By every account this year is set to be a super safari season in East Africa! 

If the migration was on the cards this year but you haven’t set plans for July, August into September in either the Serengeti or Mara then it’s almost too late with space in the best small tented and mobile camps nearly gone.

If we look beyond the obvious it’s still not too late to find some of Tanzania’s better places and to skip the crowds as well. 

For the rest of the 2007 season in Tanzania we’ve focused on ...

• the northern Serengeti - to spots visited by fewer than 5% of the visitors to the park
• the Selous - back to our roots...walking safaris and fly-camps
• Katavi – remote, with exceptional wildlife and probably the highest game to visitor ratio in Africa
• Mahale – Katavi’s perfect compliment, home to the world’s largest chimpanzee population

Very generous rains in Kenya and Tanzania from October to December last year have settled to a more traditional pattern - good rains/dry days ... and now more sporadic and patchy showers during March. 

The bulk of the migration is generally milling around between the short and medium grass plains in the southern Serengeti; the calving period is nearly over and the herds should start their search for sustenance to the north and west during the next month or so ... let’s just see what the rains do...

The migration doesn’t follow theory as the great herds go forward, then back and to the sides, mill around for a bit, split up, rejoin forces, then walk in a line, then spread out, then hang around and suddenly march off with a sense of urgency...

One way or another the changing season is going to drive the migration out of the southern plains...not long to go now...

So, like predators too, safari-goers are anticipating their own convergence on the central Serengeti and some precious places on Kenya's Mara during the annual holiday season from late June to early September. 

Most of our 2007 guests have secured quiet slots on mobile, tented or fly-in trips through the season...the team will be taking good care and we look forward to your feedback. 

If a migration safari is your plan for 2008 then go to our planning guidelines and reserve your slot before this season is out.

If you want to catch it this season, chances are limited and your choice is simple...

Why join the masses in the central Seronera or fight over slots around the Ngorongoro Crater when the real action is happening away from the crowds? 

If you’re looking for a private piece of the migration, walking on foot or night drives then we can offer guides, location and means.  Join us as we go north! 

Our greater Serengeti safari is a varied and flexible approach to exploring the northern circuit and takes best year round advantage of the region’s wildlife, its cultural aspects and in particular the highlights of the most important spots in the Serengeti, Loliondo and Tarangire as the seasons change through each year. 

We fly between semi-permanent and seasonal camps and have private vehicles and guides in each location. 

There’s very limited space in these small shared camps during the peak of the season but why not consider catching the migration in the northern Serengeti where

• fewer than 5% of the Serengeti’s visitors actually visit yet
• up to 30% of the migration could remain in the Serengeti whilst the rest move into the Maasai Mara. 

A typical 7 night all inclusive safari costs around $4200 per person sharing (that's only around £2100) - find out more about our greater Serengeti safari.

Fortunately there’s no conventional “southern circuit” in Tanzania but the Selous is an easy connection from Dar and a simple combination with Zanzibar – a popular drawcard. 

So just in case that’s too tempting for the crowds we prefer to step out into the bush, get back to basics and adopt a traditional approach.  We go walking…

The focus is on flycamping with professional guides, fully serviced temporary camps and easy walking through some of the wilder spots in the Selous. 

The highlights are diverse habitats, dramatic scenery, large herds of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo, hippos and crocs on the rivers and lakes, loads of elephant and great birding.

We run these safaris on a private or shared basis in two different areas of the Selous – ideally 5 days and only available from July to October.

We still have slots, find out more about our Selous walking safaris .

Whilst most focus on Tanzania’s traditional spots in the north and some venture south to Selous and Ruaha, a few intrepid visitors tackle Katavi - Tanzania's third largest and wildest safari destination by far. 

The park lies in the Rukwa Rift just east of Lake Tanganyika.  Dense brachystegia woodlands are cut by seasonal rivers with broad floodplains further broken up by the great seasonal lakes of Chada and Katavi.  With access very restricted in the rains, Katavi is best between June and November when game concentrations are at their greatest.

Tsetse fly and dry heat during the season are small prices to pay for intense game viewing without crowds. The park has massive herds of buffalo, elephant, zebra and giraffe in the woodlands and plains. The dormant riverbeds and remaining pools are home to huge pods of mud-wallowing hippos and cave-dwelling crocodiles and attract plains game and predators in a big way – there’s no shortage of safari-action in Katavi!

Some highlights from our most recent trip to Katavi (John - October 2006):

• Reception at camp was a lion kill 200m from my tent
• Manie and I estimated 2500 hippo in a single mud wallow
• Estimated 7000 buffalo in the park and 4000 plus elephants
• Saw 17 roan, some eland – missed sable...just
• In a 4 km stretch of the river we picked up 27 lions in separate prides on 5 consecutive days – fighting (hyaena, other lions), hunting (buffalo, bushbuck, zebra), mating, feeding and doing a bit of sleeping – quite extreme!
• The crocs are immense.  We measured one at 5,5 metres.  Kenny counted 67 crocs in a single cave, the most I saw was around 40
• Tsetse are very serious. My last science experiments failed - I have another idea that might work...when can I go, it's important and quite urgent?!

We have some space through most of the season - speak to John or Trish if Katavi is in your sights. 

Just under an hour’s flight north west of Katavi followed by another 90 odd minutes by dhow on the gin coloured waters of Lake Tanganyika is a special spot on a white sandy beach at the base of the deeply forested Mahale Mountains. 

Nearest road is nearly 100km away...not much of a road either.

This is Greystoke, the original Mahale camp, Katavi’s perfect compliment – unlike any conventional safari spot in Tanzania in terms of character, style and location. 

Extraordinarily dwarfed by towering mountains at 8000 ft and on the edge of the planet’s 2nd deepest lake it's also known as “Zoe’s camp” – cheap at twice the price and far too accessible for our liking.

A small camp with 6 wildly exotic wooden bandas in a dramatic place, well suited as a spot to which one can simply escape or more commonly serve as a jungle camp for chimpanzee trekking.

Between Katavi and Mahale we’ve found few places that combine so perfectly over 7 nights.  Best from June to December this trip is wild, remote and uncommon. 

Find out more about our Katavi Mahale safari

If primates are your special interest then we're adding finishing touches to an end of year “ape escape” focussing on chimps in Mahale and Silverbacks in Rwanda’s VNP.  We're also about to set dates for 4 trips to Gabon in 2008.   Speak to Trish, Chris or John.