Klein's Camp is located in a private concession on the edge of the Kuka Hills, with incredible views all the way to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

The camp enjoys exclusive use of a private land concession covering 39 square miles (100 square kms) that borders both the Serengeti National National Park to the west and Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve to the north.

The camp sits high atop one of the Kuka Hills and offers arguably the best panoramic views of any camp in the Greater Serengeti, with a picturesque landscape of wooded hills, rolling grasslands, and riparian forests along several rivers.

The camp also lies directly in the path of the iconic Great Migration of over two million herbivores, one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world.

Activities at Klein's Camp include safari drives (including optional night drives to enjoy nocturnal wildlife activity), guided bush walks, and cultural visits to a Maasai village. As the camp is located just outside the national park, sensitive off-road driving is permitted to allow for close wildlife viewing for big cats and other special sightings. The private concession enjoys regular lion pride sightings and because this is the only camp in the area, there are never other vehicles around.

Klein's Camp offers 10 quaint guest cottages built from local stone and with 'makuti-palm' thatched roofs. The comfortable cottages have rich wooden floors and classic East African décor. Two of the cottages are connected by an interior passage which can be opened, creating a perfect double-cottage that is great for a family or two couples traveling together.

The camp's main area reflects the ruggedly beautiful landscape of the Kuka Hills with its vintage safari style. The stone interiors of the guest areas open up to breathtaking panoramas, with open fireplaces to keep the chill away. There are two beautifully furnished main buildings, one with a bar and lounge and the other used for dining. Outdoor areas include a traditional boma and a swimming pool that offers spectacular vistas into the valley and hills beyond.

Many of the the staff members at Klein’s Camp are Maasai and over 90% of them hail from the surrounding communities. Guests will be able to enjoy learning about the Maasai culture by merely speaking to their safari guide. The staff are all warm and friendly and a visit to the camp will surely inspire anyone with an interest in this ancient and fascinating culture.

For guests with an interest in learning more about the Maasai traditions and their ancient way of living, the camp offers guided visits to a Maasai boma or the local Maasai community, including a school and clinic, which will provide an understanding of the challenges of contemporary Maasai life.

About the Serengeti

The Greater Serengeti is part of an extensive ecosystem that includes Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and other reserves, wildlife management areas, and game controlled areas.

The Greater Masai Mara (directly to the north in Kenya) includes the Masai Mara National Reserve, as well as numerous private Mara conservancies. Together, the combined Greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, which combines the areas described above, covers roughly 15 000 square miles (39 000 sq kms).

The Serengeti-Mara is home to a very large number and diversity of wild animals and is also the location of the well-known "Great Migration" of over 2 million herbivores (read more below). This is arguably Africa's greatest overall wildlife destination.

Wildlife densities in the Greater Serengeti are some of the highest in Africa, with commonly seen herbivores including blue wildebeest, plains zebra, Thomson's gazelle, topi, Grant's gazelle, hartebeest, giraffe, elephant, buffalo, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog, and many others. Predators seen often include lion, leopard, spotted hyena, cheetah, serval, and jackal. Hippo and crocodile are found in large numbers in the larger rivers, including the Mara River and the Grumeti River.

About the Northern Serengeti

The northern sector of Serengeti National Park is characterized by dense Acacia woodlands interspersed with rolling grassland and some areas of riparian forest along the various waterways, including the Mara River.

Some parts of the migration are present in the northern Serengeti between June and October and resident wildlife viewing is generally good all year. Most of the Serengeti's elephants are found in the north, and there are also good resident numbers of zebra, buffalo, warthog, and gazelle.

The Lobo area is very good for wildlife from late-September through October when the wildebeest and zebra migration passes through on its way back south from Kenya, heading towards the southern plains. Lobo Kopjes, a group of huge granite boulders, is a favorite hangout for prides of lions and also attracts leopards, spotted hyenas, and sometimes cheetahs.

Most of the safari camps are situated along or very near to the Mara River, which becomes the focal point of action when the migration arrives sometime around August. The drama unfolds when the herds congregate and eventually cross en masse with plenty of huge and hungry crocodiles in wait.

The Great Migration

One of nature's greatest living spectacles is the Great Migration, a term given to describe the year-long, circular, clockwise march of over two million herbivores across the Serengeti and Masai Mara grasslands. The migration animals are made up entirely of two species: the blue wildebeest and the plains zebra (the majority of which are wildebeests).

The migrating herds follow their instincts to seek out fresh grazing and so the migration is ongoing, with the herds ever moving and taking a full year to complete a cycle across the Serengeti and Masai Mara. The animals move not as one herd, but as tens of thousands of animals in multiple herds of various sizes and spread out for many miles as they move.

The wildebeests and zebras take advantage of strongly seasonal conditions, spending the wet season (November through May) on the plains of Tanzania's Serengeti and the dry season in Kenya's Masai Mara. The wildebeests give birth between January and March on the short grass plains in the southern Serengeti.

The timing of the migration is rarely ever the same year-to-year, as local conditions influence grass growth and as such, the location of the bulk of there animals cannot be known precisely. Rains and other unknown conditions seem to direct the timing of the migration, but generally, it is known within several weeks when the animals will be in a general location.

The animals spread out to cover a vast area, but the main bulk of the animals moves south into the northern Serengeti around late-October and continue moving south towards the Serengeti's southern plains, arriving there sometime in January to graze on the rich grass growing on the volcanic soils. It is here on these short-grass plains, between January and early March, when the wildebeests give birth to their young en masse, producing some 500 000 baby wildebeests.

The herds remain on the southern short-grass plains until late March, giving the young animals time to grow and become strong, before heading north and west again. Many of the animals move towards the Serengeti's Western Corridor and Grumeti Reserve and the rest straight north into Central and Northern Serengeti, where they remain during June and into July. The herds move back into Kenya starting in late July, with the bulk moving into the Masai Mara in August.

Although many visitors time their visit to the Serengeti to coincide with the Migration, any region within the Serengeti offers very good wildlife viewing outside of the months when the migration may be present. This is because it is only the wildebeests and zebras that migrate, while the rest of the animals, including the major predators like lion, leopard, spotted hyena, and cheetah, as well as all the other herbivores, including springbok, gazelles, elephant, topi, hartebeest, and many others, do not migrate.

A popular aspect of experiencing the Great Migration is observing a herd as it crosses the Mara River, which requires animals swimming through waters inhabited by large Nile crocodiles that wait for a chance to get their first substantial meal in many months.

The dramatic river crossings (which take place along the Mara River in both Kenya and Tanzania) are certainly a spectacle and not for the faint of heart, with many of the wildebeest and zebras taken by crocs or succumbing to drowning or trampling in the chaos. The best chances for seeing a Grumeti River crossing is in June, while Mara River crossings are best in July and August.