The Picturesque Backdrop to an Unforgettable Experience

A lot of people are keen to set up trips to see this spectacle in Tanzania & Kenya this year, and we have some great packages available.

Firstly, a word on TIMINGS. Having been taking safaris into East Africa since the mid 1980's, we have a pretty good idea of where you need to be and when, we have a great interactive map of the migration's movements, which you can view on the Serengeti section of our website.

But in précis:

January - March: you should be in southern Serengeti - this is HIGH SEASON.

April- May: it rains (LOW SEASON), but packages are really good value - and the game is GREAT - ideally you should be South or Central Serengeti.

June/July/August: HIGH SEASON again, and Central and Western Serengeti are ideal.

Now we come to the time of the year where it's a bit confusing. A lot of the herds move up to KENYA for end of August to October in the Masai Mara. However it should be noted that the Mara is smaller than the Serengeti, and some of the camps and bigger lodges can get rather crowded at peak season. We tend to use lodges in the Mara that are on private concessions to avoid this.

During this time however, the north of the Serengeti is also FULL of game and large herds of wildebeeste and zebra, crossing the Mara River etc in Tanzania. There are relatively few people, camps and vehicles up there. We use this area a lot, and can offer you a choice of a luxury tented camp, our private exclusive mobile camps, or not too far away a lodge.

November and December, the herds rush down from the north to the southern Serengeti, so central and south is where you want to be!

Then it starts all over again! It's a continuous cycle of life and death.

There are a few other pertinent points before you commit to going up to see this amazing event. You need a good guide and vehicle, and an unlimited game drive operator. Many companies limit their drivers to a certain amount of distance per day, and make them pay if they exceed this, which is why people often miss seeing the herds even if they are just 30 km from where they are staying.

You also need time, three nights is minimum we feel, although we do offer shorter trips.

And, where you stay is often vital to your enjoyment. Some of the lodges are large, 150 plus beds, we prefer our own camps, just 10 tents, tented en-suite, and, amazingly, in high season these camps are actually cheaper than the big lodges.

If you take all the above into account, and let us help you, you'll have a good chance of having a great experience. At a good price too, our private trips often work out cheaper than "group" departures with 10-18 or more, and offer you total flexibility. We also have our own guides, vehicles, camps, staff etc. in Tanzania, so you are in our hands from start to finish - with 24-hour contact, offering you peace of mind. This means we have control over where you go, what you see, who guides you etc. this can make or break a trip. The fact that our guys LIVE up there, and are always in the bush, also means that they know where the game is, on a daily basis - so have a much better chance of getting you to the right place at the right time.

Our own fixed camps, 10 tents ensuite, are situated in Central Serengeti from June - March, and we have another in the South Serengeti / Ndutu area from mid December - March. We sometimes extend into April, but in general we are closed April / May (rainy season), and the lodges are cheap and not busy then either.

Source: http://www.wildfrontiers.com/?q=con,29,Migration - Masses on the move