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Best Time

Many travellers ask when the best time to travel is, but this is not easily answered because different reserves have different peak seasons for game viewing, even within the same country, and because climate and game viewing conditions vary from year to year.

With that in mind, we’d say generally speaking, the dry months of July through October and mid-December through February are the best game viewing times in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), when shorter grasses make animals easier to find. An exception to this would be the Serengeti, where the migration of wildebeest and zebra occurs from November through June, centred around different sections of the reserve as the animals make their way north to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, where the migration generally peaks from July through August. Heavy annual rains fall from late-March through May in East Africa and are good for observing calving, and for fresh green appearance and dust-free conditions. Just after the rains, June and early December are beautifully green and dust free.

The main tourist season is in January and February, since the hot, dry weather at this time of year is generally considered to be the most pleasant. It's also when Kenya's birdlife flocks to the Rift Valley lakes in the greatest numbers. June to September could be called the 'shoulder season' as the weather is still dry. The rains hit from March to May (and to a lesser extent from October to December). During these months things are much quieter - places tend to have rooms available and prices drop. The rains generally don't affect travellers' ability to get around.

Legend:
1=poor;
2=fair;
3=good;
4=excellent

	Amboseli / Tsavo	Northern Parks	Masai Mara	Serengeti North	Serengeti South
Jan	3+	3	3	2	4
Feb	3+	3	3	2	4
Mar	3	3	3	2	4
Apr	2	2+	2+	2	4
May	2	2+	3+	3+	4
June	3+	4	4	4	3
July	4	4	4	3	2
Aug	4	4	4	2	2
Sept	4	4	4	2	2
Oct	3+	3+	3+	3	2
Nov	3+	3+	3+	3	3+
Dec	3	3+	3+	4	4

Kenya's most spectacular annual event is organised by an unlikely group - wildebeests. Literally millions of these ungainly antelopes move en masse in July and August from the Serengeti in search of lush grass. They head south again around October. The best place to see this phenomenon is at the Masai Mara National Reserve.

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