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Migration · 7 min read

The Mara River crossing, and why nobody can book you one

What actually happens at the bank, and what any honest operator will tell you.

Active Kili Top · Arusha · Updated 3 October 2026
A line of zebra wading across the Mara River
Zebra crossing the Mara River. Zebra and wildebeest travel, and cross, together.

A Mara River crossing is the scene most people have in mind when they picture the migration: a herd packed onto a high bank, one animal going down, and then all of them in the water at once. It happens in the far north of the Serengeti, roughly from July to October, and it is the one thing on a Tanzanian safari that travellers most often ask us to guarantee.

We cannot, and nor can anyone else. What an operator can do is put you beside the right stretch of river in the right months, for enough days, with a guide who knows how to wait. This article explains what happens at the bank, when and where, the park’s rules for vehicles, and how to improve your chances. For the whole year’s route, see our migration calendar, month by month.

The short answer

Wildebeest cross the Mara River in the northern Serengeti between about July and October, most often in August and September. No crossing can be scheduled: herds gather on the bank for hours or days and may turn away. Three or four nights near Kogatende gives good odds, and never a guarantee.

At a glance: Mara River crossings by month

The herds follow rain, so timing moves by weeks from year to year. No month guarantees a crossing.
MonthWhere the herds usually areChance of a crossing
JuneWestern Corridor, moving northLow; too early in most years
JulyArriving in the northern SerengetiFair, improving late in the month
AugustAround the Mara River and KogatendeGood; the busiest weeks for vehicles
SeptemberBoth banks, moving back and forthGood, with slightly fewer vehicles
OctoberNorthern Serengeti, turning southFair; last crossings, far quieter
November to MayCentre, south and west of the parkNone; the herds are elsewhere
Next: At the bank ↓Contents ↑

What happens at a Mara River crossing

Most of a crossing is waiting. Wildebeest and zebra drift towards the river through the morning and bunch up at the top of the bank, sometimes a few hundred, sometimes many thousands. They look down at the water, mill about, and walk away. They come back. This can go on for an hour or for two days. The herd may then leave altogether and cross somewhere else, or not cross at all.

When it does happen, it happens quickly. One animal commits, the ones behind follow, and within seconds the bank is a slide of dust and bodies. The noise carries a long way. Some crossings are over in ten minutes and some run for more than an hour as fresh animals keep arriving. On the far side they scramble out wherever the bank lets them, and calves and mothers spend a long time calling to find each other.

It is not gentle to watch. Crocodiles take some animals, but the bigger danger is the crossing itself: steep exits, strong water and the crush of the herd. A study published in 2017 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that about 6,250 wildebeest drown in the Mara River in an average year, with mass drownings recorded in at least 13 of the 15 years it examined. That is roughly one animal in two hundred.

Next: The months ↓Contents ↑

When the Mara River crossings happen: July to October

The season runs from about July to October. The first herds usually reach the river during July, in some years as early as late June and in others not until the month is well advanced. August and September are the months most associated with crossings, and they are the months we rate highest on our Mara River Crossings plan. By October the herds are turning south, and the last crossings come with far fewer vehicles.

The wildebeest do not cross once and stay. The northern Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara are one ecosystem, and through these months the herds move back and forth over the river as local rain brings on fresh grass. A herd that crossed north on Monday may come back south on Thursday. This is why crossings can be seen over a period of three months or more, and why nobody can tell you which day.

Outside those months this is the wrong part of the park. From December to March the herds are at the opposite end of the park for the calving, which we describe in calving season in Ndutu, and in June they are usually in the west, where the Grumeti River offers a smaller and quieter version of the same event.

Next: Kogatende ↓Contents ↑

Where to watch: Kogatende and the numbered crossing points

In Tanzania the crossings are watched from the Kogatende area of the northern Serengeti, where the Mara River runs east to west for a stretch before leaving the park. A bridge at Kogatende links the south bank to the Lamai wedge, the triangle of grassland between the river and the Kenyan border. There is a ranger post and an airstrip beside it, and the seasonal camps sit within a short drive.

The herds use the same places year after year, where the banks are broken down enough to get in and out. Tanzania National Parks has mapped and signposted them. Its current guideline, revised in June 2024, lists sixteen designated crossing points along this stretch, numbered from 0A in the west to 10 in the east, with one named Makutano. Guides refer to them by number, and much of a day on the river is spent moving between them as the herds shift.

Kogatende is a long way from anywhere. By road from Arusha it is two days of driving, so most travellers fly: a scheduled light aircraft from Arusha takes about two hours, often with stops at other airstrips. Crossings are also watched from the Kenyan side, in the Maasai Mara, but that means a separate trip with its own entry formalities. The animals cross the border freely. People cannot.

Next: The rules ↓Contents ↑

The park's rules for vehicles at a river crossing

The park authority introduced specific rules for the crossings in 2019, after what its own guideline calls unethical tourism practices at the crossing points. They are worth knowing before you go, because they explain why a good guide holds back. Each crossing point has a signposted parking area, a maximum number of vehicles, between 30 and 70 depending on the point, and a minimum distance from the bank, between 30 and 140 metres.

While animals are gathering, vehicles must stay still in the designated area. Driving up to the edge for a better view is exactly what turns a herd around, and it is the commonest way that a crossing is spoiled for everyone, the wildebeest included. Vehicles must not block animals that have crossed, you stay inside the vehicle, and picnics on the bank are not allowed. Extra vehicles wait on the road.

In August the popular points do fill up, and there is no use pretending otherwise. Your guide will try quieter points where the river allows. What you should expect from any operator is that the driver keeps to the distances, does not race other vehicles to the bank, and does not cut across the herd’s line. If you see poor behaviour, the park publishes an email address and a hotline for reporting it.

Next: Improving the odds ↓Contents ↑

How to improve your chances of seeing a crossing

Time is the main thing you can buy. One night in the north gives you one afternoon and one morning, which is a gamble. Three nights gives you two full days on the river and parts of two more. Our plan has three nights by the river for that reason, and adding a fourth is the single most useful change you can make to it. It is still not a promise, and we will not tell you it is.

Sleep close to the river. A camp near Kogatende puts you at the crossing points soon after first light and lets you stay until late afternoon. Take a picnic lunch and expect to sit for hours with the engine off. Bring binoculars, a hat, more water than you think, and something to read. The travellers who see crossings are, for the most part, the ones prepared to wait.

Plan the trip so that it is worth it whatever the river does. The north has resident lion, elephant and large herds grazing between crossings. Our plan then drives south through Lobo to the central Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. If time is short, the Serengeti Fly-in plan can be pointed north in season. Tell us your dates through the trip planning page and we will say honestly how they look.

Next: Questions ↓Contents ↑

Questions people ask

August and September are the most dependable months, with the herds usually spread along the river in the northern Serengeti. July and October can also be good but are less certain. The timing moves with the rains each year, so no month guarantees a crossing.

No. Herds gather on the bank and often turn away, sometimes for days. An operator can place you near the river in the right season for enough nights, which gives good odds. Anyone who promises a crossing on a particular day is promising something that is outside their control.

Allow at least three nights in the northern Serengeti, and four if a crossing is the main reason for your trip. That gives two or three full days on the river. With one night you are relying on luck on a single morning.

Around Kogatende in the northern Serengeti. The park authority has designated and signposted sixteen crossing points along this stretch of river, numbered from 0A to 10. Herds choose between them unpredictably, so guides move from point to point through the day.

The same herds cross the same river in both countries. In Tanzania you watch from the northern Serengeti around Kogatende; in Kenya from the Maasai Mara. The Tanzanian side fits naturally into a Serengeti safari. Visiting both means a formal border crossing and separate park fees.

A 2017 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated an average of about 6,250 drownings a year, roughly half of one per cent of the herd. Drowning and trampling in the crush, not crocodiles, account for most of the deaths.

Most travellers fly. A scheduled light aircraft from Arusha to the Kogatende airstrip takes about two hours, often with stops. By road it is two long days through the Serengeti. Our plan flies north and drives back south, so the return is a game drive.

In August, at the best-known points, yes. The park limits each crossing point to between 30 and 70 vehicles and sets a minimum distance from the bank. Late September and October are quieter, and a patient guide can often find a less busy point.

Last updated 3 October 2026

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