Visit Masai Mara
EN
Where to stay

Month by month

Masai Mara in May

May is the month the Mara starts to dry out. The long rains ease, the grass stands at its tallest, and towards the end of the month the conservancy camps that closed in April begin to reopen for the run-up to the migration.

If you only want the answer

May is a shoulder month in the Masai Mara: 26.3°C days, 15.3°C nights and about 39 mm of rain in the model as the long rains ease. Rates are still at their lowest, Governors' Camp at $453 per person to 31 May 2026, but some camps close for the whole month and others reopen only on 23 May. Grass is long and game dispersed, so this is a month for value and solitude.

Masai Mara weather in May: the rains ease

The model gives May 26.3°C by day, 15.3°C at night and about 39 mm of rain on 6 days, a third of April's total. That figure is approximate, and a second model run put May at 67 mm; the gauges in the Mara record about a third more rain than the model over a year.

The rivers can still be high after April. In May 2024 the upper bridge at Purungat, the only crossing of the Mara River inside the reserve, was swept away, according to the Mara Conservancy.

Long grass and the counting season

By May the grass is at its tallest and the game is spread thin, which makes cats hard to find and gives grazers plenty to eat. The migrating herds are still in Tanzania.

May has a place in the record books: the 2021 national aerial census counted the Mara from 6 to 10 May, before the migrants arrive, and found 2,595 elephants and 11,604 buffalo across the ecosystem.

Which camps are shut, and when they reopen

Asilia's Rekero Camp stays closed through May, Encounter Mara in Naboisho closes for the month, Porini Giraffe Camp closes for May for the long rains, and Porini's tentative closures for its other Mara camps run to 31 May. Kicheche Mara North and Kicheche Bush Olare reopen on 23 May 2026 at their regular rate of $625 and $765 per person; Kicheche Valley follows on 1 June.

Governors' Camp keeps its low rate of $453 per person to 31 May. Airkenya's link between the Mara and the Serengeti resumes on 21 May after its break from 1 April to 20 May.

Sources