Masai Mara Safari
Kenya’s greatest wildlife destination with its exceptional game viewing year-round, and when the Migration arrives, offers something truly unforgettable.
A Masai Mara Safari
The Masai Mara offers breathtaking panoramic vistas, wide-open plains, an authentic safari destination, and you will not find a greater abundance of wildlife anywhere else in Africa. Witness over a million wildebeests and zebra litter the plains of the Masai Mara from July or August to October when the Great Wildebeest Migration enters Kenya. The Masai Mara is Kenya’s premier safari destination, located in the southwest of the country and bordering Tanzania’s vast Serengeti National Park.
The Masai Mara is a photographic safari paradise with fantastic, easy-to-spot wildlife spread through the open savannah plains. Expect to see incredible big cat sightings with impressive lion prides, coalitions of cheetah up to five strong, and leopards making frequent appearances. Elephants, hippos, crocodiles, plains game like impala, topi, giraffe, zebra, other herbivores, and endangered black rhino, who, like the predators, can all be seen throughout the year.
Why Go on a Masai Mara Safari?
Perfect for first-time safari-goers, seasoned safari lovers, romantic getaways and family fun holidays, the Masai Mara delivers many attractions. Game viewing, if we have not said already, is fantastic and available all year through. The predator density is exceptional: you are likely to see lions on almost every drive, cheetah sightings are regular, and leopards, though more elusive, are regularly encountered. The Wildebeest Migration is a spectacle we should all witness at least once in our life and you can interact and learn about the custodians of the land, the Maasai people.
Kenya is very easy to get to from anywhere in the world and offers a world-class vacation experience. Combine Bush and Beach or extend to the Serengeti, Victoria Falls and South Africa.
The Great Wildebeest Migration in the Masai Mara
Each year, approximately 1.5 million wildebeest and several hundred thousand zebra complete a continuous loop through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in search of fresh grazing. The great wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara comes through the plains from late July through to October. The vast herds of migrating wildebeest and zebra can arrive early or late, stay for a while, or months, it all depends on the rainfall. While there is no set arrival date you can generally start to see the front runners from the beginning of July. By August the herds have crossed over the Serengeti border into the Masai Mara and surrounding conservancies, numbering over a million animals.
By October the herds have started south again, over the Mara River and into the Northern Serengeti. They continue south to the Ndutu Plains in the Serengeti to calve in February, before starting their journey north. And so the cycle continues. If you are lucky, you will see a dramatic river crossing.
The Mara River crossings are the most dramatic moments of the Migration. The herds gather on the bank, mill and hesitate, and then suddenly commit, plunging into the river in a chaotic surge while crocodiles wait in the water below. The crossings are entirely unpredictable; there is no schedule and no guarantee, but positioning yourself in the right camp during the peak weeks of August and September gives you an excellent chance of witnessing one.
KENYA Safari Ideas
Exceptional year round game viewing, predator rich and of course, the migration
Plan Your Masai Mara Safari
Each season in Kenya’s Masai Mara delivers a different safari experience. With the common thread of excellent lodges and fantastic hospitality. Get in touch to chat about what time of year is best for you.
The Masai Mara Private Conservancies
A Masai Mara safari to a private conservancy ensures that you are one of a limited number of guests allowed in as numbers are strictly controlled. Unless you are staying in a safari lodge in that conservancy, you cannot go on game drives on the land. Activities within the Masai Mara Conservancies are far more varied than just the driving allowed in the national reserve. Enjoy and an immersive bushwalk and go on a night drive. Bush breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are allowed out in the wilds and a few camps offer mountain biking trips.
Safari lodges are smaller and more intimate, adhering to the restrictions of people per square kilometre. Staying in a lodge in a conservancy gives you the option to drive into the main Masai Mara National Reserve, however these are seldom required as the game viewing excellent no matter where you stay. Drives in the reserve do take place during the wildebeest migration season when the hopes of the herds crossing the Mara River require you to drive a bit further afield.
There are 15 conservancies in the Greater Masai Mara, covering roughly the same size of area as the Masai Mara National Reserve. Various tourism partners and international investors have come together to work with the local communities, by purchasing long-term leases on land, and providing training, education, and village support. Currently, there are plots of land from over 15000 landowners in the Masai Mara Conservancies model, who all receive a monthly income from the lease of their land. Guides are employed from the local communities along with managers and other camp staff. Some safari lodges employ over 90% of their staff from the community who leased their land to the lodge.
Meeting the Maasai
The Maasai people have been the custodians of the lands of the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem for generations, and a safari here offers genuine opportunities to learn about their culture and way of life. The private conservancy model has allowed the surrounding villages to become landowners in the safari tourism space, by leasing land to lodges. The growth of safari tourism in the Mara has brought the Maasai into the industry in significant numbers: they work as guides, camp managers, trackers, and community liaisons, and many of the finest guides in the Mara are Maasai men and women who have combined their deep knowledge of the land with formal guide training.
Most camps in the conservancies offer village visits where guests can spend time with a local Maasai community, observe traditional practices, and understand how the conservancy model has changed the relationship between the community and the wildlife on their land. These visits are worth doing, and we recommend choosing a camp that approaches them thoughtfully and with genuine community engagement rather than as a perfunctory add-on.
Combining the Masai Mara with Other Destinations
A quick visit to the Mara for a few nights is great for those already in the country. Longer safaris are planned for those who are coming for one reason only, to see the wild animals and big cats! You could spend 6 -8 nights at 2 very different parts of the greater Masai Mara. We love to pair a private conservancy with the National Reserve, the terrain is different and so is the experience. The most popular Kenya Safari area are listed here.
Masai Mara safari combinations include the Amboseli National Park, home to huge herds of elephants and the iconic views of Mt Kilimanjaro, or Samburu National Park with its completely different landscape and home to endemic species found nowhere else in southern Kenya, including the reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, and the long-necked gerenuk.
Visit some of the last remaining black and white rhino in the Laikipia region, and track on foot with conservation patrols. Laikipia is home to a vast array of private reserves that offer an incredible safari experience and a very different, more rugged safari character. Go flamingo searching in the Great Lakes of Kenya like Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha or stay in the middle of Nairobi in the Nairobi National Park. A Bush and Beach safari combo is also very popular.
Contact us to chat about your Masai Mara Safari
Planning a safari to Kenya? Get in touch and we will build an itinerary around exactly what you are looking for
Frequently Asked Questions about the Masai Mara
When is the best time to visit the Masai Mara?
For the Great Wildebeest Migration river crossings, July to October is the window to aim for, with August and September typically the most active months. For general game viewing and predator sightings without the peak season crowds and rates, November through February is an excellent alternative. April and May bring the long rains and are the period we least recommend for a first visit, although more and more camps are remaining open during this time and there are deals to be had.
Is the Masai Mara suitable for families?
Yes, the Mara is one of Kenya’s best family safari destinations. The density of wildlife means that children rarely go long between sightings, the open plains are easy to scan, and many camps have family accommodation and programmes tailored to younger guests. We recommend conservancy camps for families with older children, as the additional activities available there add considerable variety. For younger children, a national reserve lodge with a pool and more structured facilities may be the better fit. Please get in touch and we will advise on the right option for your family.
What is the difference between the national reserve and the conservancies?
The national reserve is public land and open to all. There is a wide range of accommodation at various price points. Game drives are the only activity permitted, and there is no restriction on vehicle numbers at sightings. You are also only allowed on drive during day light hours. The private conservancies operate much like similar places in Kruger Park or Okavango Delta – restricted number of vehicles on sightings, smaller camps and more activities including walking safaris and night drives.
How do I get to the Masai Mara?
The vast majority of safaris to the Mara are fly-in trips, using the light aircraft network from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport. Flights take approximately 45 minutes and connect to the various airstrips across the Mara and its conservancies. Combining Samburu, Laikipia, Amboseli, and the Kenyan coast is an option, with a circular route from Wilson north then down to Masai Mara, or you route back through Wilson.  Road safaris are also possible and work well when combined with the Rift Valley lakes.
How far in advance should I book for the Migration?
For the peak Migration season between July and October, we recommend booking nine to twelve months in advance. The best conservancy camps have limited capacity and fill up well ahead of time, particularly for August and September. If you have a specific travel window in mind, please get in touch as early as possible and we will check availability and secure the right camps for you.
Can I see the Big Five in the Masai Mara?
Lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and black rhino are all present in the Greater Mara ecosystem. Black rhino sightings are less common than in dedicated rhino conservancies such as Lewa or Ol Pejeta, but the Mara does support a small population and sightings do occur. For guests for whom rhino is a priority, we would recommend combining the Mara with Laikipia, where rhino tracking on foot is a core activity.
