ITanzania · Kenya — Serengeti–Mara ecosystem
The Great Migration
Over a million wildebeest and zebra trace an ancient circuit through the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara — the largest overland movement of animals on Earth.
It begins with rain. The herds follow the green growth in a continuous loop: calving season on the southern Ndutu plains from December to March, a westward drift through April and May, the Grumeti River crossings of the western corridor in June and July — and then, from July to October, the Mara River crossings the documentaries are made of.
There is no single best month, because the migration is not an event you book. It is a place you intercept. Where the herds stand in June is unrecognisable from September; the river crossings are a narrow, unpredictable window that even the best guides can only promise as a probability.
Calving Dec–Mar · Grumeti crossings Jun–Jul · Mara River Jul–Oct
When to catch the migration →
