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Wildebeest pour down a steep bank in a cloud of dust and plunge into the river
  • 20–28 August 2027
  • 9 days, 8 nights
  • 12 seats

The Great Migration in Kenya

Two million animals, one river, and the twenty minutes people fly to Africa for. Nine days at the peak of the Mara crossings.

Route: NairobiMasai MaraAmboseliNairobi

Day by day
Dates
20–28 August 2027
Length
9 days, 8 nights
Group
12 seatstwo six-seat vehicles
Price
on request

The Great Migration

The largest movement of life on Earth

Every year around two million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles walk a vast circle between the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Masai Mara in Kenya. They follow the rain and the fresh grass, and they have done so, generation after generation, for hundreds of thousands of years. Lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas follow the herds: the migration feeds the whole ecosystem.

For most of the year it looks ordinary: an endless herd drifting slowly across the savanna. But at one point on the way, the Mara River stands in their path.

A long line of wildebeest stretching across a wide grassy plain in Kenya
  • ≈2 millionwildebeest, zebras and gazelles walking the circle
  • 20 minutesand ten thousand go into the water
  • hundreds of thousands of yearsthe same route, generation after generation
The wildebeest herd lines the high river bank while the first animals swim across

The main event

The crossing

The Mara is not deep, but its banks are steep, the current is fast, and the water is home to Nile crocodiles, four or five metres long, that wait all year for this day. Lions stand on the far bank: they know when the herd arrives too.

The wildebeest walk up to the edge and stop. Sometimes for an hour, sometimes for the whole day. The herd builds up, the tension grows, the animals turn and walk back into the savanna, then return. And then one animal jumps, and in twenty minutes ten thousand go into the water.

The water boils. The roar carries for a kilometre. Some will not reach the other bank.

This is not footage from a documentary and not a show. It simply happens, half a kilometre from your jeep, with no director and no schedule, and it lasts exactly as long as it lasts.

These twenty minutes are why people go to Kenya in August.

Season

Why the end of August

The migration goes on all year; the question is where on the circle the herds are. Here is the whole circle.

Our datesThe end of August is the middle of the peak window. The herds have been at the river for a month, crossings happen regularly, and the turn south is still a long way off.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Route

Two decisions behind the route

  1. A large herd of wildebeest grazing in the dry grass of the Masai Mara plains
    01

    Four nights by the Mara River, not two

    You cannot schedule a crossing for Thursday: you can only wait for it. More days by the water is the only thing that really improves the odds.

  2. A small propeller plane coming in to land on a dirt airstrip in the Masai Mara
    02

    Flights instead of long drives

    Between Kenya's parks lie hundreds of kilometres of dirt roads. We fly on small planes: Nairobi → Mara takes 45 minutes instead of five and a half hours of bumping along. The time saved goes to safari, not the road.

SerengetiGreat Rift ValleyTanzaniaKilimanjaroTashkent1 / 52334Nairobi2 nightsMasai Mara4 nights by the riverAmboseli2 nights

Flights

  1. 1Tashkent → Nairobi: one connection in Dubai, Doha or Istanbul
  2. 2Nairobi → Masai Mara: 45 minutes instead of five and a half hours
  3. 3Masai Mara → Amboseli: flight via Nairobi
  4. 4Amboseli → Nairobi
  5. 5Nairobi → Tashkent

Programme

Day by day

  1. Day 1Friday, 20 August

    Tashkent → Nairobi

    A flight with one connection in Dubai, Doha or Istanbul. Evening arrival in Nairobi, meeting at the airport, transfer to the hotel.

    Dinner and an early night: tomorrow we fly on a small plane.

    Night: Nairobi

  2. Day 2Saturday, 21 August

    Nairobi → Masai Mara

    In the morning we drive to Wilson Airport and fly to the Masai Mara on a small plane. Forty-five minutes, with the Great Rift Valley under the wing.

    We meet our guide, check into the camp and head out on the first evening drive: towards evening the predators go hunting, and there is no better time of day to get to know the savanna.

    Night: safari camp, Masai Mara

  3. Day 3Sunday, 22 August

    Masai Mara: a full day

    We set off at six in the morning, while the savanna is still cold and mist hangs over the grass. We look for the big cats and find out over the radio where the herd is today.

    A picnic lunch in the bush under an acacia. In the evening we go back to the river.

    Night: safari camp, Masai Mara

    A cheetah standing in the dry savanna grass, looking at the camera

  4. Day 4Monday, 23 August

    A balloon at sunrise

    Up at half past four. The balloon is inflated in the dark to the roar of the burner, and we lift off with the first light.

    An hour above the savanna. From up there you see not single animals but the whole ribbon of the migration, from horizon to horizon: something you can never see from the ground. The balloon comes down in the grass wherever it can, and breakfast is already laid out right where it lands.

    The rest of the day: game drives and keeping watch by the river.

    Night: safari camp, Masai Mara

    Two hot air balloons flying low over the Masai Mara savanna at sunrise

  5. Day 5Tuesday, 24 August

    A day by the river

    The whole day belongs to the main event. We leave before dawn and take up position on the bank.

    The herds come up to the edge, turn, walk away, come back. Sometimes this goes on for hours, and then it all starts within a minute, and everything comes down to the seconds when you are in the right place. We wait as long as it takes: this is the day the whole trip was built around.

    Night: safari camp, Masai Mara

  6. Day 6Wednesday, 25 August

    Masai Mara → Amboseli

    A morning drive and goodbye to the Mara. We fly via Nairobi to Amboseli, a park right on the border with Tanzania, famous for the largest elephants in East Africa.

    An evening drive across the dry bed of Lake Amboseli.

    Night: lodge with a view of Kilimanjaro, Amboseli

    Elephants belly deep in the lush swamp grass of Amboseli

  7. Day 7Thursday, 26 August

    Kilimanjaro at dawn

    Early morning is the only time of day when Kilimanjaro comes fully out of the clouds. We photograph elephants against the snowy summit: the shot everyone knows.

    During the day: swamps where elephants stand in water up to their backs, hippos and hundreds of bird species. In the evening, a meeting with the Maasai: not a staged show, but a conversation through an interpreter about how people live side by side with lions.

    Night: lodge, Amboseli

    A herd of elephants walking through the dust of Amboseli with the snowy summit of Kilimanjaro in the haze

  8. Day 8Friday, 27 August

    Amboseli → Nairobi

    A morning drive, then a flight to Nairobi. The afternoon is for what people really come to Nairobi for.

    • The Sheldrick nursery: orphaned baby elephants being raised, bottle feeding
    • The Giraffe Centre: Rothschild's giraffes take food straight from your hand
    • The Karen Blixen House: the very house from Out of Africa

    Farewell dinner.

    Night: Nairobi

    A Rothschild giraffe close up among the trees

  9. Day 9Saturday, 28 August

    Nairobi → Tashkent

    A free morning or straight to the airport, depending on the flight time. The flight home with one connection.

Elephants and their calves walking past a safari camp tent in Kenya
Inside a safari camp tent: two beds, a wooden chest and a washing area

Accommodation

Where we stay

Safari camps inside the reserve and in the private conservancies around it.

What sets this level apart is not the interior but the distance to the animals. You wake up where they walk, and the river is minutes away, not hours. When the herd starts to move, those minutes decide everything.

What the camps are like

  • spacious tents on wooden decks with a proper bed, a full shower and toilet, electricity and a mosquito net
  • a terrace looking out over the savanna
  • full board, with the kitchen working to the group's requests
  • the Mara River a few minutes' drive from camp
  • a limited number of guests: on safari that matters more than stars
Nairobi
a good city hotel in a quiet area
Amboseli
a lodge with an open view of Kilimanjaro

Why this level

On safari you are not paying for the interior: you spend a few hours a day in your room, and those in the dark. You are paying for the minutes it takes to reach the river when the herd starts to move. Camps a level up give you more comfort, but not more animals. A level down puts you an hour's drive from the action.

The package

What the tour includes

The big things are included

  • Kenya's electronic travel authorisation (eTA): we apply for you, including the form and supporting documents
  • 2 nights in Nairobi, 4 nights in a safari camp in the Masai Mara, 2 nights in a lodge in Amboseli, double occupancy
  • All national park and reserve fees: on safari this is the biggest single cost, and it is included
  • Full board on safari, halal: we request it when booking the camps and confirm it in writing before departure
  • All game drives in a Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 with a pop-up roof, no more than six people per vehicle: everyone gets a window seat
  • A sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the Masai Mara with breakfast after landing

Also

  • Flights Tashkent → Nairobi → Tashkent with one connection
  • Domestic flights on small aircraft: Nairobi → Mara → Nairobi → Amboseli → Nairobi
  • A professional naturalist guide for the whole route and a Russian-speaking tour leader from Orienta
  • A visit to a Maasai village with an interpreter
  • The Sheldrick elephant nursery, the Giraffe Centre, the Karen Blixen House
  • All transfers, binoculars in every vehicle, water throughout the day
  • Medical insurance that covers helicopter evacuation (AMREF Flying Doctors)

Not included

  • Single room supplement
  • Yellow fever vaccination and malaria prevention: we help you navigate this, but a doctor prescribes
  • Lunches and dinners in Nairobi, except the farewell dinner
  • Drinks outside full board, souvenirs, tips for guides
  • Personal expenses and excursions outside the programme

Price

on request

Practicalities

What to know before you go

Visa

eTA cost
$30–⁠32
processing
24–72 hours
earliest you can apply; latest is 3 days before
90 days

Kenya does not require a visa in the usual sense: you need an electronic travel authorisation, the eTA. You apply online, it costs about $30–⁠32, processing takes 24–72 hours, and you can apply from 90 days before the trip up to 3 days before.

We handle itWe apply for the eTA on your behalf. The visa side of the trip is not your concern: it is what we specialise in.

A lone acacia in warm morning mist over the plain

Weather and what to pack

by day
+25…+27
at dawn
+10…+12

Late August in the Masai Mara is the dry season, the best time for watching wildlife.

The main thing nobody warns you about: +25…+27 by day but +10…+12 at dawn, and you are riding in an open vehicle at speed. Without a warm jacket the morning drive becomes an ordeal.

What to bring

  • a warm jacket and hat for the mornings
  • clothes in neutral colours
  • closed shoes
  • sunscreen
  • insect repellent
  • spare camera batteries

Vaccinations

Yellow fever. Flying from Uzbekistan, the certificate is not required. It becomes required after a long connection in a country where the disease is endemic, so we choose a connection that keeps the question from coming up. The vaccine is given once and lasts for life, so it is worth getting anyway: it will be useful for any future trip to Africa.

Malaria. A doctor prescribes the prevention, and it has to start in advance: we will remind you of the timing.

Flights

There are no direct flights Tashkent → Nairobi. We fly with one connection in Dubai, Doha or Istanbul.

Children

From 8 years old. The trip ends on 28 August, before the school year starts.

Food

Halal throughout the trip.

The camps handle requests like this without fuss, and it is settled at booking. We get written confirmation before departure, not on arrival.

Honest about the odds

What we don't promise

A crossing of the Mara River cannot be guaranteed. August improves the odds, but it does not turn nature into a show with a timetable. The herd can stand by the water for three days and leave. It can cross at night. It can cross twenty kilometres from where you are standing.

Anyone who promises you a crossing on a set day has either never been there or is not telling the truth.

What we do instead of promising

  1. 01

    Four nights by the river, not two: more days, better odds

  2. 02

    A naturalist guide on the radio: checks every morning where the herd is gathering today, and takes us there

  3. 03

    A camp close to the river: so we get there in minutes once it starts

  4. 04

    A route that stays strong even without a crossing: lions, cheetahs, leopards, Amboseli's elephants against Kilimanjaro and the sunrise balloon flight are not going anywhere

We are honest about the odds up front, so you decide with your eyes open rather than end up disappointed on the spot.

Seats and booking

12 seats, one departure a year

12 seats in the group

This is not a marketing trick: that is how many people fit into two six-seat vehicles, with a window seat for everyone. Any more and someone sits in the middle of the row, shooting over other people's heads.

20–28 August 2027
One departure a year. August is the peak of the season, and camps in the Masai Mara are booked up many months ahead.
How to book
Leave your name and phone number. We will call you back, talk you through the programme and give you the exact price and payment terms.

Priceon request

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Office: +998 95 988 89 00

Kenya: the Great Migration

20–28 August 20279 days, 8 nights

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