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Wildlife

Big Five behaviour, birdlife, predators, and the animals nobody asks about — notes from actual game drives.

A safari adventurer sitting on top of safari Landcruiser in Masai Mara, Kenya

Why You Can’t Wear Black on Safari (It’s Not a Style Rule)

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The real reason, not the style reason
Most packing lists just say avoid black without explaining why, which makes it sound like a fashion rule. It isn’t. Tsetse flies, found in parts of East Africa’s bush and woodland areas, are visually attracted to dark, contrasting colours, and black and navy are the worst offenders.

What a tsetse bite is actually like
It’s not dangerous in the areas most safari routes cover, but it hurts — a sharp, immediate bite that most people describe as worse than a horsefly. Multiple bites in dark clothing on a single game drive is a genuinely unpleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Why khaki and beige actually work
Neutral, light tones don’t trigger the same visual attraction. That’s the entire reason safari colours became a convention in the first place — it long predates being a look, and became a look because it worked.

Other colours worth knowing about
Bright white can make you very visible to wildlife you’re trying to observe quietly, and bright blue has similar tsetse-attraction properties to black in some regions. Neutral khaki, beige, and olive remain the most functional choices across the board.

What this actually means for packing
You don’t need an entirely new wardrobe, just avoid your darkest pieces for game-drive days specifically. A dark layer for cool mornings and evenings back at camp is fine — it’s daytime bush exposure that matters.

Wildebeest crossing the Mara River

The Great Migration, month by month: where the herds actually are

Why timing matters
The “Great Migration” isn’t a single event — it’s a continuous, roughly circular movement of around two million wildebeest and zebra, chasing fresh grazing across Tanzania and Kenya. Because the trigger is rainfall, not a date on a calendar, the herds can run one to three weeks ahead of or behind a “typical” year. An itinerary built around a fixed date books a place; one built around where the herds are that season books the migration.

January–March: calving season
The herds are concentrated in the southern Serengeti’s short-grass plains, where roughly 500,000 calves are born within a few short weeks. It’s calmer than the crossings, but the predator action around vulnerable newborns is some of the most dramatic wildlife viewing of the year.

April–May: the long rains
Many camps quiet down for the long rains as the herds begin moving north and west. Roads can be difficult, but this is also when rates are lowest and the landscape is at its greenest — a genuine trade-off, not just an off-season to avoid.

July–September: river crossings
This is what most people picture when they think “migration” — herds massing at the Mara and Talek rivers before crossing, with crocodiles waiting. It’s the busiest and most requested window, which also means the busiest camps. Booking 9–12 months ahead matters more here than in any other season. Crossings can’t be scheduled — guides position based on herd behaviour that morning. Mornings tend to produce more crossings than afternoons, and a 3–4 night stay gives meaningfully better odds than a single overnight.

October–December: the return south
The herds drift back south through the Serengeti as the short rains begin, setting up for calving season again. Fewer visitors are on the ground, and sightings are more about the resident wildlife than the migration spectacle itself.

Planning notes
We build every migration-timed itinerary around the current season’s actual reports from guides on the ground, not a generic monthly chart — conditions shift enough year to year that the difference matters. If a river crossing is the priority, tell us that specifically; it changes which camps and which exact weeks we’ll suggest.