Big Time Field NotesNotes from East AfricaKenya, Tanzania & Uganda
A little knowledge. A bigger adventure.
Practical, sourced guidance for planning a safari in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda: choosing a country, how long to go, seasons and wildlife, entry rules, safari styles and life on safari. Facts are checked against official sources, and each section says where they come from.
Kenya has no single best month. Its rains, its parks and the great herds each keep their own calendar, and the right time depends on which of them matters most to you.
How the wildebeest migration moves between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara: calving at Ndutu, Mara River crossings, and planning a Kenya or Tanzania trip.
How many days you need, which Kenyan parks to choose, comfort level, group or private, when to go, budgeting and common mistakes, with direct answers.
Published 22 October 2026 · 4 min read
A · Start planning
Choosing your African safari.
A 4×4 Land Cruiser safari vehicle with a pop-up roof, parked and ready for a game drivePhotograph: Big Time Safaris · Credits
Most safari decisions come down to four things: what you most want to see, when you can travel, how long you have and how you like to travel. Settle those, and the choice between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and between budget, midrange and luxury, usually makes itself. None of the three countries is best for every traveller; each is best at something.
Kenya and Tanzania share the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem and the great migration, and 20 of our journeys cross between them. Uganda is the country for mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, with savannah parks and the Nile alongside. The table below compares them side by side, and the decision guide underneath walks through a first safari one choice at a time.
Join a group, travel privately, or have a route made for you; drive between parks or fly where airstrips allow.
Ask before you book
What is included, which camps and permits are named, and what happens if plans change. The questions to ask any operator are listed under Before you travel, below.
Safari types, compared
Budget, midrange or luxury
Our catalogue has 51 budget, 34 midrange and 15 luxury journeys. Budget journeys name their camps and campsites; 17 of them publish prices. Road safaris in Kenya and Tanzania use a 4×4 Land Cruiser at every level.
Group-joining shares the vehicle and the days in the parks with other travellers; a private safari keeps the vehicle and the pace to your own party; a tailor-made journey is built around your dates and interests. Ask which style a journey can run in.
Most of our journeys travel by road. Two are fly-in journeys, including the 3 Days Luxury Fly-In Bwindi Gorilla Safari. Light aircraft use park airstrips such as Seronera in the Serengeti and Kihihi and Kisoro for Bwindi; luggage limits vary by carrier, so ask before you pack.
A safari can be pure wildlife, or woven with Maasai, Batwa or Swahili culture, or finished on a beach: five journeys in our catalogue include Zanzibar.
Early, for peak seasons. TANAPA advises booking well ahead for the Serengeti’s peak migration months and Tarangire’s dry season, the NCAA notes that Ndutu’s camps are in demand in calving season, and UWA’s gorilla and chimpanzee permits are limited.
Enough days to slow down. Every park takes time to reach, and the best sightings often come from waiting rather than driving, so a shorter route with more time in each place usually beats a long list of parks. The examples below are real journeys from our catalogue, grouped by length, so you can see what each length allows.
What each length allows, with examples from our catalogue
Lengths include travel days. Ask us how any journey is paced.
B · Before you travel
What to check, and what to pack.
The Keekorok Airstrip sign in the Masai Mara National ReservePhotograph: Big Time Safaris · Credits
Some preparation never changes: a passport with spare pages, insurance that covers remote areas, layers for cold mornings and a power bank. Other rules change often, among them visas and travel authorisations, health requirements, park fees and primate permits. We keep the two apart: the stable advice is below, and the changing rules are in a table that says when we last checked each official source.
Everything in the table was checked against official sources on 20 October 2026. Two rules are new this month: Kenya and Tanzania each now require visitors to hold a government-provided travel insurance policy on arrival, in addition to their own. Rules can change without notice, so check the official source for your nationality before you book flights, and again shortly before you travel. Where official sources disagree, we report both rather than choosing one.
Entry, health and permit rules by country (checked 20 October 2026)
Kenya
Tanzania
Uganda
Permission to enter
An Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) unless exempt; citizens of East African Community partner states and listed countries are exempt for set periods
A visa unless exempt: apply online only through the official immigration website, or get a single-entry visa on arrival at the main ports of entry; one visa covers the mainland and Zanzibar
A tourist visa, applied for online; an East African Tourist Visa covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda
When to apply
At least two weeks before travel; processing usually takes three working days
Online applications are processed within ten days, except referral cases
Approval is valid for 90 days from the day it is granted
Passport
At least six months’ validity. Kenya’s eTA site asks for one blank page and the UK’s travel advice says two, so allow two
At least six months’ validity and one unused visa page; a return or onward ticket on arrival
At least six months’ validity
Government travel insurance (new)
From 5 October 2026: Inbound Travel Health Insurance, sold on Kenya’s eCitizen portal with the eTA, or on its own if you need no eTA. The portal says non-Kenyan visitors staying under three months generally need it (the law it cites covers stays under 12 months); exempt groups include Kenyan citizens and residents and citizens of East African Community partner states
From 1 October 2026: one policy per journey, from the insurer for your first point of entry, the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) for the mainland or the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation (ZIC) for Zanzibar. Qualifying East African Community and SADC travellers are exempt from the mainland requirement, but ZIC says not automatically in Zanzibar
Not part of Uganda’s entry rules in the UK’s travel advice
Yellow fever: to enter
Proof of vaccination from age one if you arrive from a country WHO lists as a yellow fever risk, which includes Uganda
Proof from age one if you arrive from a WHO risk country, which includes Kenya and Uganda, or after an airport transit of more than 12 hours in one
No longer mandatory (Uganda immigration notice of 2 October 2026); the CDC’s entry table, last updated in April 2025, still lists it
Yellow fever: medical advice (CDC)
Vaccine recommended from nine months, except for travel limited to Nairobi, the north-east or most of the coast
Vaccine generally not recommended
Vaccine recommended from nine months
Malaria (CDC)
Prevention recommended in all areas below 2,500 metres, including the game parks
Prevention recommended in all areas below 1,800 metres
Prevention recommended for travellers to Uganda
Park fees and permits
Set by Kenya Wildlife Service, the reserves and conservancies; on a package tour the operator includes park entry fees in the total cost
Set by TANAPA and the NCAA; TANAPA advises checking its current fee schedule
Set by UWA. Its 2024–2026 tariff period has ended and a revised tariff starts on 1 January 2027, so confirm the rate for your dates; gorilla and chimpanzee permits are booked through licensed tour operators
Official sources: etakenya.go.ke and insurance.ecitizen.go.ke (Kenya), visa.immigration.go.tz, inbound.nicinsurance.co.tz and zic.co.tz (Tanzania), immigration.go.ug (Uganda), the WHO yellow fever country list, the CDC’s country pages, the UK’s travel advice and each park authority. The government insurance schemes cover medical emergencies; neither replaces your own travel insurance. Ask a travel-health professional about vaccines and malaria at least a month before you go.
What to ask before you book
Is the safari group-joining or private, and how many other travellers could share the vehicle?
Which camps or lodges are named for each night, and are they inside or outside the park?
What does the price include, and what does it leave out: park fees, primate permits, meals, drinks, tips, and the government travel insurance that Kenya and Tanzania now require? Ask for the answer in writing.
For gorilla or chimpanzee trekking: is the permit secured for your date, and does every traveller meet UWA’s minimum age?
What happens if rain affects the roads, a flight changes or a permit date moves?
Is the operator a member of a recognised association? Kenya Wildlife Service names the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) and the Tour Operators Society of Kenya (TOSK).
Stable planning advice
Passport and documents
Check your passport’s expiry and blank pages first, because both Kenya and Tanzania set minimums. Every traveller needs their own authorisation or visa, children included, so keep copies of each one with your passport.
Buy your own policy when you book, so cancellation cover starts at once. Parks can be far from a hospital: check it covers medical treatment and evacuation from remote areas, and activities such as gorilla trekking or a mountain climb. Kenya’s and Tanzania’s new government schemes are separate: each traveller needs one for each of the two countries they enter, and the UK’s travel advice for both says to hold your own cover as well.
See a travel-health professional at least a month before you go. The CDC recommends routine vaccines, including measles, and malaria prevention for most safari areas in all three countries.
Kenya Wildlife Service suggests layers, loose long sleeves, a hat, sunglasses, binoculars, a torch and insect repellent, in neutral colours. If you fly between parks, ask about luggage limits: they vary by carrier.
Ask what your price includes (park fees, permits, meals, drinks) and what it does not, and whether tips for guides and camp staff are customary or included. In Uganda’s parks, UWA accepts mobile money, card machines and bank transfers for its own services.
Remote camps do not always have mains power or constant connectivity. Bring a power bank, download maps and entertainment before you leave the city, and tell us when you enquire if charging or Wi-Fi matters to you.
Tell us about dietary requirements, allergies, medication and mobility when you enquire. Camps and lodges vary, and remote ones need notice to plan meals and arrangements.
Leave single-use plastic at home: Kenya’s national parks are plastic-free. Drones need prior written permission in Tanzania’s parks. Plan to ask before photographing people, and respect the answer.
Wildebeest on the shore of a lake in TanzaniaPhotograph: xorge (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Credits
East Africa’s wildlife is wild: it moves with water, grass and the rains, and no park, guide or operator can promise a sighting or a date. What park authorities do describe is the broad pattern of the year, and that is enough to plan well. The table below brings the three countries together, from the migration herds to Kenya’s rains and Uganda’s low-season permit months.
Outside the migration, resident wildlife stays all year. The Mara Conservancy describes elephants, giraffes, topi and lions before the herds arrive; TANAPA says the Serengeti is remarkable in any month; and the Ngorongoro Crater is accessible all year with wildlife present in every season. A safari in a quieter month is a different safari, not a lesser one.
Rothschild’s giraffes at the feeding platform of the Giraffe Centre, NairobiPhotograph: Noroi (CC0 1.0) · Credits
The right safari depends on who is travelling as much as on where. A honeymoon, a family with young children and a photographer with long lenses want different paces, different camps and sometimes different countries. These pathways are honest about what suits whom, including where our catalogue has gaps, and each leads to the journeys and guides worth reading next.
Pathways by traveller
First-time safari travellers
Choose one famous reserve and one contrasting place, with time in each: the Mara and a Rift Valley lake, or a short northern Tanzania circuit.
Gentle starts in Nairobi, shorter drives and compact parks suit children best. Gorilla trekking has a minimum age of 15, so primate journeys suit teenagers.
Group-joining safaris share the vehicle and the days in the parks with other travellers. Ask about departures, room sharing and any single supplement before you book.
Light, patience and a vehicle that can wait. The 4 Days Maasai Mara Photography Luxury Safari is built around the reserve; Ndutu in calving season and the crater give very different subjects.
Game drives are seated and can suit many travellers with limited mobility, but vehicles, camps and paths vary, and forest treks are steep. Tell us your needs early so we can be honest about what is realistic.
Maasai communities around the Mara and Amboseli, the Endorois at Lake Bogoria, the Batwa near Bwindi and Mgahinga, and Nairobi’s Karen Blixen Museum. Always arranged with, and paced by, the community.
Mount Kilimanjaro seen across the plains of Amboseli National Park, KenyaPhotograph: Sergey Pesterev (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Credits
Each country has a few natural circuits, and most journeys follow one of them from a gateway city: Nairobi for Kenya, Arusha and Kilimanjaro International Airport for northern Tanzania, Dar es Salaam for the south, and Entebbe for Uganda. Knowing the circuits shows why certain parks are always paired, and why some combinations need a flight rather than another long drive.
Kenya Wildlife Service treats its parks as year-round destinations, from Amboseli’s elephant herds beneath Kilimanjaro to the rhinos and birdlife of Lake Nakuru.
Serengeti National Park protects the ecosystem behind the Great Migration, and the herds calve on the Ndutu plains of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Bwindi protects about 459 mountain gorillas, almost half of those left in the world. Our Field Notes cover gorilla and chimpanzee trekking, and our Uganda guide covers every park on our routes, from Uganda Wildlife Authority sources.
The Oloolaimutia Gate of the Masai Mara National Reserve, with the reserve's name on a sign above the entrancePhotograph: Big Time Safaris · Credits
A safari day follows the light. Drives usually start early, when the air is cool and the light is soft, and resume in the late afternoon; the middle of the day is for lunch, rest or a picnic in the park. Park gates set the limits: Kenya Wildlife Service sets gate times from early morning to early evening for parks such as Amboseli and Lake Nakuru, unless you stay inside.
Responsible travel is mostly a matter of respect: for wildlife, for the rules that protect it and for the people whose land surrounds the parks. The park authorities’ rules are short and clear, and they apply to everyone. Kenya Wildlife Service asks visitors to keep at least 20 metres from wildlife; Uganda’s gorilla and chimpanzee rules require 10 metres and no flash; and Tanzania’s parks require written permission for drones.
Practicalities
Morning and afternoon drives
Early and late drives catch the cooler hours and the softest light; full-day drives with a picnic suit large parks. TANAPA notes that the best light in Nyerere comes early and late.
Our road safaris in Kenya and Tanzania use a 4×4 Land Cruiser. Ask about window seats and group size before you book; in Tanzania’s parks, guides must be certified.
Stay on the roads, keep your distance, never feed wildlife and stay in the vehicle except where allowed. In the Maasai Mara, standing on the roof or sitting in the window is not allowed.
Around the Mara, conservancies on community land bring together more than 15,000 landowners, who receive lease fees; in Uganda, gorilla permit rates include a community development contribution.
Parks can be far from a hospital: carry insurance with medical evacuation, keep your medication in your hand luggage, and do not trek to primates if you are unwell.
Shorter drives and compact parks suit young children; primate trekking has minimum ages. Tell us about mobility needs early, because forest treks are steep and camps vary.
Short, honest answers to the questions we hear most, grouped by stage of planning. Prices and conditions are always confirmed for your dates, and where a rule changes often we say when we last checked it. Each answer links to the page or guide with more detail, so you can read as much or as little as you need.
Choosing
Kenya or Tanzania for a first safari?
There is no wrong answer: the Maasai Mara and the Serengeti are one ecosystem, so your dates often decide. The Mara Conservancy says the herds are usually in the Mara from around June or July to November, and the NCAA puts the calving season at Ndutu from about late December to April. 20 of our journeys visit both countries.
None of our catalogue journeys does, but you can ask us about a tailor-made route. Uganda’s immigration service describes an East African Tourist Visa covering Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda; check whether it suits a route that includes Kenya, which now runs its own eTA. Kenya and Tanzania both ask for a yellow fever certificate from travellers arriving from Uganda.
In some parks, but check first. TANAPA’s Serengeti visitor guide tells visitors to travel with a guide or tour operator and says guides must be certified, and UWA sells gorilla and chimpanzee permits to foreign non-residents only through licensed tour operators. Rules differ from park to park, so ask the park authority before you plan an independent trip.
If you want to set the pace, wait longer at a sighting or travel with children or a group of friends, often yes. A group-joining safari is shared with other travellers instead.
The Mara is worth visiting all year: before the herds arrive, the Mara Conservancy describes elephants, giraffes, topi and lions. If the migration matters most, the herds usually arrive around June or July and stay until about November. No river crossing can be promised.
Many safaris look for all five, but no one can promise them. Rhinos are the hardest; rhino sanctuaries such as Lake Nakuru and Ol Pejeta, and the Ngorongoro Crater, where the NCAA lists all five, give the best chance.
Not necessarily. Kenya Wildlife Service calls April to June its low season, when some roads may need four-wheel drive, but calving at Ndutu happens in the rains and TANAPA says Mikumi’s green season is good for birds.
17 of our journeys publish prices, all budget safaris, shown per person in US dollars on each journey. Midrange and luxury journeys are quoted for your dates, group size and comfort level.
Kenya Wildlife Service says that on a package tour the operator includes park entry fees in the total cost. Ask us to confirm what each quotation includes, including any gorilla or chimpanzee permits.
For peak months, early. TANAPA advises booking well ahead for the Serengeti’s migration season, the NCAA notes demand for Ndutu’s camps in calving season, and UWA’s primate permits are limited.
It depends on the journey, so ask. UWA says permits for foreign non-residents are booked only through licensed tour operators, and since February 2026 it has offered discounted low-season permits for April, May and November. The rate for your dates is confirmed with UWA when the permit is booked.
Usually some form of permission: Kenya’s eTA, a Tanzanian visa or a Ugandan tourist visa, unless you are exempt. Apply only through the official government websites, and check them for your nationality (checked 20 October 2026).
It depends on your route as much as your destination. Kenya and Tanzania ask for proof, from age one, from travellers arriving from a country WHO lists as a yellow fever risk, so a journey from Kenya into Tanzania, or from Uganda into either, needs a certificate. Uganda no longer requires one for entry (immigration notice of 2 October 2026). As medical advice, the CDC recommends the vaccine for most travel in Kenya and Uganda, but generally not for Tanzania. A travel-health professional can advise you.
The CDC recommends malaria prevention for most safari areas: in Kenya below 2,500 metres, in Tanzania below 1,800 metres, and for travellers to Uganda. A travel-health professional will advise on the right medicine.
Do I need special travel insurance for Kenya or Tanzania?
Yes, as well as your own. Kenya (from 5 October 2026) and Tanzania (from 1 October 2026) each require most visitors to hold a government-provided policy. Kenya’s is sold on its eCitizen portal, with the eTA or on its own; Tanzania’s comes from the National Insurance Corporation if you first arrive on the mainland, or the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation if you arrive in Zanzibar, and one policy covers both. Exemptions differ: East African Community citizens are exempt in Kenya, and qualifying EAC and SADC travellers from the mainland scheme, though not automatically in Zanzibar. Both cover emergencies, not cancellation (checked 20 October 2026).
No trip is free of risk, so read your own government’s travel advice before you book. The UK’s, for example, advises against travel to some border and northern coastal areas of Kenya and to land within 20 kilometres of Tanzania’s border with Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, and has no such warning for Uganda (checked 20 October 2026). The parks and reserves on our journeys lie outside those areas. Health advice changes faster: read our dated travel-health note.
Medical treatment and evacuation from remote areas, cancellation from the day you book, and any activity you plan, such as gorilla trekking or a mountain climb. Kenya’s and Tanzania’s government schemes cover medical emergencies only, so your own policy still matters.
Our Kenya safaris run from 2 to 10 days, our Tanzania safaris from 3 to 10 days, our Kenya and Tanzania journeys from 6 to 19 days and our Uganda journeys from 3 to 15 days. Fewer parks with more time in each makes for a calmer trip.
A slow drive on the park’s roads, stopping to watch and photograph. Most days have an early drive and an afternoon drive, with a rest in between; large parks may have full-day drives with a picnic.
Usually, but not always everywhere: remote camps may have limited power or connectivity. Bring a power bank, and tell us when you enquire if charging or Wi-Fi matters to you.
Yes. Group-joining safaris are an option for solo travellers. Departure availability, room sharing and any single supplement should be confirmed with our team before you book.
Fifteen for gorillas, under the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s published rules. For chimpanzee tracking, UWA’s tariff rules say 12 and its Kibale page says 16. Travellers aged 16 or over meet both; for anyone aged 12 to 15, ask us to confirm eligibility with UWA before a permit is booked.
Many are, with the right pace: shorter drives, compact parks and a gentle start in Nairobi. Ask about minimum ages and child prices for each journey when you enquire.
Can travellers with limited mobility go on safari?
Often, yes: game drives are seated. Vehicles, camps and paths vary, and primate treks are steep, so tell us your needs early and we will be honest about what is realistic.
When to go on safari in Kenya: the rains, the drier months, the Maasai Mara migration window, and how the Rift Valley, Amboseli and the highlands differ.
How the wildebeest migration moves between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara: calving at Ndutu, Mara River crossings, and planning a Kenya or Tanzania trip.
A practical guide to a first safari in Kenya or Tanzania: game drives, group or private travel, parks, trip length, park rules and what to ask an operator.
What budget, midrange and luxury mean on a Big Time safari: where you stay, the vehicle, published prices, seasonal rates and what to check is included.
A safari packing list built from park authorities’ advice: layers, neutral colours, footwear, sun and insect protection, binoculars, cameras and mountain gear.
How to combine Kenya and Tanzania on one safari: why they pair well, Big Time’s 20 cross-border journeys, trip lengths, seasons, stays and entry checks.
How Tanzania’s northern circuit and southern parks fit together, when to visit each, how long to allow and where to stay, from TANAPA and NCAA sources.
Malaria prevention, yellow fever, vaccines, safety in the parks and travel insurance for a Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda safari, from CDC and park authorities.
The park rules of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in one place: staying in the vehicle, distances, speed limits, drones, plastics and primate trekking etiquette.
How to plan a safari with children: pacing, parks, age limits for primate trekking, documents and health for young travellers, and the right questions to ask.
Practical safari photography advice: the best light, lenses and kit, working from a vehicle, dust and charging, and the park rules for cameras and drones.
Lodges, tented camps, hotels and public campsites compared: what each offers, staying inside or outside a park, and the questions to ask before you book.
How safaris move between parks in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda: road distances from park authorities, flights, rainy-season roads and realistic travel days.
How long should a safari be? What 2–3, 4–5, 6–8 and 9+ days allow in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with real journeys and the travel time to plan around.
Group-joining, private or tailor-made? Road or fly-in? How each way of travelling on safari works, what it suits, and the questions to ask before booking.
Dry season or green season for a safari? What each means for wildlife, roads and demand in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, from park authorities and weather data.
How to visit a Maasai community near the Mara or Amboseli respectfully: Maasai heritage, what a visit may include, photography, fees and how it fits a safari.
What a safari day is like: morning and afternoon game drives, park rules, where to find the Big Five in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and realistic expectations.
Adding a beach to a safari: Zanzibar journeys in our catalogue, Kenya’s coastal marine parks, how many nights to allow, visas and the questions to ask.
Which airport to fly into for a safari in Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda, what to have ready on arrival, and how to use a spare day in Nairobi, Arusha or Entebbe.
Published 22 October 2026 · 4 min read
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