Wildebeest lining up to cross the Mara river

14 days, Kenya and Tanzania

14-Day Kenya and Tanzania Migration

The Mara river from both banks, the northern Serengeti, Seronera and the Ngorongoro crater floor

Duration: 14 days, 13 nights
Group size: 2 to 6 guests
Physical demand: Moderate
From: $12,800

About this safari

The Mara river is a border as well as a river, and the herds cross it in both directions depending on the month and on rain that nobody can forecast. Camping on only one bank is a gamble. This route puts you four nights on the Kenyan side above the Mara Triangle and three nights at Kogatende on the Tanzanian side, which covers the same stretch of water from both ends and roughly doubles your chances of standing at a crossing point when something happens.

What we will not do is promise you a crossing. The herds move on grass and weather, a crossing can build for six hours and then dissolve, and any operator guaranteeing one is selling you something they do not control. What this route does guarantee is time: nine nights spread along the migration corridor between late June and October, with guides who spend the season on that river. After the north you drop south to Seronera for the resident lion and leopard, which are there in every month regardless of where the herds are, and finish with a full day on the Ngorongoro crater floor.

Rated moderate for the transfers rather than for any walking. Day six crosses an international border by three separate aircraft and takes most of the day, and the Serengeti to Ngorongoro leg is four to five hours on corrugated gravel. The crater rim sits at about 2,300 metres and the nights up there are cold. Nothing on this trip requires you to be fit, but several days require you to be patient.

Highlights

Four nights above the Mara Triangle, where off-road driving is banned and vehicle numbers at a sighting are enforced
Three nights at Kogatende on the Tanzanian bank, with the Lamai wedge and the northern crossing points
The same stretch of the Mara river worked from both countries, which is what a single-camp trip cannot do
Resident lion prides and one of Africa’s highest leopard densities in the Seronera valley
A full day on the Ngorongoro crater floor, with a fair chance of black rhino
The Moru kopjes, with a resident lion pride and Maasai rock paintings under an overhang
Guides who work the river through the whole season rather than rotating in for a week
Dawn balloon flights available over both the Mara and the Serengeti, as optional extras

Day by day

01
Arrive in Nairobi
Met at Jomo Kenyatta and driven out to the Karen side of the city, forty minutes on a clear run and longer in the evening. Nothing is scheduled beyond dinner and sleep, because tomorrow starts with a domestic flight. Your Kenya guide comes to the hotel to introduce himself and go through the first week.
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Hemingways Nairobi
- Dinner
02
Fly west to the Mara Triangle
The morning flight from Wilson takes about an hour and may touch two other airstrips before yours. You land on the Oloololo escarpment and descend into the Triangle for the first afternoon drive, which takes twenty-five minutes of switchbacks and is worth doing slowly. The Triangle is the third of the reserve west of the river, managed separately, and it is where the crossings on the Kenyan side happen.
- Nairobi to the Mara Triangle, Kenya
- Angama Mara
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
A full day at the river crossing points
Out before first light with a packed breakfast, down to the river and then a long wait, because that is what this is. Herds build on the bank for hours, then turn away, then come back. Your guide will be in radio contact with other vehicles along the river and will move you if something starts building at a different point. When it happens it takes minutes.
- Mara river, Masai Mara National Reserve
- Angama Mara
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
The Triangle floor and the escarpment
A day away from the river for the cats. The Triangle holds resident lion prides that are habituated to vehicles without being harassed by them, cheetah on the open ground toward the border, and leopard in the riverine bush. Off-road driving is not permitted here and the number of vehicles at a sighting is enforced, which is why the animals behave the way they do. Late afternoon there is a walk on the escarpment ridge with a Maasai guide.
- Mara Triangle and the Oloololo escarpment, Kenya
- Angama Mara
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Balloon at dawn, then back to the river
The balloon lifts off from the Triangle floor before sunrise and lands about an hour later for breakfast in the grass, and from the basket you see the shape of the herds in a way you never do from a vehicle. The rest of the day is spent back at the river, because five days here means you can afford to spend three of them waiting.
- Mara Triangle, Masai Mara National Reserve
- Angama Mara
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Kenya to Tanzania, three aircraft and a border
A transfer day and there is no way to make it a short one. The Mara to Wilson leg is about an hour, the cross-city transfer to Jomo Kenyatta needs ninety minutes in traffic, and the flight to Kilimanjaro takes another hour with immigration at the far end. You are at Arusha for a late afternoon and a proper bed at 1,400 metres. Your Tanzanian guide meets you at the lodge before dinner.
- Masai Mara to Nairobi and Arusha, Tanzania
- Arusha Coffee Lodge
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
07
North to Kogatende and the Tanzanian bank
The morning aircraft from Arusha to Kogatende in the far north of the Serengeti takes about two hours, usually with one stop. From the strip it is a short transfer to camp on the Mara river. The afternoon drive goes straight to the river to find where the herds are sitting, which is the piece of information the next three days are built around.
- Arusha to Kogatende, northern Serengeti
- Sayari Camp
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
08
The Mara river from the south side
The northern Serengeti has a fraction of the vehicles the Kenyan side carries, and the crossing points here are spread over a long stretch of river, so a morning can be spent alone at a bank with several thousand wildebeest deciding whether to commit. Crocodile sit in the pools below the crossings and do not need to hurry. Between crossings the woodland holds elephant, and the kopjes hold lion.
- Mara river, northern Serengeti
- Sayari Camp
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
09
A full day in the Lamai wedge
The Lamai wedge is the ground between the Mara river and the Kenyan border, and it is the last of the Serengeti before the Mara begins. Herds hold here for weeks at a time and the resident predators do very well out of it. A full day with a picnic lets you cover the wedge properly, and the light on the kopjes in the last hour is the reason photographers ask for this camp specifically.
- Lamai wedge, northern Serengeti
- Sayari Camp
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
10
South to Seronera and the central valley
A morning drive, then the short flight from Kogatende down to Seronera, which takes under an hour and shows you the scale of the park on the way. The central Serengeti is a different proposition from the north: sausage trees along the watercourse, resident prides that never leave, and leopard at a density few places match. The afternoon drive works the valley.
- Kogatende to Seronera, Serengeti National Park
- Dunia Camp
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
11
Moru kopjes and the southern plains
South-west to Moru, granite outcrops standing out of the grass with their own lion pride, a protected rhino population and Maasai rock paintings on a sheltered overhang, along with the gong rock that rings when struck. It is a full day and the drive out is as good as the destination. Cheetah work the open ground on the way back in the late afternoon.
- Moru kopjes, Serengeti National Park
- Dunia Camp
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
12
Out through Naabi Hill to the crater rim
East across the short grass plains, through Naabi Hill Gate where you climb the kopje while the paperwork is done, and on into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Four to five hours on corrugated gravel with the Olduvai Gorge turning on the way. The road climbs into cloud forest and out onto the rim at around 2,300 metres, and the camp on the flank of Olmoti is another twenty minutes north of that.
- Serengeti to the Ngorongoro highlands, Tanzania
- The Highlands
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
13
A full day on the crater floor
An early start because the camp is about an hour from the descent gate and the floor is at its best in the first three hours. Roughly 260 square kilometres inside walls six hundred metres high, holding a resident population that mostly does not leave, which is why you can see lion, elephant, buffalo and black rhino in a single morning. Lunch is a picnic at the Ngoitokitok springs, and you climb out mid afternoon.
- Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
- The Highlands
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
14
Down to Manyara airstrip and the flight out
A slow breakfast on the rim, then the drive down the escarpment to Lake Manyara airstrip, which takes about two hours and gives you the rift wall one last time. The flight to Arusha or Kilimanjaro takes under an hour. If you are carrying on to Zanzibar rather than flying home, this is the day the extension picks you up.
- Ngorongoro to Manyara and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- Departure day, no accommodation
- Breakfast, Lunch

What is included

All internal and cross-border flights: Wilson to the Mara, the Mara to Kilimanjaro, Arusha to Kogatende, Kogatende to Seronera and Manyara to Arusha
Thirteen nights on full board at the camps named in the itinerary, or comparable properties
All game drives in a private vehicle, open-sided in Kenya and pop-top extended in Tanzania
Masai Mara National Reserve, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area entry fees for the days shown
The Ngorongoro crater descent vehicle fee, which is charged per vehicle per day
House drinks at the Mara and northern Serengeti camps, including beer, wine and soft drinks with meals
A Maasai boma visit arranged directly with the neighbouring family
Airport meet and greet in Nairobi and at Kilimanjaro, and all road transfers
Bottled water in the vehicles daily and packed breakfasts and lunches on the full-day drives
All conservancy levies, concession fees and government taxes

What is not included

International flights, usually best booked into Nairobi and out of Kilimanjaro
Kenya electronic travel authorisation and the Tanzania visa, both arranged before you travel
Travel insurance, including medical evacuation by air from the bush airstrips
The balloon flights over the Mara and the Serengeti, each charged separately per person
Drinks at the Nairobi and Arusha hotels, and champagne or premium spirits anywhere
Tips for your guides, the spotters, the camp teams and the airport representatives
Zanzibar, which runs as a separate six-day extension from Arusha or Kilimanjaro
Laundry, spa treatments, telephone and anything else charged to your account