The rains, honestly

The Masai Mara in the rains: the green season, month by month

Name: Masai Mara National Reserve
Address: Kenya

The Mara gets more rain than its reputation suggests, about 1,000 mm a year on the long-run gauge record, in long rains from March to May and short rains in November and December. The rains bring green grass, newborn plains game and empty roads. They also bring floods, closed camps and, at the end of the year, the full $200 park fee.

If you only want the answer

The long rains run from March to May and are wettest in April; the short rains fall in November and December. April and May are the cheapest and quietest months, Governors' Camp charging $453 per person against $998 at peak in 2026, but several conservancy camps close and roads and bridges can fail. November and December are green and quiet too, though the park fee stays at $200 per day under the county's July to December high season.

Two rainy seasons, and what they actually deliver

Open-Meteo's climate normals give the shape: about 108 mm in March, 113 mm in April and 39 mm in May, then about 73 mm in November and 117 mm in December. The level is higher on the ground. A 2018 study of 15 rain gauges put the Mara's mean at about 980 mm a year, a third above the model, and the Mara Conservancy measured 616 mm in the Triangle by the end of April 2025 alone. Rain rises across the reserve from about 650 mm a year in the south-east to about 1,300 mm in the north-west.

The same study counts November to June as one long wet season with only July to October reliably dry, and the gauges back it up: more than 200 mm fell in the Triangle in February 2026. Treat the months either side of each rainy season as uncertain too.

Month	Day high	Night low	Rainfall (model)	Season
March	28.1°C	15.4°C	About 108 mm, 12 rain days	Long rains arrive
April	26.3°C	15.4°C	About 113 mm, 14 rain days	Long rains, the wettest stretch
May	26.3°C	15.3°C	About 39 mm, 6 rain days	Long rains easing
November	27.6°C	15.6°C	About 73 mm, 11 rain days	Short rains
December	25.8°C	14.8°C	About 117 mm, 16 rain days	Short rains, festive peak from about 20 December

Open-Meteo climate normals for 1991 to 2020, retrieved 5 October 2026. The gauges measure about a third more rain than the model, so the monthly figures are approximate.

What rain does to the Mara: rivers, roads and bridges

The rivers rise fast. In May 2024 the upper bridge at Purungat was swept away, and in March 2026 the Mara River reached what the Conservancy called unprecedented levels: all bridges were damaged or flooded, Purungat Gate went under water with its ticketing equipment, and the Triangle was cut off for days. In April 2025 heavy rain on the 10th caused extensive flooding and storm damage to the Triangle's roads.

Inside the reserve the tracks are black-cotton soil, which turns to grease after a storm. Balloon flights can be suspended when the ground is waterlogged, under the management plan. None of this closes the reserve, but it can close a route for days, and the only bridge across the Mara River inside the reserve is the one at Purungat.

Wildlife in the rains: resident game and long grass

There is no migration in the rains. The herds are in Tanzania from about November to June, and what you see is the resident population: lions, which do not leave, elephants, buffalo, giraffe, the resident wildebeest on the eastern plains, topi, zebra and gazelle. The March rains bring newborns among the resident plains game, and the predators stay active.

The cost is visibility. By April and May the grass is long and the game spreads out, so a cat that would be obvious on short grass can lie unseen close to the track. January and February, before the long rains, are the green-season months with the shortest grass and the easiest predator viewing.

Birders get the better deal. Palearctic migrants from Europe, white storks, Caspian plovers, corn crakes and European rollers among them, are present in the northern winter months, so November to March overlaps with both rainy seasons.

The long rains: cheapest, quietest, and many camps shut

April and May are the low season at almost every lodge that publishes its seasons. Governors' Camp, inside the reserve, charges $453 per person sharing from 1 April to 31 May 2026, against $623 from January to March and $998 at peak. Elewana's Sand River camp has a green season from 1 April to 31 May at $656 per person on full board, against $1,076 in high season. The park fee is $100 per non-resident adult per day until 30 June.

The catch is closures. Kicheche Mara North and Kicheche Bush Olare close from 1 April to 23 May 2026 and Kicheche Valley from 10 April to 1 June. Asilia's Rekero Camp, inside the reserve, closes for April and May, and its Encounter Mara closes in May. Porini gives tentative closure dates of 16 April to 31 May for its Mara camps. Check that your camp is open before you plan around it.

April is the quietest month for visitors. The Triangle counted 3,041 non-residents in what appears to be April 2025, against 16,718 in August that year. Airkenya's connection between the Mara and the Serengeti does not operate from 1 April to 20 May, and Safarilink's low season runs from 1 April to 15 June, at the same $260 one-way fare from Nairobi.

The short rains: November and early December

The short rains look like a bargain until you add the park fee. Under the Narok County Finance Act 2023 the high season runs from 1 July to 31 December, so a non-resident adult pays $200 a day in November and December, twice the April rate. Operators asked the county in July 2026 to cut the October to December fee, and no change has been published.

Lodge rates do fall. Kicheche moves to its regular rate from 1 November to 19 December, Asilia's Rekero charges its secret-season rate of $910 per person against $1,450 in high season, and Governors' Camp is back to $623 until 20 December. The last migrants usually leave early in November, so what you see is resident game on fresh grass, with the festive peak starting around 20 December.

Road reality in the rains

The tarmac reaches Sekenani Gate, 87 km from Narok, so getting to the reserve is not the problem. Getting around inside it is. March to May and November to December are the months when self-drivers get stuck and lodges reroute their guests, and in late September 2026 the Conservancy was grading roads and clearing culverts in anticipation of El Niño rains.

Ask at the gate before you take a drift, never drive into flowing water, and keep to the main graded roads after a storm. Fuel is sold only at camps inside the reserve and sometimes runs short, so fill up in Narok.

Who should skip the rains

Anyone coming for the migration and river crossings. The herds are in Tanzania from about November to June.
First-time visitors with two or three days. Long grass in April and May makes the cats much harder to find.
Self-drivers without recovery experience. Black-cotton soil and flooded drifts are the main risk in the Mara.
Travellers set on a particular conservancy camp, since many close in April and May.

If you come anyway: the short checklist

Confirm your camp is open on your dates; closures run from early April to late May or June.
Choose January to March or late May and June over April if you want rain and lower rates without the worst of the roads.
Take a 4x4 and allow spare time on every transfer; ask the gate about bridges and drifts.
Take antimalarials. NaTHNaC rates Kenya outside Nairobi and the highlands as high risk, and the Mara sits at about 1,500 to 1,800 m.
Pack for cold, wet dawns: nights stay at about 15°C all year.
If you fly, keep to 15 kg in a soft bag, the limit on both Safarilink and Airkenya.