The Great Migration Photography Safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara really needs no further introduction but certainly needs to be seen at least once in the lifetime of every photographer and wildlife enthusiast.
This will be the third year that we have visited this wonderful spectacle, and every year just gets better and better. In our opinion, the months of Late August and September are the sweet spot to capture the migration in all its glory, with fewer cars around than there are in peak season – August. Nature is unpredictable, but we have always had successful safaris in the Mara at this time of year.
We bring in our own vehicles and expert guides and include a hot-air balloon trip on every safari, this safari is always a photo highlight of the year for all involved guests!
Itinerary
Our Kenya wildlife photography tour starts in Nairobi this evening with an overnight stay at the comfortable Tamarind Tree Hotel, situated not far from Wilson Airport (which serves the Maasai Mara camps and lodges).
Providing you are arriving at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport today, a meeting and transfer to our hotel will be provided.
This morning we transfer to at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, from where we take a flight westward across Kenya’s savanna and hill landscapes to the famous Maasai Mara, our base for the next ten nights. Here we will stay at the marvellous Entim Camp, situated right beside the Mara River in the heart of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya.
Throughout this tour, the tented safari camps we use are truly ‘luxury lodges under canvas’ rather than camps as such. With a modern touch added to the very comfortable conditions, they bring out the spirit, although not the rough conditions, of the big game safaris of the early twentieth century.
We will arrive in the Maasai Mara in time to take our first wildlife photography drive this afternoon.
We will spend these nine full days exploring Kenya’s famous Maasai Mara, with its abundance of large mammals and diverse birdlife.
Our daily routine here will typically start with a morning safari, during which breakfast is taken al fresco on the plains, often under a flat-topped acacia, whilst watching the herds and often in the company of a Topi, the Mara’s most diligent predator spotter, sometimes perched upon a termite mound.
After lunch, there will be some time to relax before going out for the afternoon drive.
We have the option to either have full days out in the field on occasion, when both breakfast and lunch can be served out on the savanna, or we can return to camp for lunch.
Big cats are a very prominent feature of Kenya’s Maasai Mara and, as well as Lions, both Cheetahs and Leopards are fairly straightforward to find.
We are definitely at ‘Predator Central’ here and there can be few, if any, wildlife spectacles anywhere in the world, that can rival the tension, drama and emotion of a Mara River crossing. As many as a million Blue Wildebeest and 200,000 Common Zebras attempt this epic journey each year. Watching as thousands of wildebeest and zebras gather at a crossing point you can almost feel the pressure build on the animals at the front as they consider the right time to attempt to cross the dangerous waters of the crocodile-infested Mara River. It is, however, a time of plenty for the gigantic Nile Crocodiles that live in the river and lie in wait as hundreds of thousands of animal’s head north from the vast Serengeti Plains of Tanzania and cross into adjacent Kenya to feed on the lush Mara grasslands. The foaming waters, noise and drama of a Mara River crossing has to be experienced to be believed and offers dramatic action photo opportunities.
Travelling around the Mara in purpose-built Toyota Landcruisers with open sides and roofs, and with specially built platforms for bean bags or for attaching photographic tripod heads, we will be able to get up close to all kinds of photogenic wildlife, including Lion cubs, magnificent old males and Lions on a kill, Cheetahs, Leopards and Servals.
After a final game drive this morning we will take a late morning flight from the Maasai Mara back to Nairobi, where our Kenya: Maasai Mara Migration photography tour ends at Wilson Airport around noon.
We can arrange a transfer for you to any Nairobi hotel on request. Day rooms or overnight stays, and international airport transfers can be arranged, according to your requirements
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