Great Migration Safaris

The circuit’s starting point: half a million calves born on the short-grass plains in a few weeks — and the predators arrive with them.

The long rains push the columns — up to 25 miles long — through the Seronera Valley toward the Western Corridor.

The first river test: crocodile-guarded channels of the Grumeti, best watched from the private Grumeti Reserve’s quiet banks.

The famous plunge: thousands crossing at a time beneath waiting crocodiles. The herds shuttle between Kogatende and the Mara all season.

The short rains call the herds back down the eastern woodlands to Ndutu — where the circle begins again.

May–July · western Serengeti corridor

July–October · northern Serengeti & Maasai Mara

Peak season — the Mara River crossings in the northern Serengeti and Maasai Mara. The most dramatic and most sought-after window.

Calving season in the southern Serengeti — half a million calves born, and intense big-cat predator action on the plains.

The Grumeti crossings and the rut in the western corridor — fewer travelers and excellent value.

The best riverside camps in crossing season sell out 10–12 months ahead. Secure dates as early as you can.

Allow at least 3–4 nights in the crossing area — crossings can't be scheduled, so time is your best ally.

Fly into Kilimanjaro (JRO) for the Serengeti or Nairobi (NBO) for the Mara; light aircraft reach the migration airstrips.

Private, all-inclusive migration safaris, fully tailor-made to your dates and camps.

Eight tented rooms and a spacious family suite that move with the season — the Kogatende hills for the crossings, the private Maswa reserve beside the southern calving grounds. Every stay includes a private guide and vehicle.

Glass-fronted tented suites with private plunge pools, set among the Wogakuria kopjes within reach of the Kogatende crossing points — the river a short drive out rather than on the doorstep. Comfort-first for July–October; for a bank-side base, Governors’ Il Moran below.

Mobility with unusual comfort — vast tents, a private hot tub on each deck and a dedicated butler. Based in the central Serengeti and moving south to the calving plains (Dec–Mar) as the herds gather; for the Mara River crossings its sister camp up at Kogatende is the one to take.

Six tents on the bank of the Mara River in the Lamai wedge, in the quietest corner of the northern Serengeti. The crossings happen within earshot rather than a drive away, and Singita’s guiding and wine cellar are among the best on the continent. Small, and booked far ahead for July–October.

Sasakwa, Faru Faru and Sabora sit on a 350,000-acre private concession bordering the western Serengeti, where the herds pass on their way north around June and July. No other vehicles but your own, off-road driving permitted, and a level of service that has few equals in Africa.

Set above a rocky gorge on a private reserve bordering the southern calving grounds — stone, glass and canvas suites over the Arugusinyai River. Off-road driving, night drives and walking that the national park cannot offer, with the Ndutu herds within reach from December to March.

One Nature’s all-villa camp in the northern Serengeti — seven villas with sweeping savannah views, thirty minutes from Kogatende airstrip and front-row for the Mara River crossings.

Below the Nyaruswiga hills in the central Serengeti, where resident game and the Seronera prides stay put all year. Useful as the steady half of a route — a permanent, comfortable base paired with a few nights in a mobile camp wherever the herds happen to be.

Fifteen tents among kopjes in the quiet Nanyukie area east of Seronera, where lion and leopard are resident year-round and the crowds are not. Open all year, and an easy pairing with the calving plains in February.

Asilia’s camp on the eastern plains, closed to visitors for twenty years to let the cheetah population recover — which is why this is the best cheetah ground in the Serengeti. Not on the crossing route, but superb in calving season, when the herds spread within reach and the predators follow.

A permanent canvas camp beneath the acacias of the Lamai Wedge, north of the Mara River — front-row for the crossings, split into two independent halves so one side can be taken for exclusive use. Eight tents plus a two-room family suite.

Legendary Expeditions’ intimate camp in Nyasirori, the Serengeti’s remote western corridor near the Grumeti River — big lion prides, superb year-round game and Grumeti-crossing drama in May–July. Just five tents plus one family tent.

The permanent Bushtops in the north — among the largest tented suites in the Serengeti, each with a private deck and wood-fired hot tub, attended around the clock. Within reach of the Mara River in crossing season while sitting well away from the centre’s traffic; the river is a morning excursion rather than a walk.

Asilia’s flagship, minutes from the busiest Kogatende crossing points with the Mara River in view from camp. Contemporary tented suites, a solar micro-brewery and some of the sharpest guiding in the north — booked out far ahead for July–October.

Nomad’s lodge built into the Kogakuria kopjes above the Lamai wedge — rooms folded among the boulders with the crossing grounds spread below. The quietest corner of crossing country, with Nomad’s signature guiding.

An intimate mobile camp that relocates through the year to stay beside the migration — placing you in the very heart of the action as it unfolds across the Serengeti.

A seasonal tented camp that moves four times a year, chasing the herds from the south’s calving grounds to the northern river crossings — vintage safari romance.

Renowned for some of the finest guiding in Tanzania, this mobile camp shadows the migration year-round with just six tents and a genuine wilderness feel.

Asilia’s light-footed camp moves between the Ndutu calving grounds and the northern Mara River — tents open to the stars for nights beneath the Serengeti sky.

The original camp on the Mara River — in prime game country at the heart of the reserve since 1972, with elephant wandering through camp and the crossings a short drive out. Larger and livelier than Il Moran, and superb value for crossing season.

On the Kenyan side, set in riverine forest beside the Mara River — a front-row base for the dramatic July–October crossings without leaving Kenya.

Asilia’s classic camp on the Talek River near its confluence with the Mara — a wildebeest crossing point sits 150 m from the dining deck, so in season you can watch a crossing from camp. Nine tents (two for families), superb Maasai guiding.

On the banks of the Sand River in the quiet far south of the reserve, styled after the golden age of safari — the herds pass through camp on their way in from the Serengeti. Sixteen canvas suites, well away from the busiest circuits.

High above the Mara Triangle with sweeping views over the crossing points — glass-fronted suites and superb guiding for the Kenyan chapter of the migration.

✓Fewest vehicles at a sighting of anywhere on the migration

✓Camps close enough to the bank to wait all morning

✓Chains naturally with Ngorongoro and the calving plains

—No off-road driving anywhere inside the national park, and balloons fly the north only from July to October

✓Extraordinary predator viewing alongside the herds

✓Hot-air ballooning at dawn over the migration

✓Conservancies allow off-road, night drives and walking safaris

—The public reserve can be busy at a crossing; conservancy camps fix this

Pick-up from camp in the dark, inflation at first light, then breakfast laid out wherever you happen to land.

Aloft, weather depending — but four hours door to door once the drive and the champagne breakfast are counted.

Per person over the Serengeti for the 2026 season; northern launch sites carry a premium, and the Maasai Mara runs nearer $450–550. Included in no safari price anywhere — we add it to your quote.

Where it actually flies

The Serengeti has four launch areas, each on its own calendar: the central Serengeti around Seronera all year, Ndutu from late December to mid-March for calving, the western corridor June to October, and the northern Serengeti July to October — so you can fly over the river country in crossing season, at a premium on the standard fare.

In Kenya the Maasai Mara flies daily and year-round over the migration country itself, for rather less money. A balloon is possible on either side, then — the only question is which morning of your route we place it on, and we will tell you which leg gives the better view for your month.

We book direct with the licensed concession holders rather than through resellers, so the seat is confirmed before you pay and the transfer is timed to your camp rather than a coach schedule.

Whether we recommend it

Usually yes, once — and not on a tight budget, where the same money buys another night beside the river, which for pure wildlife odds is the better purchase. It also costs you that morning's game drive, so it suits people who do not mind a 4am alarm.

Book it with the trip, not on arrival. For June to October the baskets go six to nine months ahead; January to March is easier at two or three. A shared basket takes up to sixteen, and private balloons need a minimum of two.

The long flight

The bush flight

A soft bag, and only one

Crossing the border

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, all-inclusive 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 travelling, we lean Tanzania; if you want a broader Big Five trip with the crossings as one chapter, Kenya. Many of our travellers 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: around 8,000 wildebeest calves are born a day 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 kilometres from the Mara at that point.

Once, yes — it is the only way to grasp the scale of the herds, and the one thing travellers most often name as the morning they remember. Reckon on $599 per person over the Serengeti for the 2026 season, or nearer $450 to $550 in the Maasai Mara, for about an hour aloft 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 traveller 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.