6-Day Wildebeest Migration Safari

The Great Migration is not a single event in a single place, it is a year-long, 1,800-mile circular movement of roughly 1.5 million wildebeest, 300,000 zebra and 500,000 Thomson's gazelle around the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Calving happens in the short-grass plains around Ndutu and Lake Masek from late January through mid-March. The herds then drift north and west through the Seronera in April and May, cross the Grumeti River in June and July, and reach the Mara River and its dramatic crossings between July and October. They turn south through the Lobo and Loliondo regions in November.

This six-day itinerary is built around that calendar. Rather than a fixed route, the overnights inside the Serengeti shift depending on the month: Ndutu mobile camp in the calving season, central Seronera in the shoulder months, and northern Serengeti (Kogatende) for the Mara River crossings. The driving day-by-day below is one example; we send you a season-specific version when we know your travel dates.

You overnight inside the park on three of the five nights, at a mobile or semi-permanent tented camp positioned for the herds. The camps are unfenced, properly equipped (hot bucket showers, three-course dinners, full bedding), and operated by long-standing partners we trust with our guests. Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire bookend the trip on either side.

We strongly recommend an optional pre-dawn balloon safari for one of the Serengeti mornings, the herds from the air are extraordinary, and the champagne breakfast on the plain is a tradition for a reason.