Lion
Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Masai Mara, Ruaha
All year
Ruaha holds some of the largest prides in Africa. On the Serengeti plains, look at kopjes in the early morning: prides use them for the view and the warm rock.
Safari with someone who grew up here.
Mseti was born and raised in Tanzania and has spent more than fifteen years in these parks. He plans the trip, picks the camps and drives the vehicle.
01 / Why us
Three things worth knowing before you write.
Born here.
Tanzania is home, not a posting. Fifteen years of guiding, most of it in the northern circuit.
Reliable vehicles.
Toyota Land Cruisers, maintained properly, with a roof hatch, a fridge and room to spread out.
One person, start to finish.
You talk to Mseti when you enquire, and Mseti is the one who meets you at the airport.
02 / When to go
When to go and what you'll see.
The single biggest decision is when you travel. It changes what the herds are doing, how green the ground is, how many other vehicles you'll see and what the whole trip costs. Here's what each month looks like on the ground.
Migration tracker
Pick a month to see where the herds are, what is happening and what it will feel like on the ground.
- Park or reserve
- Migration loop
- Herds
- River
The year at a glance
One loop, every month
Roughly 800 km, clockwise, year after year
The herds calve on the southern plains, drift west through the corridor towards the Grumeti, push north over the Mara River into Kenya, then come back down the eastern side as the short rains arrive. Slide through the months to see where they are and what it means for your trip.
The herds follow the rain, not the calendar. This is the pattern, not a timetable.
Beyond the migration
- Tarangire is at its best from June to October, when elephant herds concentrate along the river.
- Southern Tanzania (Ruaha and Nyerere) is a dry season trip, June to October. Access is by light aircraft.
- Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking runs all year but is easier underfoot in the drier spells, June to September and December to February.
- Zanzibar is best June to October and December to February. March to May is the wettest stretch on the coast.
Animals
Leopard
Serengeti (Seronera valley), Masai Mara, Nyerere
All year, easier in the dry season
Seronera's sausage trees along the river are the classic place to find one draped over a branch. Patience matters more than luck here.
Cheetah
Southern Serengeti and Ndutu, Masai Mara
December to March on the southern plains
They need open ground and daylight, so they hunt when the light is good. The short-grass plains in calving season are the best cheetah viewing in East Africa.
Elephant
Tarangire, Amboseli, Ruaha
June to October
In the dry season Tarangire's herds come down to the river in the hundreds. Amboseli's elephants are the ones you've seen photographed under Kilimanjaro.
Black rhino
Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Nakuru
All year
The hardest of the Big Five to find. The crater floor is the most reliable place in Tanzania, usually at distance, so bring binoculars.
Buffalo
Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Masai Mara
All year
Common and easily overlooked. Old bulls, often alone or in small groups, are the ones to treat with respect.
Giraffe
Serengeti, Tarangire, Masai Mara, Murchison Falls
All year
You won't see giraffe on the Ngorongoro crater floor. They don't come down the walls. Tarangire's acacia country is the better bet.
Hippo
Kazinga Channel (Uganda), Rufiji River (Nyerere), Murchison Falls
All year
Best seen from a boat. The Kazinga Channel and the Rufiji both run boat safaris, which is a genuinely different way to spend an afternoon.
Wild dog
Nyerere, Ruaha
June to August
Rare, wide-ranging and worth rearranging a trip for. They den in the dry season, which is the one time of year they stay in one place.
Chimpanzee
Kibale (Uganda), Nyungwe (Rwanda)
June to September, December to February
Kibale has the highest primate density in East Africa. Trekking is on foot through forest, so expect mud and a few hours of walking.
Mountain gorilla
Bwindi (Uganda), Volcanoes (Rwanda)
June to September, December to February
Permits are limited, expensive and sell out months ahead. Rwanda's are the most expensive, Uganda's cost less and the forest is thicker. Check current permit prices before you plan around them.
Flamingo
Lake Manyara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Magadi in the crater
Varies with water levels
Numbers swing enormously year to year depending on rainfall and algae. Nobody can promise you the pink shoreline.
Birds
Lake Manyara, Tarangire, Queen Elizabeth, Nyerere, Akagera
November to April
The short rains bring migrants down from Europe and Asia, so the green season is the best birding even though it's the quietest for tourists.
Parks, in short
Tanzania, north
- Serengeti (the migration, big cats, endless plains)
- Ngorongoro (a collapsed volcano with the densest game in the country, and rhino)
- Tarangire (elephants and baobabs, best June to October)
- Lake Manyara (groundwater forest, tree-climbing lions, birds)
Tanzania, south
- Nyerere, formerly Selous (boat safaris on the Rufiji, wild dog, very few vehicles)
- Ruaha (baobab country, huge lion prides, remote)
Kenya
- Masai Mara (the northern half of the migration ecosystem, superb cats)
- Amboseli (elephants under Kilimanjaro)
- Lake Nakuru (rhino, flamingos when the water is right)
Uganda
- Bwindi (mountain gorillas)
- Kibale (chimpanzees)
- Queen Elizabeth (Kazinga Channel boat, tree-climbing lions at Ishasha)
- Murchison Falls (the Nile forced through a seven-metre gap)
Rwanda
- Volcanoes (mountain gorillas, short transfer from Kigali)
- Akagera (savannah and Big Five, quiet)
- Nyungwe (chimpanzees and montane forest)
Coast
- Zanzibar (a beach finish, three to five nights, an hour and a half by air from the Serengeti)
What to pack
Clothes
- Neutral colours (khaki, olive, brown).
- Avoid bright white and dark blue or black, which attracts tsetse flies.
- Long sleeves and long trousers for evenings.
- A warm fleece or jacket, because mornings on the crater rim and in the northern Serengeti are genuinely cold.
- A hat with a brim, sunglasses, and a light rain jacket outside the dry season.
Kit
- Binoculars, one pair per person, not one to share.
- Camera with more storage than you think you need.
- A dust-proof bag for the camera.
- Sun cream and lip balm.
- Insect repellent.
- Any medication in its original packaging.
- A head torch.
- A universal adapter (Tanzania uses UK three-pin sockets).
Bags
- If any part of your trip is on a light aircraft, you'll be limited to a soft-sided bag, commonly around 15 kg including hand luggage.
- Confirm the exact limit with us before you pack, because it varies by carrier.
- No hard suitcases on those flights.
Don't bother with
- Camouflage clothing, which is restricted or illegal for civilians in several countries in the region.
- Plastic bags, banned in Tanzania and Kenya.
- Too many clothes, since most camps do same-day laundry.
03 / Photographs
Photos from the road are on Instagram.
Every photo we post was taken on a trip we ran. Crossings, calves and camp life go up as they happen, so Instagram is the best place to see what the parks look like right now.
Follow @malele_african_adventure04 / About
Mseti, and how we run a safari.
I'm Mseti. I was born and raised in Tanzania and I've worked in these parks for over fifteen years, first as a guide and now running my own trips. Malele African Adventure is my company. When you book with us, I'm the person you deal with and usually the person driving.
How the trips work
Every trip is built for the people travelling. We don't sell fixed departures or put you in a vehicle with strangers. Tell me what you want to see and how long you have, and I'll put together a route, book the camps and handle the permits and park fees.
The vehicles
We run Toyota Land Cruisers. They are the right vehicle for these roads, and ours are looked after: serviced on schedule, checked before every departure, with a pop-up roof for photography, a cool box, charging points and enough space that nobody sits in a middle seat all week. If a vehicle has a problem, that's our problem to solve, not yours.
Where we go
Tanzania is home, so the northern circuit is what we know best: Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Lake Manyara. We also run trips into southern Tanzania, across to Kenya's Masai Mara, and to gorilla and chimpanzee country in Uganda and Rwanda. Zanzibar makes a good finish after a week of early mornings.
Wild animals don't keep appointments. Nobody can promise you a river crossing or a leopard. What we can do is put you in the right place at the right time of year, with someone who knows where to look.
Get in touch
Tell us when you're thinking of travelling, how long you have and what you'd most like to see. We reply within 24 hours.
The fastest way to get in touch is a direct message on Instagram. Prefer writing it all out? Use the form and we'll reply by email.
- Message @malele_african_adventure
Tell us roughly when you want to travel and what you want to see. We'll come back with a plan and a price.