This 9-day Kenya and Tanzania safari follows the great migration across the border that the herds ignore. Three nights in the Masai Mara, guided personally by Dexter Kariuki; then three in the northern Serengeti and two on the Ngorongoro Crater rim with his licensed Tanzanian partner guide. It is planned as one trip, with Dexter as your single point of contact.
From around July to October the herds are in both places at once: in the Mara and in the northern Serengeti, either side of the Mara River. Seeing both gives you twice the chance of a river crossing and two very different perspectives on the same spectacle, before the Ngorongoro Crater adds black rhino and its extraordinary self-contained world.
One honest note: crossing between Kenya and Tanzania means a travel day of connecting light-aircraft flights. Dexter plans the routing so it costs you as little bush time as possible.
Dexter meets you in Nairobi and you fly straight to the Masai Mara. The afternoon drive sets the tone: wide skies, open grass, and the herds stretching to the horizon.
Two full days with Dexter on the Mara, waiting at the river for the herds to gather their nerve and cross, and tracking the lion, leopard and cheetah that follow them.
A travel day by light aircraft into Tanzania, where your partner guide meets you at the airstrip in the northern Serengeti. An evening drive to find the herds on the other bank.
Two full days in the far north of the Serengeti, quieter than the Mara and right in the path of the migration. More chances at the river, and vast, empty plains in between.
Fly to the central Serengeti and drive on through the highlands to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, arriving for sunset over the caldera.
A dawn descent onto the crater floor for a full day among lion, buffalo, flamingo and, with luck, black rhino.
Drive down from the highlands to Kilimanjaro airport for your onward flight.
8 days The classic northern Tanzania circuit, timed to the migration: Tarangire's baobabs and elephants, a day inside the Ngorongoro Crater, then three nights in the Serengeti wherever the herds are that month.
7 days Two of Kenya's great wildernesses in one unhurried week: the wild north of Samburu, then the big-cat country of the Masai Mara. Three nights in each, light aircraft between them, and Dexter at the wheel.
Tell Dexter your dates. He'll tell you where the herds are likely to be and plan the crossing around them.
It's in Nairobi Dexter replies usually within a day