Where the migration actually is, month by month

The herds move in a loop, roughly, and the loop is roughly predictable. What it is not is a timetable, and most of the disappointment we see comes from itineraries sold as though it were one.

What the migration is

Around two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle moving between the southern Serengeti and the Masai Mara in a continuous clockwise circuit, driven by rain and grass. It is not a single event. It is happening every day of the year somewhere.

That matters because the herds are worth seeing in any month. They are just in different places, doing different things.

December to March, the southern plains

The herds gather on the short-grass plains around Ndutu and the southern Serengeti. Calving peaks in February, when roughly half a million calves are born in a few weeks. Predator activity is at its highest of the year.

This is, for our money, the best wildlife spectacle on the circuit and it is not the one people book. It is also an easy trip logistically: the plains are a short drive from Ngorongoro.

April and May, moving west and north

The long rains. The herds begin moving north-west through the central Serengeti. Roads are difficult, some camps close, and the animals are dispersed. The cheapest months and the least predictable.

June and July, the western corridor and the Grumeti

The herds push into the western corridor. Grumeti River crossings happen here, less famous than the Mara ones and considerably less crowded. By late July the front of the column is reaching the north.

August to October, the Mara River

The season everyone books. Crossings of the Mara River in the northern Serengeti, chaotic and unscheduled. Herds cross back and forth repeatedly depending on grazing on either bank.

Two things to know. A crossing can take ten minutes or three days to materialise, and you may sit at a crossing point for a full day and see nothing. Budget two or three nights in the north, not one.

You cannot book a river crossing. You can only book enough days near the river.

November, moving south again

Short rains bring the herds back south through the eastern Serengeti. Quiet month, green landscape, good value.

How to plan around it

• Pick the month first, then the camps, then the route. Not the other way round.
• Stay in the region the herds are in, and stay more than one night.
• Mobile camps follow the herds. Permanent lodges do not.
• Accept that this is wildlife. Nobody controls it, and an operator who guarantees a crossing is selling you something they cannot deliver.