Visit Masai Mara
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Month by month

Best time to visit the Masai Mara

The Masai Mara has two good seasons and a choice to make between them. From July to October the migrating herds are usually in Kenya and the river crossings happen, at the year's highest lodge rates and with a $200 daily park fee. The rest of the year the resident game stays, the fee halves and the crowds thin, but the rain is heavier than most calendars admit.

If you only want the answer

June to September. July averages 8 mm against 117 mm in December. That gap decides what you see: spread out across the park in the wet, gathered at whatever water is left in the dry.

Prime Dry but hot Shoulder Green season Bar height is average rainfall, the figure above it is the daytime high. The $ signs show what a night in the park runs in that period.

The year, season by season

The periods below are how this park actually divides its year, with thirty-year climate averages against each month. Averages hide bad years: a dry January still happens, and so does a wet July.

Climate figures are Open-Meteo climate normals, 1991 to 2020, measured at -1.49, 35.085. Prime, shoulder and green are worked out against this park's own year, not a fixed threshold: the four months with the least rain, the four with the most, and the rest in between. Full charts on the weather page.

Masai Mara weather: two rainy seasons and more rain than the models show

The Mara is wetter than its climate model suggests. Open-Meteo's normals for 1991 to 2020 at the centre of the reserve add up to 664 mm a year, but a 2018 study in PLoS ONE using 15 rain gauges from 1965 to 2014 found a mean of 82 mm a month, roughly 980 mm a year, rising from about 650 mm in the south-east to about 1,300 mm in the north-west. The Mara Conservancy's own gauge in the Triangle measured 1,280.11 mm in 2025. The monthly figures on this page are model normals, about a third below the gauges, so read them as the shape of the year and each one as approximate.

The shape is two rainy seasons. The long rains run from March to May, with April the wettest month in the model at about 113 mm, and the short rains from November to December, with December at about 117 mm. July is the driest month, at about 8 mm over two rain days. The same study counts the whole of November to June as the wet season and only July to October as dry, so January and February are not a reliable dry spell: more than 200 mm fell in the Triangle in February 2026.

Temperature barely moves because of the altitude. Days run from 25.8°C in December to 28.8°C in October, and nights from 14.2°C in July to 15.9°C in October. Dawn drives and balloon flights are cold in every month, so pack a fleece whatever the season.

When is the migration in the Masai Mara?

The herds usually arrive in July and leave by October or early November, and the Mara Conservancy's monthly reports from the Triangle are the closest thing to a log. Crossings of the Mara River are unpredictable, rain can send the herds south again within days, and the Conservancy reports far fewer crossing days in Kenya than in the past: about 14 in the main reserve in 2025, against 29 the year before and 50 in earlier years.

Plan on a window and stay flexible inside it. Three or four nights in late July, August or September give you the best odds, and staying close to the river, in the Triangle or along the Mara River on the Narok side, cuts the driving between crossing points.

YearArrivalCrossings and departure
2025Began arriving 6 July at Sand RiverFirst crossing into the Triangle on 25 July, then three days of huge crossings. Most herds left after unseasonal rain in mid-August, came back in early October and had nearly all gone by early November.
2026A few thousand in the Triangle by the end of JuneAbout 200,000 animals in the Triangle by mid-August, until a rainstorm on 17 August sent them back into the Serengeti.

From the Mara Conservancy's monthly reports for the Triangle. Narok County publishes no equivalent record for the main reserve.

Lodge rates by season: what three lodges charge

The lodges agree on the shape of the year. Peak runs from July to October everywhere, plus Christmas and New Year; April and May are the low season, when Governors' Camp charges about 27 per cent less than in January to March and several conservancy camps close; January to March, June and November to mid December sit in the middle.

The park fee follows a different calendar. Under the Narok County Finance Act 2023 a non-resident adult pays $100 per day from 1 January to 30 June and $200 from 1 July to 31 December, so November and December cost the high fee even though they are quiet, rainy months. Operators asked the county in July 2026 to cut the October to December fee; no change has been published.

LodgeMost expensiveMiddleCheapestExample rate
Governors' Camp (inside the reserve, Musiara), 20261 Jul to 31 Oct, 21 to 31 Dec1 Jan to 31 Mar, 1 to 30 Jun, 1 Nov to 20 Dec1 Apr to 31 May$998 / $623 / $453 per person sharing, full board with drinks and drives, park fees extra
Kicheche Mara North (Mara North Conservancy), 20261 Jul to 31 Oct, 20 Dec to 2 Jan 20273 Jan to 28 Feb1 to 31 Mar, 23 May to 30 Jun, 1 Nov to 19 Dec; closed 1 Apr to 23 May$995 / $730 / $625 per person sharing, plus $130 conservancy fee per adult per night
Angama Mara (Oloololo escarpment, outside the reserve), 2027 group rates1 to 30 Sep5 Jan to end Feb, Jun, Oct, 1 to 22 DecMar to May, Nov$1,935 / $1,290 / $995 per person, groups of 10 suites or more; Jul, Aug and the festive weeks excluded

Rates from each lodge's own rate sheet: Governors' 2026 sheet revised 7 September 2026, Kicheche 2026 rack rates issued 5 June 2025, Angama 2027 group rates. Angama's public rack rates could not be read.

How busy is the Masai Mara, and when?

The only monthly visitor series published is the Mara Triangle's, which counts every non-resident entering the Triangle. August is the busiest month by a distance, July and September come next, then June, and April is the quietest. Narok County publishes no monthly figures for its side of the reserve; the Conservancy quotes 213,000 visitors reported for the whole Mara in 2025 and argues the true number is far higher.

PeriodNon-resident visitors to the TriangleYear before
February 20266,0874,937
June 20258,0766,233
July 202510,5219,011
August 202516,71813,888
September 20259,7869,760
October 20257,0236,547
Calendar year 202578,523 (138,539 visitors in total)

From the Mara Conservancy's monthly reports. A figure of 3,041 for what appears to be April 2025 is left out because the report does not name the month.

Roads by season

The 84 km Narok to Sekenani road was completed to tarmac in October 2020, so the drive from Nairobi is sealed all the way to the main gate. Inside the reserve the tracks are black-cotton soil. March to May and November to December are the months when self-drivers get stuck and camps reroute; in March 2026 storms did very substantial damage to the Triangle's roads and bridges. From July to October the roads are dusty and passable.

The verdict, season by season

  • July to October: prime for the migration and crossings, and the most expensive months, with August the most crowded.
  • June: the best balance of dry weather, resident game, the $100 fee and pre-peak lodge rates.
  • January and February: good value with resident predators and few vehicles, if you accept some rain.
  • March, November and early December: shoulder months, green and quiet, with November already on the $200 fee.
  • April and May: the lowest rates and the emptiest reserve, with closed camps, long grass and muddy roads.
  • Christmas and New Year: peak rates again for a fortnight, whatever the weather.

Sources

Where to go next

Wildlife What you can expect to see in each season Entry Fees What a day inside costs, whatever the month Getting There Flights and roads change with the season