Insight / Kenya / Tanzania

The Great Migration When & Where

Knowing where to see it in all of its glory but also avoiding the ‘madding crowd’, is partly luck and partly good planning. We can help stack the odds in your favour, including what to see, when.

The Great Migration When & Where

Knowing where to see it in all of its glory but also avoiding the ‘madding crowd’, is partly luck and partly good planning. We can help stack the odds in your favour, including what to see, when.

January - March

Southern Serengeti

The start of the year is time for the herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle to graze on the short grass plains of the southern Serengeti. Their population explodes with calves; Mother Nature is often at its most brutal during this season with the big cats, hyena and wild dog preying on the defenceless new-born calves.

Thankfully there is such an abundance of food all the way up the food chain that after the initial flourish, the antelope literally hit the ground running and a more leisurely pace of predation takes place. If you travel in March, the huge dark storm clouds will be pilling up in the afternoons, threatening to soak the savannah, creating incredible light shows and a golden hour that can last all day. Migratory birds from Europe and even farther north will have arrived, escaping the northern winter and adding yet more flashes of colour to the landscape.

The Great Migration is not one single moment, rather a series of movements of millions of wildebeest as they traverse the plains of East Africa, often with predators following their wake.
The Great Migration is not one single moment, rather a series of movements of millions of wildebeest as they traverse the plains of East Africa, often with predators following their wake.
June is an optimal time to view wildebeest navigate their way through the crocodile-invested waters of the Grumeti River to reach grazing in the north.

As the grass in the southern region becomes depleted, the herds move slowly north into the Western Corridor into an area known as Grumeti after the river which flows into Lake Albert from the centre of the Serengeti. The Grumeti is reputed to have the largest crocodiles of any river in East Africa. These huge slumbering beasts depend on the herds crossing the river once a year – leading to some dramatic interactions.

June is an optimal time to view wildebeest navigate their way through the crocodile-invested waters of the Grumeti River to reach grazing in the north.

JUNE - AUGUST

GRUMETI

As the grass in the southern region becomes depleted, the herds move slowly north into the Western Corridor into an area known as Grumeti after the river which flows into Lake Albert from the centre of the Serengeti. The Grumeti is reputed to have the largest crocodiles of any river in East Africa. These huge slumbering beasts depend on the herds crossing the river once a year – leading to some dramatic interactions.

June is an optimal time to view wildebeest navigate their way through the crocodile-invested waters of the Grumeti River to reach grazing in the north.

AUGUST - OCTOBER

NORTHERN SERENGETI OR MASAI MARA

Traditionally these months are thought of as the time to be in Kenya on the Masai Mara; however, the migration is a moveable feast which doesn’t follow one true path and frequently backtracks and can cross and recross the rivers many times in a season.  There are two options at this time, depending on what your needs are:

TANZANIA

Being on the Tanzanian side of the imaginary line means far fewer people and arguably more scenic landscapes than in the middle of the Masai Mara. The plains here become rolling and broken with rocky kopjes, patches of woodland and thicket. Camps are set up high on huge monolithic boulders giving views over this varied terrain. Whilst the migration frequently steals the limelight, life away from the river crossings carries on as usual and this area is fantastic for leopard spotting.

KENYA

The best way to experience the migration in Kenya is to stay in one of the conservancies which lie just to the north of the publicly accessible plains of the Masai Mara. Only the guests from the small handful of camps there are allowed to traverse this area meaning you get all the wildlife but none of the mini buses and the crowds which have tainted the area around Musiara. Not only do the herds sweep through this area but the resident population of big cats is most impressive

From October to December, the migration is usually in transition, usually as the short rains start to fall in November, the wildebeest begin to move back towards the southern most areas of the Serengeti, many heavy with pregnancy ending up near Ndutu and Lake Masek ready for the calving season in December onwards.

OCTOBER - DECEMBER

EAST & SOUTHERN SEREGENTI

From October to December, the migration is usually in transition, usually as the short rains start to fall in November, the wildebeest begin to move back towards the southern most areas of the Serengeti, many heavy with pregnancy ending up near Ndutu and Lake Masek ready for the calving season in December onwards.

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