The Great Migration in the Masai Mara: which months, the river crossings, and the park fees

About 1.3 to 1.5 million wildebeest, plus hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle, walk a loop between Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara every year, following the rain and the fresh grass. There’s no start or finish and no fixed date. The rains set the timing, so it shifts by weeks from one year to the next.

In 2026 small groups were crossing the Mara River as early as 21 June, which is early, and crossings were still being reported in late September, in both directions.

The famous footage is of the herds plunging down the bank into the Mara River, with crocodiles waiting. Here’s how it actually goes.

• They gather and wait. The herds bunch up on the bank, sometimes for twenty minutes, sometimes for six hours or more, and only go once a few lead and the rest follow in a line.
• Then they often don’t. A herd can walk away from the river after a morning of waiting, and some days there’s no crossing at all.
• They cross in many places. There are numbered crossing points along the river; No. 7 has steep banks and is the busiest. Herds also cross the Talek River, which runs into the Mara.
• Vehicles change things. In August you can find 40 to 60 vehicles at one crossing, worst from late morning to early afternoon when the day visitors arrive, and a vehicle too close to the bank can turn a herd away to cross somewhere else.

To give yourself the best chance, spend at least two full days in the Mara, ideally three; take a packed lunch and stay out all day rather than going back to camp; and go in August or September. The waiting is part of it. Most people who’ve seen a crossing say the hours on the bank were worth it.

The Masai Mara National Reserve is run by Narok County, not Kenya Wildlife Service, so it has its own fees.

A ticket covers one day, 6 am to 6 pm, so budget one fee for each day you’re in the reserve; if you leave late on your last day (camps quote after 11 am), you may pay for another. Payment is cashless.

Around the reserve are private conservancies such as Mara North, Olare Motorogi and Naboisho. Their fees, about US$130 per adult per night in 2026, are usually included in the camp’s price, and only guests staying there can get in. For that you get fewer vehicles at a sighting, off-road driving to get closer, and night drives and walks, which the reserve doesn’t allow. The main crossings are inside the reserve, though, so on a crossing day conservancy guests drive in and pay its fee for that day. The Mara Triangle, the north-western part of the reserve, is run separately, and its rangers limit sightings to five vehicles at a time.

Kenya Wildlife Service raised its fees on 1 October 2025: Amboseli and Nakuru went from US$60 to US$90. Many websites still show the old figure.

Both of the usual routes end in the Mara. The difference is what comes before it.

In the south: Amboseli, for elephants with Kilimanjaro behind them on a clear morning; Lake Naivasha, for a boat ride among the hippos and a walk on Crescent Island; and Lake Nakuru, for rhino, and flamingos when the water level suits them. Lake levels have been high in recent years and flamingo numbers rise and fall with them, so don’t count on the pink shoreline in old photos.

In the north: Samburu, dry country along the Ewaso Ng’iro river, with the “Samburu Special Five” you won’t see further south: Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, beisa oryx and gerenuk. Then Ol Pejeta, for rhino and a chimpanzee sanctuary. It’s also home to Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos in the world, both female; Sudan, the last male, died there in 2018. Scientists are using eggs from Fatu to try to bring the species back through surrogate mothers.

Indians need Kenya’s Electronic Travel Authorisation before flying, applied for on the official site, etakenya.go.ke. It costs US$30 and takes up to three working days, with an express option for more. You’ll need a passport valid for six months, a photo, your plan and your hotel bookings. Apply at least a week ahead to be safe.

Yellow fever is about coming home. India lists Kenya as a yellow fever country, and if you land back in India without a valid yellow fever certificate you can be quarantined for up to six days. Get vaccinated at a government-authorised centre in India at least 10 days before you leave, because the certificate is only valid from the tenth day. It’s then valid for life.

The Mara has a malaria risk: see a travel doctor before you go about which tablets to take. Kenya Airways, Air India and IndiGo fly non-stop from Mumbai to Nairobi in about 6½ hours; from most other Indian cities you connect through Mumbai or a Gulf hub.