The herds follow rainfall and grazing conditions — not a fixed calendar. Every location and month below is a planning guide, not a wildlife guarantee.
The herds typically spread across the short-grass plains, grazing the mineral-rich grasses that will fuel calving. Big skies, green land and superb cheetah viewing.
Where we place you: Ndutu-area mobile camps, moved into position for the season.
Calving is at its most concentrated, with hundreds of thousands of calves born across the season and the predators that follow them. Raw, memorable game viewing.
Where we place you: Ndutu mobile camps, minutes from the nursery herds.
The last weeks on the calving grounds as calves strengthen for the trek. Quieter camps, dramatic storm light, and predators still working the edges of the herds.
Where we place you: Ndutu mobile camps before they reposition north.
As the long rains develop, the herds commonly move north-west through the central Serengeti, often in long columns. Low season: honest value, few vehicles.
Where we place you: Seronera-area lodges in the path of the columns.
The herds commonly move into the woodlands and floodplains of the Western Corridor, rutting as they go.
Where we place you: Grumeti private concession camps.
Grumeti River crossings are generally associated with June and sometimes early July, though they are less predictable and usually less concentrated than the Mara crossings. A superb, underrated month — crossing action without peak-season vehicles.
Where we place you: Grumeti Reserves — exclusive, low-density viewing.
The herds usually reach the Mara River and the season’s best-known spectacle begins. Crossings may happen from this point, but no crossing date, time or location can be guaranteed.
Where we place you: Kogatende mobile camps, minutes from the crossing points.
Commonly the busiest crossing period on both sides of the river, with the Mara’s big cats in attendance. Crossings remain unpredictable. Book 12+ months out.
Where we place you: A private Mara conservancy plus Kogatende — both banks covered.
The herds graze the Mara’s golden grasslands between repeated, unpredictable crossings. Arguably the best all-round month: crossings, big cats and lighter crowds than August.
Where we place you: Private Mara conservancies — off-road viewing at every sighting.
The herds often begin re-crossing the Mara River southbound. Fewer vehicles, golden light, and crossings that feel like your own.
Where we place you: Kogatende camps for the southbound crossings.
Following the short rains, the herds usually begin moving south down the Serengeti’s eastern flank — big cat country with barely another vehicle in sight.
Where we place you: Namiri Plains or Loliondo private camps.
The herds typically return to the short-grass plains where the cycle began — a beautiful, uncrowded month with festive-season magic in camp.
Where we place you: Ndutu mobile camps, back in position for calving.
The Great Migration is a continuous, year-round movement of around two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. The famous Mara River crossings take place from roughly July to October in the northern Serengeti and the Maasai Mara, while the calving season runs from late January to February in the southern Serengeti.
The dramatic river crossings happen along the Mara River in the northern Serengeti (Tanzania) and the Maasai Mara (Kenya) between July and October. Staying in a camp on the river in the Kogatende or Lamai area, or in the Mara conservancies, gives you the best chance of witnessing a crossing.
Both. The herds spend most of the year in Tanzania's Serengeti, where they calve and breed, then push north into Kenya's Maasai Mara for the river crossings between July and October before returning south. A luxury migration safari can be based in either country, or combine both.
Nature can never be guaranteed, but staying multiple nights in the right area at the right time of year dramatically increases your chances. Our specialists position you in camps on the Mara River during crossing season and build in enough days to wait for the action.
Private, bespoke Great Migration safaris with NndeeAfrika are fully tailor-made — priced privately to your season, camps and length of stay. Peak crossing season (July to October) should be booked 10 to 12 months in advance.
Both watch the same river. The northern Serengeti (Kogatende and Lamai) has fewer vehicles at a sighting and camps closer to the bank, so crossings feel private; the Maasai Mara has better predator density around the herds, easier access and hot-air ballooning. If the crossing itself is the reason you are traveling, we lean Tanzania; if you want a broader Big Five trip with the crossings as one chapter, Kenya. Many of our travelers do both, flying between them in a single trip.
Plan a minimum of three nights in the river area during crossing season, and four or five if the crossing is the trip. Herds can mass at the water for a full day before moving, and a two-night stay too often means arriving the day after one and leaving the morning before the next. Days spent waiting are not wasted — the river country holds resident game and enormous predator concentrations while the herds are there.
Yes, and February is arguably the greater spectacle: hundreds of thousands of wildebeest calves are born across the season on the southern short-grass plains, with predators drawn in from every direction. Green-season rates are lower, camps quieter, and the light after a storm is the best of the year. What you trade is the river drama — the herds are hundreds of kilometers from the Mara at that point.
Once, yes — it is the only way to grasp the scale of the herds, and the one thing travelers most often name as the morning they remember. Balloon flights operate in selected parts of the Serengeti and Maasai Mara. Prices, launch areas, operating seasons, minimum ages and weight policies vary by operator, and we confirm the appropriate flight and current conditions when preparing your itinerary and four hours door to door. Balloons launch from four Serengeti areas on separate calendars — central all year, Ndutu for calving, the western corridor and the northern crossing sector from July to October — so a flight over the river country is possible in crossing season, at a premium. The one real cost is that day's morning game drive. On a tight budget an extra night beside the river is the better buy.
Ten to twelve months ahead for July to October. The riverside camps in the north hold very few tents between them, and the good ones are committed a year out — a traveler enquiring in April for that August is choosing from what is left rather than what is best. Calving season in February is easier, but three to six months is still sensible.
Private Great Migration journeys from USD 12,000 per person. Based on two guests sharing; final pricing depends on season, camps, private guiding, internal flights and itinerary length. International flights are excluded.