Endless plains and the great migration
The Serengeti is Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, and a World Heritage Site. It is best known for the migration, when well over a million wildebeest move through the park in search of fresh grazing. More than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle travel with them.
The migration is not a single event. It goes on all year. There is a frenzied three-week rut. There are columns of animals up to 40 km (25 miles) long crossing rivers where crocodiles wait. There is a short, intense calving period that produces more than 8,000 calves a day. Then the 1,000 km (600 mile) circuit begins again.
Even when the migration is elsewhere, the game viewing here is as good as anywhere in Africa. You'll see great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant's gazelle.
Most people remember the space more than anything else. The plains run to the horizon, sunburnt gold for much of the year. After the rains they turn green and fill with wildflowers. There are wooded hills and tall termite mounds, rivers lined with fig trees, and acacia woodland stained orange by dust.
The park is popular, but it is big enough that you can watch a pride of lions hunt with nobody else in sight.
Balloon safaris, walking safaris, game drives, picnics and bush meals can all be arranged through your lodge or operator. There are also Maasai rock paintings and musical rocks to visit.
The Serengeti is large enough that where you go inside it matters as much as when. The southern plains around Ndutu are short-grass country, open and treeless, and this is where the wildebeest calve early in the year. The central Serengeti, the Seronera area, has the river courses and kopjes that hold resident game and predators all year, which makes it the most dependable region whatever the season. The north, toward the Mara River and the Kenyan border, is where the herds cross water later in the year. The west is a corridor running toward Lake Victoria.
Even without the migration the Serengeti carries some of the best game viewing in Africa: buffalo, elephant, giraffe, and very large numbers of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant's gazelle, with the predator density to match.
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The wildebeest migration, plus resident lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and, in the right areas, wild dog. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, topi, kongoni, eland, impala and Grant's gazelle year-round. Central Serengeti kopjes are reliable for lion. The Seronera valley is among the better places in Africa to look for leopard.
Hot air balloon safaris, walking safari, picnicking, game drives, bush lunch/dinner can be arranged with hotels/tour operators. Maasai rock paintings and musical rocks.
By road from Arusha. The distance is about 335 km (208 miles), so the drive is normally broken with a night at Tarangire, Lake Manyara or Ngorongoro. Airstrips inside the park allow the drive to be replaced with a light-aircraft hop in one or both directions.
Year-round. Calving in the south January to February. River crossings in the north July to October.
You will usually be up before it gets light. The cold surprises most people. The Serengeti sits at about 1,500 metres, and from June to August the nights are genuinely cold. You do the first hour of the game drive in a fleece, with the roof hatch open and a flask of coffee between your feet.
That first hour is the important one. Lions have hunted overnight and are often still on a kill or still walking along the road. Leopards are heading back toward the sausage trees along the rivers. Cheetah use the low light and the cool ground to hunt, before the heat makes it impossible. By ten in the morning most of the cats are lying flat in the shade, and the plains look empty.
The middle of the day is quiet. That is normal, and it is not a wasted day. Some days you take lunch with you and eat under an acacia at a picnic site, with vultures sitting in the branches above you. Other days you go back to camp, sleep through the hottest hours, and go out again at four. The afternoon drive runs until the park gate closes, or until the light goes if you are staying inside the park.
Here is the part people do not expect. A lot of a Serengeti day is spent driving with nothing much happening. The park is huge and the animals are not spread evenly across it. Those quiet stretches are when your guide reads tracks in the road, works out which way a pride went, and decides where you need to be in an hour. That is the real skill, and it is why two vehicles in the same area can have completely different days.
Dry Shoulder Green Long rains
Green, warm, and busy in the south. The herds are on the short-grass plains. The centre around Seronera holds its resident lion, leopard and cheetah as it does all year.
Calving on the southern plains and the strongest predator month of the year. The centre is quieter than the south this month, which suits anyone who wants space.
Green and thinning out. The herds begin moving north, the rains build, and rates fall from mid-month.
The long rains. The western corridor roads can become genuinely difficult and some camps close. Very few vehicles, very green, very cheap.
Wet and quiet, with the herds moving through the centre and west. The Grumeti area starts to matter toward the end of the month.
Drying out. The western corridor is at its brief best, the centre is reliable as always, and the first herds may reach the north late in the month.
Dry and busy. The north begins its season. Seronera carries the most vehicles of any region because it's the most accessible.
Peak. The Mara River crossings in the far north, the highest vehicle numbers of the year everywhere, and the best visibility.
The second crossing month and marginally quieter than August. Dust in the air makes for good backlit photography at dawn.
Dry until the short rains break late in the month. The north empties as the herds turn south.
Short rains, green country and thin traffic. The herds move south through the centre and east. Under-booked and good.
Greening fast, with the herds arriving on the southern plains. Christmas and New Year are the most expensive fortnight of the year.
The most common planning mistake is treating the Serengeti as one stop on a list.
It covers about 14,750 square kilometres, which is larger than Northern Ireland. Driving from Seronera in the centre to Kogatende in the far north takes most of a day on rough road. One night in the Serengeti buys you an arrival afternoon and a departure morning. That is not really a visit.
Two nights in one area is the realistic minimum. Three is where it stops feeling rushed.
If you are coming for the migration, stay in the region the herds are actually in on your dates. Do not stay in the centre and drive to them. Either accept the long drive, or take the short flight to an airstrip nearer the herds.
The central Serengeti, around Seronera, is the safe choice when your dates are fixed. It holds resident lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and giraffe in every month of the year, whether or not the migration is anywhere near. The north is a specialist choice for the river crossing season. The west is quiet, green and underrated outside the short Grumeti window.
On any trip of a week or more, think about flying one leg. A drive between the crater and the northern Serengeti can eat a whole day. Flying turns it into a short hop, and the money buys you back a full day of game viewing.
Park entry is charged per person for each 24-hour period. Your operator pays it as part of the trip cost, along with concession fees at camps inside the park boundary. TANAPA sets the rates and changes them from time to time. Treat any figure you read online as provisional, including one in a quote from last season, until it is confirmed for your travel dates.
Off-road driving is not allowed in the Serengeti except in a few marked areas. If your guide stays on the track at a sighting, they are following the law, not being unhelpful.
Most camps have no mains power. Expect solar, limited charging hours and no hair dryer. Mobile coverage is patchy and mostly absent away from Seronera. Bring cash in small notes for tips and curio stalls, because you cannot use cards in the park.
The roads are corrugated gravel and they are hard on people as well as on vehicles. If you have a back problem, tell us when you book. It changes how far it is sensible to drive in a day, and it changes which route makes sense for you.
Tell us how long you have and we will build an itinerary around it.
