The Great Migration is not an event — it's a year-round movement. Around 1.5 million wildebeest, 300,000 Burchell's zebra and roughly 500,000 Thompson's gazelle move in a clockwise loop driven by the rains, grazing as they go.
Discover The Great Migration
The herd is always somewhere in the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem. The question on any given month is which sector. Get the sector right, and you sleep inside the migration. Get it wrong, and you spend hours driving to find it.
Lion Whisper books mobile tented camps that move with the herd — so the wildebeest pass your tent at night, not a six-hour drive away.
Wildlife in The Great Migration
- Wildebeest, zebra and Thompson's gazelle in the millions
- Lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena tracking the herd
- Nile crocodile at the Mara and Grumeti crossings
- Vultures and marabou stork cleaning the riverbanks
Every drive is different — sightings are never guaranteed, and your guide reads the bush as you go.
Excursions and activities in The Great Migration
Dec–Mar — Calving in Ndutu (southern Serengeti / Ngorongoro Conservation Area)
8,000 calves born per day at peak. Predator action is the most intense of the entire year — every cat eats every day.
Apr–May — Western Corridor build-up
Herds congregate in the Moru and Western sectors before pushing north. Green, dramatic, low season pricing.
Jun–Jul — Grumeti River crossings
First major river to cross. Smaller crowds than the Mara, gigantic crocodiles.
Jul–Oct — Mara River crossings, Kogatende & Lamai
The iconic crossings. We position you on the cliffs above a favoured crossing point at first light.
Nov — return south
Short rains pull the herd back through Lobo. A quiet shoulder month with fantastic light.
Travel time to The Great Migration
- Sector-dependent — best reached by charter flight from Arusha.
Travel tip from our guides about The Great Migration
Don't book a 'migration tour' without checking which sector your camp is in for the month you're going. Camps in central Seronera in August are not on the migration — they're four hours from it.
How long to stay? Minimum 3 nights at a migration camp to give yourself two full game-drive days — crossings are unpredictable and a single day can yield nothing.
Best time to visit The Great Migration
Calving: Jan–Mar (Ndutu). Crossings: Jul–Oct (Kogatende / Mara River).
- Jul–early Oct is the most-photographed window because of the Mara crossings — and the most expensive and crowded.
- Jan–Mar (calving) offers the best predator action and is, in our view, the most underrated migration window.
Would you like to add The Great Migration to your itinerary? Browse our Tanzania safaris for inspiration, or contact us for personal advice.
