable pattern and occasionally crossing over the invisible international border into the Maasai Mara in Kenya.

This particular phase of the migration starts to come to a close when the first lightning strikes over the volcanoes of Ngorongoro far off to the south, which gets the herds thinking about juicy short grass and babies. Their actual departure is unpredictable, it could take place any time between October and January, so we plan safaris to cater for either eventuality.

Resident wildlife

The Serengeti Mara contains a good range of ecosystems and there is almost always water available year round in the Mara River.

In addition to the migration herds, the area therefore also hosts a really strong range of resident wildlife, notably including good populations of impalas and giraffes, as well as good numbers of lions, cheetahs and spotted hyenas. Elephants are usually also around, plus plenty of hippos and crocodiles in the river.

Once the migration herds have disappeared, during Nov-Jun, the resident wildlife here is usually sufficient to provide really high quality safari experiences, especially given that visitor numbers drop precipitously. It can be a really smart time to visit.

Traffic avoidance

In Serengeti Mara the visitor traffic should only be an issue during the Jul-Oct migration season.

The main congestion takes place at Kogatende Airstrip, which is something of a bottleneck, the flights all seem to come in about the same time of day.

Once clear of the airstrip, the only places that you might encounter significant vehicle clustering should be around major migration river crossings. The best way to avoid this is to stay at a camp with the best quality of safari guiding, since they should be sensitive to the issue and have figured out ways to work around the issue.

As always, it’s very much up to you to make it clear to your guide quite how important avoiding other vehicles is to you.

The Serengeti Mara area tends to feature in a very high proportion of trips, it is definitely worth considering at any time of year.

The usual stay duration is 3-4 nights.

Seasonality

The Serengeti region has to be one of the most seasonal locations in Africa.
Although there is literally no bad time to visit this part of the world, the annual cycle of weather, wildlife movements and visitor traffic flows combine to have an incredibly dramatic effect on trip planning during every single month of the year.

In this Serengeti Mara area, the most popular period to visit is the Jul-Oct dry season, when the best weather happens to coincide with the presence of the migration herds.

During the migration calving season, which takes place far off to the south during the Dec-Mar green season, the Serengeti Mara area becomes a wonderful peaceful backwater, although the weather can be less reliable.

The two low season periods of Nov-Dec and Mar-May may be much less dependable for weather, but they remain really strong for wildlife viewing and benefit from dramatically lower visitor numbers.

Getting there

The majority of people visiting Serengeti Mara do so as part of a guided overland safari, so they travel to their camp and around the area in their private vehicle.

A few people visit Serengeti Mara in isolation, flying in and out of the airstrip here. In this case they travel around the reserve with a vehicle and guide from their camp.

Where to stay

Trying to decide where to stay in Serengeti Mara should be relatively straightforward.

The only thing we would say is that, rather than base your decision on how the camps look or the facilities they offer, you should try to pay close attention to the authenticity of each place and the quality of safari guiding that they offer, as these will be the factors that are more likely to define the overall quality and enjoyment of your experience.

The link below will take you to a page where we present all of the lodges and camps in Serengeti Mara. If you change the month in the search sentence then the camp ratings will reorder appropriately to show you the very best options for that period.

probably our favourite part of the Serengeti