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Masai Mara in November

November is the Mara's quiet green month. The short rains return, the last of the migrating wildebeest leave for Tanzania early in the month, and the lodges drop their rates, but the county's park fee does not move with them.

If you only want the answer

November is green season in the Masai Mara: 27.6°C days, 15.6°C nights and about 73 mm of rain in the model as the short rains begin. Most of the migrants leave in early November, leaving resident game on fresh grass. Lodges drop to regular or mid rates on 1 November, Kicheche Mara North to $625 per person, but the park fee stays at $200 per non-resident adult per day to 31 December.

Masai Mara weather in November: the short rains

The model gives November 27.6°C by day, 15.6°C at night and about 73 mm of rain over 11 days. That figure is approximate, and a second model run gave 104 mm; the gauges in the Mara record about a third more rain than the model over a year.

The black-cotton soil inside the reserve turns slippery again, and November and December are, with the long rains, the months when self-drivers get stuck. Allow extra time on transfers.

The migrants leave, the birds arrive

In 2025 most of the remaining wildebeest left the Mara in early November, after a few thousand had stayed in the Triangle until 30 October. From then until about July the herds are in Tanzania, and the Mara belongs to its residents.

The northern winter brings the Palearctic migrants: white stork, Caspian plover, corn crake and European roller among them. Nature Kenya puts the wider Mara above 500 bird species.

Lower lodge rates, the same $200 fee

Under the Narok County Finance Act 2023 the high season runs from 1 July to 31 December, so November costs a non-resident adult $200 per day, twice the April rate. That is the main argument against November for a fee-conscious traveller.

Lodges do cut their prices. Kicheche Mara North charges $625 per person from 1 November to 19 December 2026, Asilia's Rekero moves to its secret-season rate of $910, Governors' Camp to $623, and Angama's 2027 group rates put November in their cheapest band at $995. Safarilink's low season runs from 1 November to 15 December, and Airkenya needs at least four passengers on its Serengeti link in that period.

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