Sayari Camp is optimally positioned only a few minutes' drive from the Mara River in a superb year-round wildlife area in the far Northern Serengeti, which is visited annually by the Great Migration.

The camp's location allows guests quick access to the Mara River, where dramatic crossings entailing a dangerous swim through waters with hungry crocodiles. The migrating wildebeests and zebras visit the area around Sayari annually between July and October before heading further north into Kenya and the Masai Mara.

Outside of the migration months, the area is home to plentiful wildlife, including lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, topi, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, hartebeest, Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, warthog, and more. Rhino are occasionally seen.

Activities at Sayari Camp include daytime game drives, guided bush walks (seasonally during the high season when the grass is short), picnics along the Mara River, birding, hot-air ballooning, cultural experiences with the local Kuria tribe, and spa treatments. Families with children are welcome and special activities for kids are included.

Sayari Camp offers 15 luxurious, tented guest suites, one of which is a two-bedroom family tent and one of which is a 'honeymoon' tent with a private plunge pool. All of the tents have wrap-around outdoor verandas giving superb views over the Serengeti plains. The en-suite facilities are plumbed and include both indoor and outdoor showers and a chic bathtub.

The camp's guest suites are divided into two separate but adjacent 'wings', one with 6 tents and the other with 9 tents. Each wing has its own dining and lounge area in the middle of the camp. There is a large infinity swimming pool that is build into the natural rock formation in front of the camp. A spa offering a variety of wellness treatments and massages is another excellent way to relax between safari activities.

Unique to the camp, the solar-powered Sayari Microbrewery produces a selection of craft beers, purified water, sparkling water, and soft drinks. On-site drink production reduces the use of plastic and bottles.

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 hilly northern sector of Serengeti National Park stretches north from the central Seronera portion of the park all the way to the Mara River and the Kenya border. The northern sector is characterized by Acacia thickets and rolling grasslands and comprises about one-third of the park.

Besides the Mara River, which is the focal point of dramatic river crossings by wildebeests and zebras in from around late July into September, the northern sector also includes part of the Grumeti River and the well-known Lobo region, with its dramatic rock formations known as 'kopjes'.

Most of the safari camps in the north are situated along or very near to the Mara River, which becomes the focal point of action when the migrating herds of wildebeest and zebra arrives sometime around early August. This area along the Mara River is known as 'Kogatende' and the proliferation of camps along the river is due to the incredible wildlife viewing opportunities here when the herds arrive. The drama unfolds when the herds congregate and eventually cross the Mara River en masse with plenty of huge crocodiles in wait. August is the peak month for river crossings, but Kogatende offers superb wildlife viewing from August thru October.

The Lobo area, which is located in the southern extent of the northern sector and along the eastern border of the national park, is excellent during late September and 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 large prides of lions and also draws leopards, spotted hyenas, and even cheetahs.

Excluding the migration period, the overall wildlife viewing in the north is not as spectacular as the more "classic" and open areas further south in Seronera and the Southern Plains, but there is still good resident wildlife in the north. 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 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.