ENCOUNTERSAFRICA
8-Day River Crossing Safari

Kenya - Tanzania - Fly-in safari

8-Day River Crossing Safari

Duration
8 days
Countries
Kenya, Tanzania
Suited to
2-8 guests
Pricing
From USD 25,780

The journey

Updated on 23 August 2026

The Mara River crossings are not one event in one place. They happen at two clusters of crossing points, one in Kenya's Mara Triangle and one at Kogatende and Lamai in Tanzania's northern Serengeti, and the herds shuttle between them for months according to rain that has fallen somewhere you cannot see. Travellers who book only one side spend the week listening to what happened across the border. This programme puts you on both. Three nights at Angama Mara on the Oloololo escarpment, 300 metres above the Triangle, where the reserve caps vehicle numbers and prohibits off-road driving. Then a cross-border light aircraft, with Kenyan exit formalities at Migori and Tanzanian entry at Kogatende airstrip, and four nights at Sayari Camp on the northern bank of the Mara River, close enough to the Kogatende bridge that your guide can work either bank on the day. It is sold for July to October departures only, on peak-season rates, and the camps that matter in this window are usually gone twelve to eighteen months out. Crossings still cannot be promised. Position can.

Your camps, day by day

Stay 1

Onto the Escarpment

You land at Jomo Kenyatta, cross Nairobi to Wilson Airport and board the midday Mara flight. An hour later the aircraft drops onto the airstrip below the Oloololo escarpment and a Land Cruiser climbs the switchbacks to Angama Mara, three hundred metres above the Mara Triangle. Lunch on the deck with the whole plain laid out beneath you, then an afternoon drive down towards the river.

Stay 2

Reading the Riverbank

Out at first light with a packed breakfast and no fixed time to be back. Your guide works the crossing points between Purungat bridge and the Serena, reading which way the herds are drifting and where they are stacking up on the bank. Some mornings the wildebeest build for hours and then turn away. When they do go, the noise reaches you before the dust does.

Stay 3

The Triangle All Day

Another full day in the Mara Triangle, the western third of the reserve where vehicle numbers are capped and off-road driving is prohibited, so the grass stays intact and the crossing points stay uncluttered. Lunch is a cool box in the shade of a fig tree within sight of the water. Back up the escarpment at dusk for a hot bath and dinner under the stars.

Stay 4

Across the Border

After an early drive you fly south. The aircraft touches down at Migori for Kenyan exit formalities, then crosses the frontier and lands at Kogatende, where Tanzanian immigration clears you at a desk beside the strip. Twenty minutes later you are at Sayari Camp on the northern bank of the Mara River, fifteen tents under a stand of desert date trees, with an infinity pool facing the plain.

Stay 5

Both Banks at Kogatende

Sayari sits on the northern side of the river with the Kogatende bridge close by, so your guide can work either bank depending on what the herds decide overnight. The crossing points here are steeper and narrower than the Kenyan ones, and the crocodiles are resident rather than seasonal. You carry breakfast and lunch and stay out as long as the animals hold you.

Stay 6

Into the Lamai Wedge

A full day north of the river in the Lamai Wedge, the block of country between the Mara and the Kenyan border. Kopjes, open grassland and very few vehicles. This is where the herds spread out and graze between crossings, and where the northern Serengeti's lion prides and its resident leopards make their living well away from the crowds further south.

Stay 7

One More Crossing

Your last full day, and the plan depends entirely on where the wildebeest have moved overnight. If they are stacked on a bank you go and wait, for as long as it takes. If they are not, you walk with an armed Asilia guide for a couple of hours, look for cheetah on the Wogakuria plains, and finish with sundowners above the river.

Stay 8

Out Through Kilimanjaro

Breakfast at the edge of camp, then the short run to Kogatende and the light aircraft east across the Serengeti to Kilimanjaro International, a little over two hours with one technical stop. Your flight home leaves from there, so the backtrack through Nairobi is avoided entirely. Most travellers on this route buy an open-jaw ticket, in to Nairobi and out of Kilimanjaro.

Safari highlights

  • Both banks of the Mara River, in Kenya and in Tanzania
  • Angama Mara above the Mara Triangle crossing points
  • Sayari Camp at Kogatende, minutes from the Tanzanian banks
  • Cross-border light aircraft, immigration at the airstrip
  • July to October only, timed to the herds and the river
  • Full days out with packed meals and no fixed return time

What is included

Included

  • 7 nights accommodation, per person sharing
  • Road transfer Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Wilson Airport, Nairobi
  • Light aircraft Nairobi Wilson to Angama airstrip in the Mara Triangle
  • Cross-border light aircraft Mara Triangle to Kogatende via Migori, with immigration handled at both airstrips
  • Light aircraft Kogatende to Kilimanjaro International Airport on the final morning
  • Masai Mara reserve entry at USD 200 per adult per day and the USD 20 nightly Angama Foundation levy
  • Serengeti National Park entry at USD 83 per adult per 24 hours, the concession fee of about USD 71 per person per night and the Asilia conservation charge
  • All meals, house drinks and laundry at Angama Mara and Sayari Camp
  • Twice-daily game drives, guided walking at Sayari, bush meals and all airstrip transfers

Not included

  • International flights to and from Africa
  • Kenya electronic travel authorisation and Tanzania visa fees, about USD 30 and USD 50 respectively
  • Travel insurance, including medical evacuation cover
  • Premium drinks, champagne and reserve wines
  • Private game-viewing vehicle for crossing vigils, from about USD 550 per vehicle per day
  • Hot-air balloon safari over the Mara or the northern Serengeti, from about USD 550 per person
  • Gratuities and items of a personal nature, including spa treatments and curios

Frequently asked questions

Can you guarantee we will see a Mara River crossing?

No, and anyone who does is selling you something. Crossings depend on rain falling hundreds of kilometres away and on herd behaviour nobody can model. You can sit at a crossing point for three days in early September and watch nothing, then see four crossings in one afternoon. What we can control is position: seven nights inside the crossing zone, in both countries, with full days and packed meals so you are there when it starts.

How much does an 8-day Mara River crossing safari cost?

This programme starts from USD 25,780 per person sharing on July to October departures, and reaches about USD 28,980 with a private vehicle at both camps. That covers seven nights at Angama Mara and Sayari Camp, all meals, house drinks and laundry, every game activity, Masai Mara reserve entry at USD 200 per adult per day, Serengeti park and concession fees, and all four internal flights and transfers.

Are international flights included in a Kenya and Tanzania safari?

Not in this one. International flights to and from Africa are excluded and booked separately, normally as an open jaw into Nairobi and home out of Kilimanjaro. Everything inside Africa is included: the road transfer from Jomo Kenyatta to Wilson Airport, the light aircraft to the Mara Triangle, the cross-border sector to Kogatende, and the flight from Kogatende to Kilimanjaro International on the last morning.

Why do you need to stay on both sides of the Mara River?

Because the river is a border as well as a barrier. The Kenyan crossing points in the Mara Triangle and the Tanzanian ones at Kogatende lie roughly seventy kilometres apart with an international frontier between them, and no game vehicle crosses that frontier. If the herds are massed at Kogatende and you are booked only in Kenya, you cannot drive to them. Splitting three nights and four nights removes that risk.

When is the best time to see the Mara River crossings?

July to October, with mid-August to late September the most reliable window in most years. The herds usually reach the Mara River in Tanzania from late June, push north into Kenya through July and August, and drift back south from early October. This itinerary is sold only inside that window, on peak rates, because outside it the crossing points stand empty.

How far in advance do I need to book a July to October safari camp?

Twelve months is normal and eighteen is safer. Angama Mara and Sayari Camp both sell out their July to September inventory well over a year ahead, and seats on the cross-border light aircraft between the Mara and Kogatende are limited in the same period. If you are travelling in August on fixed dates, assume you are booking in the previous August.

Do I need a visa for both Kenya and Tanzania?

Yes, and they are handled separately. Kenya requires an electronic travel authorisation, currently about USD 30, applied for online before you fly. Tanzania issues a visa on arrival for most nationalities at about USD 50, or USD 100 for United States passport holders, and it is issued at the immigration desk beside Kogatende airstrip. A yellow fever certificate is required when entering Tanzania from Kenya.