Introduction
Mara holds the northern Serengeti and the river that gives the region its name, and on its opposite side it reaches Lake Victoria. It is the part of the ecosystem where the grassland runs to the Kenyan border and the same landscape continues under another name — and it is a working lake region as well as a safari one.
Overview
The northern Serengeti is thinner on the ground than the central plains and considerably wilder in feel: rolling grassland broken by rocky outcrops, riverine forest along the watercourses, and far fewer vehicles than the areas closer to the main gates. It is best known for a few weeks in the middle of the year when the migrating herds reach the Mara river and cross it, and that reputation both understates and distorts the place. The river runs year-round, the woodland along it holds elephant, leopard and hippo permanently, and the resident lion prides of the north do not leave when the wildebeest do. Come in the crossing months and you are in the middle of the most photographed event in African wildlife, with the crowds that implies at the known crossing points. Come outside them and you have one of the emptiest parts of the Serengeti largely to yourself. Away from the park, the region runs west to Lake Victoria, where Musoma sits on a headland and the shoreline is a working economy of fishing villages, boat yards and ferries out to inhabited islands — a Tanzania with no safari content at all, an hour and a world from the park boundary, and one almost no visitor sees.
Discover Mara
The Serengeti's northern reaches feel different from the central plains: more folded ground, more rock and riverine forest, longer sightlines broken by hills rather than the flat immensity further south. Camps here are fewer and generally smaller, and the drive between sightings is longer — which is the trade, and which is why this end of the park suits second-time visitors and photographers more than first-timers on a tight schedule. In the crossing months the north is where the migration is, and the migration guide sets out when that is and why it cannot be predicted precisely. What deserves saying here is what the north is when the herds are elsewhere. The resident wildlife does not migrate: lion prides hold territory year-round, elephant work the riverine woodland, leopard are as findable here as anywhere in the country, and the absence of both wildebeest and vehicles makes for a quieter, more searching kind of game drive. Several camps stay open through the low months precisely for this, and rates fall accordingly. If your interest is the ecosystem rather than one event, the north out of season is among the best value in Tanzanian safari.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Folded grassland, rock outcrops and riverine forest, with fewer camps and markedly fewer vehicles than the central plains.
Permanent water with resident hippo and crocodile, riverine forest and birdlife — and the crossing points in season.
Lion prides, elephant and leopard that do not migrate, in an emptier park at lower rates from November to June.
Musoma's headland town, fishing villages, papyrus inlets and boats to inhabited islands with no tourism economy at all.
Frequently asked questions
Treat this Visaja page as your starting point: verify the current rules directly with the official source before you submit an application.