Safari journal

Everything here is written by the people who run the trips. Guides, drivers and planners who were in the park last week. We publish when there is something worth saying, which means fewer articles than a content calendar would produce and none of them written to fill a slot.

Most of it answers what guests actually ask us. When gorilla permits go on sale. What the Mara looks like in April. Whether a six year old will cope with a long day in a vehicle.

20 August 20268 minute read

Uganda or Kenya for a first safari?

Choose Kenya for classic open-plains game viewing and easier logistics. Choose Uganda if the trip is built around mountain gorillas and forest primates. Kenya costs far more per park day; Uganda costs far more per headline activity.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

16 August 20267 minute read

Kenya or Tanzania for the Great Migration?

Tanzania for most of the year — the Serengeti holds the herds through calving, the westward move and the push north. Kenya's Masai Mara comes into its own from roughly August to October, when the Mara River is the herds' primary water source.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

13 August 20267 minute read

Amboseli: elephants under Kilimanjaro

Amboseli's elephants and Kilimanjaro are a package deal: water from the mountain is understood to surface in the basin as permanent swamps, holding big herds in open country all year. The mountain itself is usually only clear at dawn and in the last hour of light.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

7 August 20268 minute read

Serengeti or Masai Mara: which one, and when

They are one ecosystem split by a border, so the wildlife is broadly the same. Take the Masai Mara for a short trip and the August-to-October river months; take the Serengeti for scale, the calving season and a longer itinerary.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

7 July 20269 minute read

The East Africa Tourist Visa, explained

The East Africa Tourist Visa is a single US$100 visa covering Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda for 90 days, with multiple entries between them. Tanzania is not included. You must enter first through the country whose portal issued it, and leaving the three-country bloc cancels it.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

3 July 20267 minute read

The best time to visit Kenya on safari

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.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

A road through the East African countryside

22 April 20267 minute read

Which vaccinations do you need for East Africa?

Yellow fever is the one with a legal requirement attached. Everything else is medical advice from a travel clinic, ideally six to eight weeks before you fly.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

Open conservancy grassland in the greater Mara

25 March 20266 minute read

Masai Mara reserve or a private conservancy: which should you book?

The reserve has the river crossings and lower nightly rates. The conservancies cap vehicles at a sighting and allow night drives and walking. For most travellers, the answer is one of each.

By Nuwagaba Michael

11 March 20266 minute read

The Great Migration month by month: where the herds actually are

The migration is a continuous clockwise loop through the Serengeti and Mara, not an event. February for calving in the south, July to October for the northern river crossings.

By The Mnyansio safari desk

Reading this because you are actually going

Tell us roughly what you have in mind and the person who wrote half of these will answer you.

Plan your safari

Safari journal

Articles tagged Kenya

Uganda or Kenya for a first safari?

Kenya or Tanzania for the Great Migration?

Amboseli: elephants under Kilimanjaro

Serengeti or Masai Mara: which one, and when

The East Africa Tourist Visa, explained

The best time to visit Kenya on safari

Which vaccinations do you need for East Africa?

Masai Mara reserve or a private conservancy: which should you book?

The Great Migration month by month: where the herds actually are

Reading this because you are actually going