Maasai Mara, Kenya
Kenya's side of the migration, with more big cats per square kilometre than anywhere on earth.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28° | 15° | 81 mm | prime |
| Feb | 29° | 16° | 49 mm | prime |
| Mar | 29° | 16° | 94 mm | |
| Apr | 27° | 15° | 122 mm | |
| May | 27° | 15° | 64 mm | |
| Jun | 26° | 15° | 30 mm | |
| Jul | 27° | 14° | 10 mm | prime |
| Aug | 27° | 15° | 23 mm | prime |
| Sep | 28° | 15° | 31 mm | prime |
| Oct | 29° | 16° | 44 mm | prime |
| Nov | 28° | 15° | 114 mm | |
| Dec | 27° | 15° | 106 mm |
30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.
Cost
Serves travellers at Budget→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $450 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Migration river crossings August
Wildebeest cross into the Mara
Maasai Mara Marathon December
Community race across the plains
Worth knowing
Game drives in a 4x4 with a guide, run from your camp. Self-drive is possible in the national reserve but not in the conservancies, and you would be navigating unmarked tracks with no help if something breaks.
getting around · editorial
Nairobi first, then either a light aircraft to one of the Mara airstrips, about forty-five minutes, or five to six hours by road. Whichever you pick, the last stretch is rough track and the light aircraft option is what most people end up taking.
getting there · editorial
The migration is not a schedule. The herds arrive when they arrive and a river crossing can be days early or weeks late, so a week here guarantees nothing except a lot of animals. Mornings at 1,600 metres are cold enough for a fleece, whatever the middle of the day does.
know before · editorial
Camps bill to the room and take cards. Carry cash for tips, which are expected for guides and camp staff, and for village visits and anything bought at the roadside.
money · editorial
The long rains, roughly late March through May, make the tracks difficult and close a number of camps. The grass is also high then, which makes the cats harder to find.
when not to go · editorial
The choice is the national reserve or the conservancies around it. The reserve is where the Mara River crossings happen and where the vehicles gather. The conservancies, Mara North, Naboisho, Olare Motorogi and others, cap the number of vehicles at a sighting and permit night drives and walking, which the reserve does not. Most people split their time between the two.
where to stay · editorial
Quests
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Sekenani Gate
The eastern entrance to the reserve, the one used by everyone coming from Nairobi.
Oloololo Gate
The north-western entrance, high on the escarpment.
The Mara river
The river the wildebeest cross. Hippo and crocodile all year round.
The Oloololo escarpment
The wall that closes the plain to the west. From the top you see the whole Mara.
See
Watch the crossing of the Mara river
Eat
Drink scorched chai at camp, far too sweet
Eat nyama choma at the meal after the afternoon drive
Grilled slowly, eaten with your hands.
Drink Kenyan chai at dawn, before setting off
Strong, milky, far too sweet. That is how it is meant to be.
Moment
Go up by balloon at dawn over the savannah
Stay out on the plain until the last of the light
The hour when the predators start to move.
Spend a whole morning with one pride of lions
No chasing after the next photograph.
Watch a crossing of the Mara river
Between July and October, and even then with no guarantee at all.
Go up in a balloon at sunrise
It leaves before six. Expensive, and the plain from above is another thing entirely.
Craft
Spend an afternoon in a Maasai village on an arranged visit
Arrange it beforehand, pay what was agreed, ask before photographing.