When to go to The Masai Mara

Best Time To Go To The Masai Mara; When To Go To The Masai Mara

When you are looking to travel to such a place as Sub-Saharan Africa, the chances are you are not hoping to be rained on. African holidays are made up mostly by time in the wilderness on safari and on the beach in a little slice of Indian Ocean paradise. For a safari holiday, it is generally better to travel in the drier months which are, as a rule of thumb, usually in the British Summer Time of end of June – October. Very sweepingly, this is when most of the parks in both east and southern Africa are drier, making the animals forced to congregate around waterholes and easier to spot generally. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Some travellers may want to see the African bush in all its green glory in rainy season, catch some rare wildlife experiences whilst paying low season rates… Essentially it is completely down to you and to which individual park you are going to, but if wildlife viewing and brilliant beach time is a priority then the classically dry months are generally speaking a safe bet.

East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) safaris do have another short season which is very good, and this comes in between the short November rains and the long ones which begin in March and carry on through until the end of May. A lot of people love to go for a Masai Mara safari for a festive break, or to beat the January and February blues. After the short November rains, the Masai Mara is beautiful and there is so much wildlife here anyway, that the long grasses and denser bush doesn’t make a huge amount of difference to your excellent game viewing experience. Going in the New Year (but careful to avoid the festive period itself) can also mean that you avoid the peak, peak season months of July and August when the Mara can get extremely busy with school holidays, but also with the attraction of the Wildebeest Migration crossing the Mara River here and in the Serengeti National Park.