KEMaasai Mara, Kenya
The crossing in the Mara
Two million animals moving, and the light to match.
Watch it live firstWhen the light is best
July, August, June
Computed from five years of daily cloud, rain and temperature at -1.50, 35.15. Some cloud is what makes a sky burn, so this is not the same as the driest month and often disagrees with one.
- Cloud then
- 65%
- Wet days
- 4
- Daytime high
- 28°C
When to actually go
Crossings run late July to October and cannot be scheduled. The herds are in the Mara for months and cross when they decide to.
This is the window for the reason you are going, and it is a different question from the light. Where the two disagree, this one wins. An empty river under a perfect sky is still an empty river.
- Nights
- 6
- Getting in
- Nairobi, then a light aircraft into the reserve
- From, per person
- $6,200
Why here
The migration is the largest movement of land animals on earth, and the river crossings are the part that has no equivalent. It is also, quietly, one of the great light destinations: the Mara sits at altitude on the equator, which produces short, violent, enormous sunsets almost every evening of the year.
What you actually do
- Dawn and dusk game drives, every day, without exception
- A morning at a crossing point, waiting, which may take hours
- Balloon over the reserve at first light
- An evening with a Maasai community, arranged through the camp
However many of you
On your own
Camps charge a single supplement, so look for one that waives it, and share a vehicle. You will not be short of company at dinner.
Two to six
Six people takes a whole vehicle, which means you decide how long to sit at the river. This is the single biggest upgrade available on a Mara trip.
Seven or more
Twelve or more should take a small camp exclusively. It costs less per head than it sounds and turns the whole thing into a private reserve.
Book it
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