Olakira Mara Camp

• Olakira Mara Camp is a high specification mobile tented camp which is deployed in a remote location in the extreme north of the Serengeti from the start of June to the middle of November.
• The camp provides an authentic safari experience, with animals often passing through camp, including lions and elephants during the night, which can be quite exciting.
• It is pleasantly small, being centred on a pair of open-sided tents containing the lounge and dining areas, leading out to a campfire. Guest accommodation is in just eight large and lovely guest tents with private bathrooms.
• The whole place is elegantly presented and genially hosted.
• This extreme northern part of the Serengeti offers very solid game-viewing year round, with a wider range of resident wildlife including all the usual suspects except for rhinos.
• The main wildebeest and zebra migration is usually in the area Jul/Oct and this is a major area for river crossings, which are generally considered to be a major highlight of the safari year. These also happen to be the main dry season months, so it really is the place to be at this time.
• The camp can also be used as a base for ballooning, it being situated suitably close to the main take-off area, which needs to be accessed well before dawn.
• There may also be opportunities to visit local village and interact with local people, notably to the west of the reserve, where the camp operates community gardens to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the camp kitchen. There may also be the chance to visit a traditional Kuria homestead and local market.

• A potentially significant negative is that separate groups of guests at this camp are often obliged to join together when out on safari. This is quite common for camps in this particular area, but can come as quite a shock if you have spent the previous few days travelling through the region with a private vehicle and driver-guide. The issue can be side-stepped by booking a private safari vehicle, but this bumps the cost considerably.
• This is the prime reason that we tend to most often use the nearby Serian Serengeti North and even the much lower cost Kimburu Camp, both of which offer private vehicles to all groups as standard.
• One thing which really upsets us is the vehicle clustering that may occur in the vicinity of migration river crossings. It is such a shame that you travel to such a remote location and then find yourself parked in line with several other vehicles. True this is nothing compared with the sometimes horrific scenes over on the Kenyan side of the border, where 100 or more vehicles is not that uncommon, but it is a shame nonetheless. We all want our own private viewing, but clearly that’s not going to be possible. Our advice is not to get too hung up on crossings. Our guides will help you plan your day in a way which will be out of the “touristic trap” – take a gamble by heading to a more remote but lesser used crossing site. The crossings are not all that there is, there is so much more to enjoy in this gorgeous safari area and plenty of space in which to do it.
• There can also be considerable vehicle clustering at Kogatende Airstrip during high season, since almost everyone comes in through the same location at the same time, which greatly exaggerates how busy the area is.
• Another major issue is the shortage of availability. We recommend booking camps in this area at least six months in advance for the peak Jul/Aug/Sep season.

Serengeti Mara : 11JAN/28FEB

At this time the wildebeest migration should be far off to the south and out of range.

Safari at this time is therefore very much focussed on resident wildlife, which is actually rather good. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 01MAR/20MAY

At this time the wildebeest migration should be far off to the south and out of range.

Safari at this time is therefore very much focussed on resident wildlife, which is actually rather good. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 21MAY/30JUN

At this time the wildebeest migration should be far off to the south and out of range.

Safari at this time is therefore very much focussed on resident wildlife, which is actually rather good. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 01JUL/31JUL

Some time during July the migration herds should start to arrive into this area from the south. We generally think of the 20th as being the turning point, after that date this becomes the prime Serengeti area, before that date it remains a lovely location but for migration action Serengeti North is probably a better bet, if otherwise less attractive.

Additionally the area has rather good resident wildlife. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 01AUG/31OCT

During this whole period August to October the wildebeest migration should be straddling the Tanzania Kenya border, with large parts of it within range of the camps in this Serengeti Mara area.

Additionally the area has rather good resident wildlife. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 01NOV/14DEC

This is a period of potentially fast migration movement and therefore is difficult to predict.

The zebra and wildebeest herds have been straddled across the Kenya/Tanzania border for most of this dry season and by November their condition is really starting to deteriorate. The zebra seem to be the ones who decide when and where the herds should move and about now they start to look out for the first signs of lightning strikes on the mountains of Ngorongoro far to the south. They cannot move away from the river unless they feel confident that rain will come to fill the seasonal pools out amongst the better grazing, so this is a tough call for them. Some herd leaders tend to be more bullish and head out on the first lightning strike, whilst the tail enders may not start to move until weeks or even months later when they feel the cool splash of rain on their backs.

Some years during this season the migration will be entrenched along the Mara and should be accessible to camps in this area. Other years the herds move early and are off to the south by the early part of November, well out of range of the camps here.

If the herds have moved out then there should still be rather good resident wildlife. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

Serengeti Mara : 15DEC/10JAN

At this time the wildebeest migration should be far off to the south and out of range.

Safari at this time is therefore very much focused on resident wildlife, which is actually rather good. Because of the presence of year round water in the Mara river, the plains here support a good population of herbivores from impala to giraffe, attended by good numbers of lion, cheetah and hyena. Elephant are usually to be found, hippo and crocodile in the river and a wide range of other wildlife besides.

During the Jul/Oct dry season we tend to recommend the Serengeti Mara area to virtually all guests who have a sufficient budget. However if you would rather keep a tighter lid on costs, then don’t worry, we will still put together an awesome safari for you, as we did for so many years before the area opened up.

If you are a more experienced safari traveller, then you may well also consider visiting this area outside the main migration season, when the landscapes are still beautiful, the wildlife plentiful, the prices lower and there is virtually nobody around.

Olakira Mara Camp is a classic luxury tented safari camp, one of the very best in this lovely area. It has long been a favourite with our guests, there seems to have been a particularly good dynamic with the staff here over the years. During those peak months of Jul/Oct, this really is the key area for migration action.

The usual stay duration is 03 to 05 nights.