Late June to October is the strongest window: it is the Serengeti-Mara dry season, and the herds depend on the Mara River from August to October. January and February run a close second, cost half as much in Mara entry fees and sit outside high season. April and May fall in the long rains.
Late June to October is the strongest window for a Kenyan safari. It is the dry season across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, and the migratory wildebeest depend on the Mara River as their primary water source from August to October. January and February — the gap between Kenya's two rain seasons — run a close second, cost half as much in Masai Mara entry fees, and fall outside the county's high season. April and May sit inside both the Kenya Meteorological Department's long rains and the ecosystem's wet season, which makes them the least reliable months to plan weather around.
The Kenya Meteorological Department recognises two: the long rains in March, April and May (MAM), and the short rains in October, November and December (OND).
KMD does not treat those seasons as calendar fixtures. It declares onset against measured rainfall — for the MAM 2025 season, a wet spell of at least 20 mm over three consecutive days, with a lower 10 mm threshold in northern Kenya, and no dry spell of more than seven days afterwards — and publishes expected onset dates region by region. For Kwale County in 2025, for example, KMD expected onset between 25 March and 5 April. So "the rains start in March" is a climatology, not a date, and it moves.
For the Mara there is a tighter figure. Peer-reviewed work on the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem describes a single wet season from November to May and a dry season from June to October, and that split is what drives the migration. That dry season is the researchers' finding, not KMD's: KMD publishes only the two rain seasons.
One honest caveat. No Kenyan meteorological authority publishes park-by-park dry-season months for Amboseli, Tsavo, Laikipia or Samburu; anyone giving you those to the week is quoting a travel-climate aggregator, not a met service.
| Period | Rain pattern | What it suits | Masai Mara entry fee (non-resident adult) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January - February | Between KMD's two rain seasons | Game viewing outside both rain seasons at the low-season fee; next door, the southern Serengeti calving window falls between January and March, February the usual peak — no authority publishes a calving month | USD 100 per day (low season) |
| March - May | KMD long rains (MAM) | Green landscapes, birding and the low-season fee; black cotton soil roads can be difficult, and April and May are the least reliable months to plan weather around | USD 100 per day (low season) |
| June | Transition into the ecosystem's dry season | Drying out and thinning grass; the collar-derived northward transition window, median 6 May to 29 June, falls here | USD 100 per day (low season ends 30 June) |
| July - October | Serengeti-Mara dry season | The ecosystem's driest months; the herds depend on the Mara River from August to October, and the high-season fee applies from 1 July | USD 200 per day (high season) |
| November - December | KMD short rains (OND) | Rain returns and the country greens up; CMS describes the herds migrating south again as the rains return by November | USD 200 per day (high season) |
Masai Mara fees are set by Narok County Government, not by Kenya Wildlife Service. The seasonal split above is the county's own definition — high season July to December, low season January to June — set by the Narok County Finance Act 2023, which raised the non-resident adult rate from a flat USD 80. Narok's Finance Bill 2024 proposed no change, and no later county act revising the Mara schedule has been published, so we confirm the current figure when we quote you.
August to October is the defensible answer. The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species describes the Mara River as the herds' primary water source across those months, and it is the only permanently flowing river in the ecosystem. Roughly 1.3 million migratory wildebeest are involved, and CMS is explicit that seasonal rainfall drives the movement — there is no fixed annual schedule.
The closest thing to a timetable comes from GPS collar data covering 62 animals over 1999 to 2022. It gives a median northward transition window of 6 May to 29 June, averaging 38 days, and a median southward transition of 10 October to 2 November, averaging 41 days. Those are multi-week windows, not dates. Individual route lengths range from 44.3 km to 224.7 km, averaging 131.9 km, which is why "where the herds are" is a broad front rather than a pin on a map.
The windows also move with the weather. Research on rainfall extremes in the ecosystem found that an unusually wet wet season lengthens occupancy of the southern plains and delays the northward move, while drought suppresses forage and brings it forward, and that excess dry-season rain in the north delays the southward return.
On river crossings, be careful who you believe. No government agency, park authority or research body publishes crossing dates, and the crossings are not tracked as discrete events at all. Any month-by-month crossing calendar you see, including ours, is operator observation. Worse, the river itself is becoming less reliable: in the seven years before CMS reported it in 2024, discharge meters recorded the first no-flow episodes on record in the Mara River, and CMS states these are becoming more frequent and longer. We will position you well and give you the days to be patient. We will not sell you a crossing.
For the fuller picture across both countries, see our month-by-month migration guide and our Great Migration experience page.
Materially, yes — and the biggest saving is a government fee, not a discount anyone can withhold. In the Masai Mara, a non-resident adult pays USD 200 per person per day from July to December and USD 100 from January to June. For a couple on four Mara days, that alone is a USD 800 difference. Children aged 9 to 17 pay USD 50 per day in both seasons; children of eight and under are free.
Vehicles are billed separately by Narok County in shillings, from KES 1,000 for under six seats to KES 4,500 for twenty-five to forty-four, per vehicle per day.
One timing rule matters more than people expect. The Narok County Finance Act 2023 defines a Mara park entry fee as covering entry "from (6.00am - 6.00pm) time of entry notwithstanding". The ticket expires at 18:00 whatever time you entered, so an afternoon arrival burns a full day's fee. It is a real argument for full-day drives and deliberate arrival and departure days.
Kenya Wildlife Service parks work differently. Their fees are set by The Wildlife Conservation and Management (Access, Entry and Conservation) (Fees) Regulations, 2025 — Legal Notice No. 160 of 2025, Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 161, which commenced on 22 September 2025, with KWS applying the new fees from 1 October 2025. A KWS daily fee is valid for up to 24 hours rather than expiring at a fixed hour.
| Park | KWS category | Non-resident adult, per day |
|---|---|---|
| Amboseli, Lake Nakuru | Premium | USD 90 |
| Nairobi National Park | Urban | USD 80 (park, orphanage and safari walk package USD 105) |
| Tsavo East, Tsavo West | Wilderness A | USD 80 |
| Meru, Kora, Aberdare | Wilderness B | USD 70 |
| Mount Kenya | Mountain | USD 70 |
| Hell's Gate, Longonot, Shimba Hills and other scenic parks | Scenic | USD 50 |
KWS also sells multi-park packages that beat paying separately: Tsavo West plus Amboseli at USD 150 per adult, and Tsavo East plus Tsavo West plus Amboseli at USD 215. The KWS schedule carries no VAT statement at all, so we confirm the final payable figure rather than assuming.
Two things are not on any published schedule. Mara private conservancy fees are set commercially per conservancy and usually bundled into the camp rate; neither the conservancies nor the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association publishes a rate card, so we get the figure in writing from the camp before quoting, and our note on choosing between the reserve and a conservancy explains the trade-off. Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba are county-run rather than KWS and priced under their own county acts.
April and May, if reliable weather is what you are buying. They sit inside KMD's long rains and, in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, inside the wet season. Roads deteriorate and some camps close. The herds are also likely to be further south: the collar-derived northward transition has a median start of 6 May, and Mara occupancy months are operator observation rather than a figure published by Kenya Wildlife Service, Narok County or peer-reviewed work. The upside is real — green country, dramatic light, few other vehicles and the low-season Mara fee. If those matter more to you than settled weather, April and May are a trade, not a mistake.
The other thing to plan around is not weather at all. July to October is peak season on Narok County's own fee schedule, and the small camps in and around the reserve are limited in size. If those months matter to you, treat camp availability as the binding constraint and secure it before you fix anything else.
Not the rules, but it affects your margin for error. Kenya no longer issues tourist visas: since January 2024 the Electronic Travel Authorisation has replaced them, applied for at etakenya.go.ke, with no eTA issued on arrival. The Directorate of Immigration Services processes applications within three working days and advises applying at least 72 hours before travel. The standard fee starts at USD 30, with an optional expedited service at an additional USD 100. An approved eTA is valid for 90 days from issuance as a window in which to enter Kenya — the length of stay is set by the immigration officer at the border.
Two exemptions are worth knowing. Under Legal Notice No. 93 of 30 May 2025, nationals of almost every African country are exempt from the eTA, with Somalia and Libya the only exclusions. Holders of a previously issued East Africa Tourist Visa are also exempt. On health, Kenya's Ministry of Health requires a yellow fever certificate only from travellers arriving from countries where yellow fever is endemic. For anything medical, speak to a travel clinic and check the Ministry of Health's own guidance — we are not qualified to advise on it.
If this is a first Kenyan safari and the migration is the point, aim at late July through October and accept the price and the pressure on camps. If you want the same country at half the reserve fee and outside the county's high season, take January or February. If you are pairing Kenya with the Serengeti, the calendar shifts again — our Kenya and Tanzania migration itinerary is built around that overlap.
Every fee and season here is revised on its own authority's schedule — KWS by gazette, Narok County by finance act, KMD by season — so we check the current position before we quote. Tell us your dates and what you want to see, and we will tell you honestly whether the month works: start with plan your safari, or just get in touch.
Safari planning team
The planning team answers permit, timing and logistics questions every day, and writes up the answers that come back most often. Everything published here is checked against current park authority rates and the routes our own vehicles drive.
