tanzania: great migration safari

In the right months the odds are good, but a crossing can never be promised and no honest percentage exists.

The herds usually reach the far north of the Serengeti in July, and crossings run from about late July into October, with August and September the peak. Even then the wildebeest may mass on the bank for hours or days, turn back, or cross somewhere else, so what improves your chances is time and patience.

Three or four nights in the area is the usual advice, and this route gives you three in the Lamai Wedge. Because the vehicle and guide at Nyasi are yours alone, you can stay at the river all day when a build-up looks promising, where a shared vehicle may have to turn for camp.

Outside those months the herds are elsewhere and the river is quiet, so on this trip the dates matter more than anything else.

For the river crossings, travel between July and October.

Those are the strongest months on our own reckoning at every stop on this route: the herds are in the north, the crater and Tarangire are dry, and August and September are the peak for the crossings and for Tarangire's elephant herds. They are also the busiest months, at the highest rates.

February is the other month we rate highly in the Serengeti, for the calving on the southern plains near Mwiba, but the herds are then a long way from the Lamai Wedge, so we would move the northern nights south.

November to January sits in between: short rains, green country, migrant birds, newborn animals, fewer vehicles and often lower rates, though the wildebeest are on the move and harder to place.

April and May bring the long rains and are the months we rate lowest almost everywhere on the route. Chem Chem closes from early April to mid-May.

As the sample route is written you travel by road throughout, and two legs are long: Arusha to the far north of the Serengeti, and from there south to Mwiba.

If you would rather not spend those days driving, we can arrange flights for both as a change to the route. A light aircraft, typically a Cessna Grand Caravan, reaches the Lamai airstrip from Arusha in an hour to an hour and a half, against what one airline calls up to eight hours of dusty road.

Nyasi is about an hour's game drive from the airstrip. Mwiba has its own airstrip, fifteen minutes from the lodge. The later drives are shorter: a little over two hours from Gibb's Farm to Chem Chem, and about two hours on to Arusha.

Any flight can be a private charter, typically in a Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12. Scheduled flights usually limit luggage to 15 kilograms a person, hand luggage included, and ask for soft bags.

It is a full day and rarely a quiet one, and still worth doing.

Gibb's Farm is about half an hour from the conservation area gate. From there the road climbs to the rim and then drops some 600 metres to a crater floor of about 260 square kilometres. The descent road closes at 4pm and driving anywhere in the conservation area stops at 6pm, so an early start buys the most time on the floor.

The rim can be close to freezing at dawn, so bring a warm layer. You stay in the vehicle except at the designated picnic sites, which is why the farm packs lunch.

Be ready for company: the crater is small, open and popular, and it is busy all year. In return the floor holds lion, elephant and buffalo in plain view, and it is a good place to look for black rhino, which most visitors see, though not everyone.

Yes, with some thought about ages.

Nyasi and Mwiba both describe themselves as suited to families with children of four and over, Nyasi has a family tent, and Chem Chem welcomes children from four, asking those under 15 to share with an adult.

The limits come with the activities, not the beds. Walking in big game country is the main one: camps across Africa usually set a minimum age of 12, 14 or 16 for walks. At Mwiba the guide has the final say on the day, so younger children should expect to stay on wheels while older teenagers can usually join.

Long days waiting at the Mara River also ask a lot of small children, but because the vehicle is private at Nyasi and Mwiba the day can be cut to suit them. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will confirm each camp's rules before you book.

Yes. This is a sample route and most of it can move.

What cannot move is the migration: the herds are near the Lamai Wedge only from about July to October, so for a trip between January and March we would swap the northern nights for the southern plains, where the wildebeest calve within reach of Mwiba, and keep the rest.

Nights are easy to shift as well. A fourth night at the river improves your chance of a crossing, and the crater needs only one full day if you would like the time elsewhere. A beach ending is simple, since there is a scheduled flight of about two hours from Arusha to Zanzibar.

The fixed points are few: Chem Chem closes from early April to mid-May, and with only eight to ten rooms at Nyasi, Mwiba and Chem Chem we would start planning the crossing months as early as you can.