Kenya & Masai Mara

When to Go

July to October — the migration, and peak everything. Dry, warm days in the mid to high twenties Celsius, cold dawns on the Mara at around 1,650 metres, thin grass and concentrated game. Herds arrive through July, work the Mara and Talek rivers in August and September and drift south in October. Best game viewing of the year across Kenya — and also when the reserve is fullest, rates peak and the good conservancy camps sell out a year ahead.

November to mid-December — the short rains, and a real window. Four to six weeks of afternoon showers rather than all-day rain. Grass greens, migrant birds pour in, plains game stays put, rates fall sharply and vehicle numbers collapse. A few remote Laikipia camps close, and heavy showers turn black-cotton tracks miserable. From about 20 December, festive rates and full camps.

January to March — hot, dry and consistently underrated. The dry spell between the two rains, daytime temperatures from the high twenties into the low thirties, game concentrating on permanent water. February is typically the driest month in the Mara and the best of the three. No migration, but resident lion, cheetah and elephant are all there, the reserve is quiet July to October. This is where the value sits.

Late March to June — the long rains and the green season. The heavy rains run from mid-March to May, April the wettest and the only genuinely difficult month: tracks turn impassable, some camps close for maintenance and light-aircraft schedules thin. In exchange, the greenest landscape of the year, exceptional birding and rates at their floor. June's last two weeks buy near-dry conditions at shoulder rates.

The one-month answer. If a client wants the crossings, give them September: herds settled in the Mara and still moving between banks, grass at its shortest, less pressure on camps than August. If they are not fixed on the migration, give them February — the same predators, a fraction of the vehicles.