East Africa – Great Migration

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Each year 1.5 million wildebeest (also called gnu), 200,000 zebra, 18,000 eland (similar to an antelope) and 50,000 Thompson’s gazelle migrate from the southeastern Serengeti plains in Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya and back again down along the eastern corridor. The movement is driven by seasonal weather conditions, preferring the wet season (March – May) in the southeastern Tanzania plains and the dry season (June – October) in northwest Kenya woodlands. The animals travel as their grass supply is depleted and return to the renewed green and lush savannah in Tanzania in time for the wildebeest calving from January to March.

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Accompanying the wildebeest and other herbivores are Africa’s deadliest predators. On land, lions continually attack the herds, and in the rivers, the hungry crocodiles prove to be formidable opponents…the hyenas and vultures clean up the scraps.

While the animals are continually roaming throughout the year, the best time to witness this amazing spectacle is in July and August, when the hordes traverse the northern Serengeti, cross the Mara River and continue onto the Masai Mara.

While the migration pattern is somewhat predictable, it’s not an exact science. The game viewing at most of the lodges in Kenya and Tanzania will be fantastic in June – August (if not most of the year) but as a rule, in June and July the best migration viewing is in the Serengeti, and in August it’s north in the Mara.

Where to go depends on when you are traveling and most importantly where you can find availability as most lodges get booked a year in advance. If you are traveling to more than one lodge, I highly recommend using a safari outfitter to oversee your trip. You can book the lodges and flights on your own, but in many cases the charter flights are delayed and connections onto other charters or national carriers such as Air Kenya can be missed. If you have a local company managing the process, they ensure everything goes as seamlessly as possible. Sometimes the cost is even cheaper as a package. We use CC Africa as they are one of the best safari outfitters in Africa and own many of the top lodges. They also donate a percentage of profits to community healthcare, education, and employment projects they have founded and to ongoing conservation efforts throughout Africa.