When to go
Rain, crowds, and the migration do not line up the same way in Kenya as they do at the Cape. Pick the month for the place, not for a continent-wide season.
Dry months and green months
Across much of East and southern Africa, roughly May to October is the drier stretch. Bush is thinner, animals come to water, and mornings can be cold enough for a jacket in an open vehicle. These are also the busiest months. Camps in the Mara, the northern Serengeti, and the Okavango book up.
November to March is greener in a lot of those same parks. There are fewer vehicles, migrant birds, and, on the southern Serengeti plains, the wildebeest calving. Some roads get soft. April is the month many East African camps go quiet because of the long rains. The Cape, the islands, and Victoria Falls are often the stronger plan that month.
The Cape does not follow the bush calendar. December is summer and beach weather. July is cooler, and it is when whales are often along that coast. A South Africa trip can pair a winter safari with a city that still works, or a summer safari with a warm coast.
The migration, without a timetable that lies
The herds move between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara through the year. Calving is often on the southern Serengeti plains in the first months of the year. The northern Serengeti and the Mara are the more likely places to be in July, August, and September. River crossings are a feature of those northern months, and they are not a daily appointment.
A quote for “the migration” should name the area that matches your month. A July booking for the southern Serengeti, or a February booking that assumes the Mara crossings, is the usual mistake.
If your dates are fixed
School holidays and the driest weeks cost more and sell first. If you can move by two weeks, say so. If you cannot, choose the place that is good in your month instead of forcing a famous park in its weak season.
This site’s month pages say which sample trips fit that month. They are a planning aid, not a weather guarantee.