Serengeti Migration: Month-by-Month Where-Are-the-Herds Calendar (2026)

The Serengeti wildebeest migration is not an event in a single month — it is a continuous 800-kilometre loop of roughly 1.5 million wildebeest, 350,000 zebra and 500,000 Thomson's gazelle moving clockwise through the 14,750 km² ecosystem (and across the Kenyan border into the Masai Mara) every calendar year. The single most consequential Tanzania-safari planning question is not whether to see the migration — it is which Serengeti lodge cluster sits closest to where the herds will be in the specific week of the trip. Book the wrong cluster against the calendar week and the trip's headline animal moves 200 kilometres away from the lodge; book the right cluster and the morning game drive opens onto 50,000-strong herds within twenty minutes of the camp gate.

This guide is the month-by-month answer. It covers the four lodge clusters (southern Ndutu, central Seronera, western Grumeti, northern Kogatende), the specific calendar weeks the herds occupy each cluster, the Mara River crossing window, the Ndutu calving peak, the long-rains gap, and the cluster-to-cluster booking decision against each month of 2026. For the named lodge property choices within each cluster see our companion Where to Stay: Arusha vs Serengeti Lodges (2026); for the night-count and fly-versus-drive routing decision see Tanzania Safari Routing: 3 vs 5 Nights, Fly vs Drive (2026); for the in-park luxury-camp round-up see Best Luxury Camps in the Serengeti 2026: Six Migration-Aligned Stays Tested.

The four clusters and the migration loop#

The Serengeti's wildebeest loop runs clockwise. The herds calve on the short-grass Ndutu plains in the south (December to March), drift north-west through the Moru Kopjes and the central Seronera valley (April to May), push into the western Grumeti corridor and stage the Grumeti River crossings (May to early July), continue north along the Lamai Wedge into the Mara River corridor at Kogatende (mid-July to early October), and then turn south again through Lobo and Loliondo back toward the Ndutu plains for the next calving (mid-October to November). The full loop covers roughly 800 kilometres and is driven by the rainfall gradient — the herds chase the fresh grass that follows the rains, which arrive on the short-grass plains in the south first and on the Mara-side longer-grass country last.

The four lodge clusters map onto the loop in sequence. Southern Ndutu (the short-grass calving plains on the Ndutu-Ngorongoro Conservation Area border) is the December-to-March anchor. Central Seronera (the Seronera Valley and the Moru and Simba kopjes) is the year-round resident-game anchor and the April-to-May transition cluster. Western Grumeti (the Singita private concession on the Grumeti River) is the May-to-early-July western-corridor cluster. Northern Kogatende (the Mara River corridor on the Tanzanian side of the Kenya border) is the mid-July-to-October crossings cluster. The October-to-November southbound return runs through Lobo and Loliondo and is the textbook quiet-shoulder window when the herds are moving fast and the cluster anchoring matters less.

December — the herds arrive on the southern plains#

The wildebeest reach the southern Ndutu and Salei plains in the first three weeks of December as the short rains green the short-grass country. The herds are spread across a wide area in early December (the Ndutu woodlands, the Hidden Valley, the Naabi Hill corridor, the Salei plains to the east) and the morning game drives run wide rather than concentrated — 60-to-90-kilometre loops out of the Ndutu lodge cluster are normal. The book is Lemala Ndutu, Olakira Migration Camp or Kusini Camp at the Ndutu cluster; the central Seronera anchor still works for travellers who want the year-round resident game programme as the second-cluster split.

January — the herds settle for calving#

The herds concentrate on the short-grass plains in the second half of January as the females reach the textbook drop-the-calf window. Predator density on the Ndutu plains rises sharply (the lion prides move down from the Naabi Hill rocks, the cheetah coalitions track the herd edges, the hyena clans stage at the calving sites), and the morning drives run tight 30-to-45-kilometre loops out of the Ndutu lodges. The book is the same Ndutu cluster, weighted toward Olakira Migration Camp for its physical proximity to the calving sites. Late January is also the textbook honeymoon-and-Christmas-decompression booking window — rate bands at the Ndutu cluster sit USD 950 to USD 1,250 per person per night all-inclusive (vs USD 1,450-plus at the July Kogatende equivalent).

February — the calving peak#

The textbook calving peak runs from the first week of February through the first week of March. Roughly 400,000 calves are born in a three-week window, with peak births at 8,000 per day in the central fortnight. The predator-action density on the plains during the peak is the highest of any Serengeti month, and the morning drives routinely include multiple kill sequences. February is the textbook first-Tanzania luxury edit calving booking — five Ndutu nights at Lemala Ndutu or Olakira plus two central Seronera nights at Dunia or Namiri Plains for the resident lion-and-cheetah programme is the textbook 7-night calendar.

March — the herds begin moving north#

The first half of March still delivers the calving programme at the Ndutu cluster; the second half sees the herds begin to drift north as the short rains taper and the southern plains begin to dry. The textbook mid-March booking is still the Ndutu cluster, but late-March bookings should weight toward the central Seronera cluster as the herds move through the Moru Kopjes corridor. The Ndutu mobile camps (Lemala Ndutu, Olakira) typically decamp in late March or early April for the long rains; the central Seronera permanent properties (Four Seasons Safari Lodge, Dunia, Namiri Plains) remain open year-round and are the right late-March book.

April — the long rains and the value window#

April is the long-rains month and the textbook value-rate window of the calendar. The southern Ndutu plains are wet, most mobile camps in the south have decamped, and the herds are spread through the central Seronera and the western corridor approaches as the new green grass appears. Game-viewing is genuinely strong on the central Seronera (the resident lions, the river-system game, the calving leftover predator concentration) but the bush is thicker and the photographic conditions are different from the dry-season standard. The rate bands at the central Seronera permanent properties drop USD 200 to USD 400 per person per night in April — Four Seasons, Dunia and Namiri Plains all run shoulder pricing through the month. The textbook April booking is the value-seeking traveller's first Tanzania; the textbook April booking is not the first-time bucket-list calendar.

May — the western corridor begins#

The herds reach the western Grumeti corridor in the second half of May as the long rains end and the western-corridor grass greens. The Singita Grumeti private concession (Sasakwa, Faru Faru, Sabora) is the right booking for the late-May and June calendar — the off-road and night-drive privileges of the 350,000-acre lease deliver a different game-viewing programme from the public Serengeti, and the herds begin to stage at the Grumeti River for the textbook western-corridor crossings. Central Seronera also works as the May anchor for travellers outside the Singita rate band; the Moru and Simba kopjes hold a meaningful subset of the herd through the month.

June — the Grumeti River crossings#

The Grumeti River crossings run in the textbook second half of June through the first week of July. The crossings are smaller-scale and less predictable than the August Mara River equivalent (the Grumeti is a narrower, deeper river with established crocodile populations and only three or four textbook crossing points along the Singita concession) but the relative absence of vehicle congestion on the private concession means the experience is markedly different from the high-density Mara crossings. The textbook June booking is four to five nights at Singita Faru Faru or Sabora, weighted toward the second half of the month for the crossing-week density. The rate band sits at USD 2,800 to USD 4,400 per person per night all-inclusive — materially above the rest of the Serengeti field and the comparison is to Botswana's Mombo or South Africa's Royal Malewane.

July — the herds reach Kogatende#

The vanguard of the herd reaches the northern Kogatende cluster in the second week of July, with the bulk of the 1.5-million-animal column arriving through the third and fourth weeks. The textbook Mara River crossing window opens in the last week of July and runs through August, September and into the first week of October. The right book for any second-half-of-July trip is Kogatende — Sayari Camp, Lamai Serengeti or Lemala Kuria Hills are the named lodges, and the rate band sits at USD 1,200 to USD 1,850 per person per night all-inclusive. First-half-of-July trips should split between Grumeti (for the tail end of the western-corridor herds) and Kogatende (for the leading edge of the Mara-side arrivals) on a three-and-two-night cluster split.

August — the peak crossings month#

August is the textbook peak Mara River crossings month. The herds stage at the Bologonja, Cottars and Kogatende crossing points on the Tanzanian side of the Mara River and the textbook crossings happen between 11am and 3pm when the herds have grazed the morning, watered, and pushed toward the river under the midday thermal pressure. A typical August week at Sayari or Lamai delivers three to five crossings witnessed in five nights, and the rate band rises USD 200 to USD 400 per person per night against the July equivalent (Sayari sits at USD 1,650 to USD 1,950 in August). The textbook August calendar is five Kogatende nights at Sayari or Lamai with no cluster split — the cluster delivers enough game-viewing variety on its own (the crossings, the resident lion prides on the Lamai Wedge, the kopje game on the Kogatende rocks) that the second-cluster transfer day rarely earns the trade-off.

September — the textbook second-best crossings month#

September delivers the textbook second-best crossings programme of the calendar. The herds are still on the Mara-side country and the crossings continue (the herds frequently cross north into the Kenyan Mara and back south again multiple times across August and September), but the textbook vehicle congestion on the Tanzanian side is lower than August — Sayari, Lamai and Kuria Hills all report quieter crossing-day scenes in September than in the August peak. The rate band is the same as August for most properties. The textbook September booking is the editor's-pick alternative to the August peak — same crossings programme, slightly quieter cluster.

October — the herds turn south#

The first week of October still delivers crossings; the second and third weeks see the herds begin the southbound return through Lobo and Loliondo as the short rains begin to fall on the southern plains. The textbook early-October booking is still Kogatende (the herds are still on the Mara-side country for the first week), but mid-October bookings should weight toward Lobo (the eastern Serengeti, the textbook southbound-return corridor) or central Seronera. The rate bands drop USD 200 to USD 400 per person per night against the September equivalent.

November — the southbound transition#

November is the textbook southbound-transition month and the textbook quiet-shoulder window of the calendar. The herds move fast through Lobo, Loliondo and the central Seronera corridor on the way back to the southern plains for the December arrival, and the textbook game-viewing programme is the central Seronera anchor (Four Seasons, Dunia, Namiri Plains) with the option of one Ndutu-anchor scouting night for the herds' leading edge. The rate band sits at the November shoulder level — USD 150 to USD 300 per person per night below the July-October peak. November is the textbook second-Tanzania value calendar.

The 2026 decision matrix#

Three rules of thumb. First, the migration's calendar-week location sets the cluster — Ndutu December through March, central Seronera or Grumeti April through June, Kogatende July through early October, Lobo and central Seronera mid-October through November. Second, the textbook crossings traveller should book Kogatende in August or September; the textbook calving traveller should book Ndutu in February or early March; the textbook quiet-shoulder traveller should book November or April. Third, the textbook three-night booking sits at a single cluster and the textbook five-night booking sits at one or two clusters; the cluster-to-cluster transfer day runs on the Coastal Aviation 11am-pickup and 1pm-arrival schedule and the textbook split-cluster patterns are Grumeti-plus-Kogatende in late June, Kogatende-plus-Lobo in early October, and Ndutu-plus-Seronera in February or November.

For the named property choices within each cluster see our Where to Stay: Arusha vs Serengeti Lodges (2026); for the in-park night-count and the fly-versus-drive decision see Tanzania Safari Routing: 3 vs 5 Nights, Fly vs Drive (2026); for the where to stay in Arusha bookend gateway routing see Arusha vs Kilimanjaro: Tanzania Safari Gateway (2026).