Great Migration Safari: Mara River Crossings

Your adventure begins at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where your safari guide is waiting to greet you. From July to October, the air is dry and clear, and on the hour-long drive to Arusha you may see both Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru.

Spend the afternoon at your hotel resting and adjusting to the time difference. It is a good moment to charge camera batteries and check that your binoculars and memory cards are ready, as the next week will be busy.

At dinner, your guide explains how the safari will run, including how guides share information to track the herds in the north, and what to expect at a river crossing.

Meals: Dinner

In the dry season, Tarangire is at its very best, so the trip begins here. Leave Arusha after breakfast and drive about two hours across the Maasai Steppe to the park gate.

As the rest of the land dries out, the Tarangire River becomes a magnet for wildlife, and herds of hundreds of elephants gather along its banks. Spend the day among the baobabs watching elephants dig for water in the riverbed, and look for lions, leopards, buffalo and the rare fringe-eared oryx. Lunch is a picnic in the park.

Arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon and enjoy sundowners as elephants pass by below.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive 6–7 hrs with game viewing

Today you head for the Serengeti. The drive climbs the Rift Valley wall and passes through the cool forest of the Ngorongoro highlands, where you stop at a viewpoint looking down into the crater, a preview of the end of the trip.

Beyond the highlands, the road descends onto golden, dry-season plains. After a picnic lunch at Naabi Hill Gate, you enter the Serengeti proper and begin game viewing.

Spend the afternoon in the Seronera Valley, the heart of the central Serengeti, where the river attracts animals all year. Lions, leopards and cheetahs are all regularly seen here. Overnight in the central Serengeti before heading north tomorrow.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Enjoy an early morning game drive around Seronera, then head north. The road passes through the Lobo area, a beautiful landscape of granite kopjes and rolling hills, where lions often rest on the rocks and elephants feed in the woodland.

As you continue north towards the Kenyan border, you start to meet the migration herds spread across the hills. Stop for a picnic lunch along the way.

Arrive in the Kogatende area in the afternoon, close to the Mara River. If the herds are gathering, your guide may head straight to the river for your first chance of a crossing before you check in to your camp.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Full-day game drives

Leave camp early with a packed breakfast. Your guide talks to other guides by radio and phone to find where the herds are gathering along the river.

When a large group of wildebeest and zebra builds up on the bank, you wait quietly at a safe distance. The animals may hesitate for hours before one finally jumps, and then thousands follow in a rush of dust, splashing water and noise, while crocodiles strike and lions and hyenas wait on the far bank. Crossings can happen at any time of day, so patience is rewarded. Enjoy a picnic lunch near the river so you never have to leave.

Between crossings, look for the resident wildlife of the north: hippos in the river pools, elephants, giraffe and the lion prides that follow the herds. Return to camp in the late afternoon for sundowners and dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Full-day game drives

Another full day in the north. Start with an optional sunrise balloon flight over the river and the herds, or head out early to a different crossing point.

Depending on where the herds are, your guide may cross the river to the Lamai Wedge, a scenic area between the Mara River and the Kenyan border, or explore the Bologonja area, known for its resident big cats. Spend time at the river if the herds are building up, or search the kopjes and riverine forest for leopard and cheetah. Enjoy another picnic lunch in the bush.

Return to camp for a final evening in the north, with the sounds of the migration all around you.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive 4–5 hrs with game viewing

Spend the early morning at the river for a last chance of a crossing. After breakfast, begin the drive south through Lobo and the eastern kopjes.

Stop for a picnic lunch along the way, with game viewing as you go.

In the afternoon, explore the Seronera Valley, where leopards rest in the sausage trees and lion prides patrol the river. Check in to your lodge or camp in the central Serengeti for the night.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive 4–5 hrs with game viewing

Enjoy a final early drive around Seronera, then cross the southern plains back to Naabi Hill and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

On the way, there is time to visit the Olduvai Gorge museum, one of the most important fossil sites on earth, or stop at a Maasai boma (both optional).

Climb into the highlands and arrive at your lodge on the crater rim or in Karatu, where you can reflect on the crossings you have seen over dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Crater tour ~6 hrs · Drive 4 hrs

The last morning is spent in the Ngorongoro Crater. Descending early gives you the crater floor at its quietest, with mist lifting off Lake Magadi and animals still active.

This is the best place on your trip to see black rhino, and the crater's resident lions, elephants, buffalo and hyenas make for a rewarding final game drive. Have a picnic lunch by the hippo pool.

Drive back to Arusha in the afternoon and continue to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your evening flight. Kwa heri ya kuonana, until we meet again!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Overnight: End of tour