The north for its icons, the south for its space, the west for its forests.
Four very different stretches of Swahili coast. Most give it four nights; we would argue for six.
Route choice decides your summit odds far more than fitness does.
A Tanzanian team, based in Arusha, guiding the trips we sell.
Any itinerary can be shaped around the way you actually want to travel.
Eight of them, and not one is a countdown clock.
For the days either side of a climb, or a first taste of Tanzania before the long safari begins. All from Arusha or Moshi.
Fourteen thousand square kilometres of open plain, and the stage for the largest overland migration on earth. Tanzania’s oldest national park, and the one almost everybody comes for.
The Serengeti is one contiguous ecosystem of about 30,000 km² that spills across the Kenyan border into the Maasai Mara. The national park is the protected heart of it — but the herds have never recognised the boundary, which is exactly why the place works.
Its name comes from the Maa word siringet, roughly “the place where the land runs on forever”, and on the southern short-grass plains that is a literal description. North of Seronera the country changes: acacia woodland, granite kopjes standing out of the grass like islands, and rivers that cut the plain into a series of crossings.
Around two million wildebeest, a quarter of a million zebra and several hundred thousand gazelle move through it on an annual circuit. They are followed by the densest population of large predators in Africa — which is the real reason the Serengeti is not simply a very large field.
It became Tanzania’s first national park in 1951 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. It has been studied continuously for longer than almost any other protected area on earth, which is why so much is known about what happens here and when.
Almost every Serengeti trip begins in Arusha, the safari capital in the north, an hour from Kilimanjaro International Airport. From there you either fly in or drive in — and the choice shapes the whole trip.
1–1.5 hours from Arusha
Light aircraft leave Arusha Airport and Kilimanjaro daily for the park’s airstrips. Seronera for the centre, Kogatende for the northern crossings, Grumeti for the west, Ndutu for the calving season. Your camp meets the plane; you are on a game drive within twenty minutes of landing.
7–8 hours from Arusha to Naabi Hill
The classic northern circuit road runs Arusha → Lake Manyara → the Ngorongoro highlands → Naabi Hill Gate, and most people break it with a night or two on the way. You arrive having watched the country change from farmland to highland forest to open plain, which the flight does not give you.
Mwanza 2.5 hrs · Maasai Mara adjacent
Ndabaka Gate on the western edge is about two and a half hours from Mwanza on Lake Victoria, which suits trips arriving from Rwanda or the lake. The northern boundary meets the Maasai Mara — the herds cross freely, but people need a formal border crossing and a separate Kenyan entry.
One thing worth knowing: there is no fuel inside the park except at Seronera, and no reliable mobile signal away from the camps and the central area. Drivers carry spare fuel and a satellite phone as standard on our trips.
The Serengeti has no closed season. What changes is where the herds are, how green the country is, and how many other vehicles you share a sighting with. Rainfall shifts these by weeks in either direction each year.
Calving. Up to 8,000 calves a day at the peak, and every predator in the ecosystem in attendance.
ExceptionalCalving tails off, herds still spread wide. Green, quiet, and good value.
GoodLong rains. Some camps close, roads soften, the country is at its greenest. Fewest vehicles of the year.
Green seasonGrumeti River crossings. Dry season begins; game concentrates on water.
ExceptionalMara River crossings. The most dramatic weeks, and the most heavily booked — camps go a year ahead.
ExceptionalShort rains, herds moving south again. Resident game excellent, crowds thinning.
GoodThe Serengeti is too big to treat as a single destination. Where you base yourself decides what you see, and the difference between the north and the south is the difference between two separate holidays.
The crossing points. Steep banks, big crocodile, and herds that mass for hours before anything happens. August to October, and worth the wait.
The park’s heart and its most reliable big-cat country year-round, thanks to a river that holds water when the plains dry. Also the busiest ground — go early.
Where the calving happens. Technically over the line in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which is why off-road driving is permitted here and not in the park.
Granite outcrops rising from the grass — classic leopard and lion ground, plus Maasai rock paintings and the gong rock, one of the few cultural sites inside the park.
A finger of park reaching towards Lake Victoria. June crossings, colobus in the riverine forest, and far fewer vehicles than the centre.
Rolling hills and rock outcrops in the quietest corner of the park. Resident game all year, and where the herds pass on the way back south in November.
A bend in the Seronera where a hundred hippo pile in together. One of the few places you are allowed out of the vehicle, and the smell is part of the experience.
Most Serengeti days are built around two game drives, one at first light and one in the late afternoon. Everything below is something you add to that rhythm rather than instead of it.
Dawn departures are not a formality — predators hunt in the cool and rest by nine. Full-day drives with a packed lunch let you reach the far kopjes and stay out through the quiet middle hours.
Launching at first light over Seronera, the Western Corridor or the north, followed by a bush breakfast. Roughly an hour aloft; book well ahead in migration season.
Permitted only in designated wilderness zones and always with an armed ranger. Not about big game — it is about tracks, dung, insects and the things a vehicle drives past.
Not permitted inside the national park. If night drives matter to you, we base you in a bordering private concession where they are allowed, and say so up front.
Bean bags, open hatches, and a guide who understands why you want to sit with one sleeping leopard for forty minutes. Say so when you book and we assign accordingly.
Over 500 species. November to April brings the migrants and the breeding plumage; a specialist guide will find you a hundred species in a week without trying hard.
Breakfast on a kopje, sundowners on the plain, dinner under the fig trees. Small logistics that change how a day ends.
In a park this size, location beats luxury. A modest camp in the right place in the right month will give you a better trip than a beautiful lodge six hours from the herds. This is the single thing we argue with clients about most.
A night here — your own tent pitched on shared ground, cold water, and nothing at all between you and the plain.
TANAPA's public campsites are the budget end of the park. You camp alongside other groups, your crew cooks, and the facilities are long-drops and cold showers. There is no fence and no gate. It is how a great many first Tanzanian safaris are done, and there is nothing second-rate about waking up in one.
A night here — canvas walls, a bucket shower filled on request, paraffin lamps, and the sound of everything outside.
Light camps that pack up and move two or three times a year to stay with the migration. No pool, no wi-fi, no generator hum. The most authentic way to do the Serengeti and usually the closest to the action.
A night here — an en-suite tent with a proper bed and hot water, dinner under one roof, a fire before it.
Fixed sites with generator power and a dining tent. The middle ground, and where most of our travellers stay: comfortable without sealing you off from the sound of the place at night.
A night here — a room with a door that locks, a pool, air conditioning, and a buffet.
Buildings rather than canvas, and larger capacity. Easier with young children or limited mobility, and reliable in the rains. The trade-off is that you feel more like a guest in a hotel than in a park.
A night here — the same canvas or stone, but a drive that can go off-road and carry on after dark.
Land bordering the park where the operator sets the rules: night drives, walking, off-road, and no other vehicles at your sighting. More expensive, and the wildlife does not know it is on a different map.
Where to base yourself, by month. Southern plains and Ndutu for December to March. Central Seronera any time — it is the safe choice. Western Corridor for June and July. Northern Serengeti around Kogatende for August to October. Lobo and the east for November.
We will tell you which of the famous camps we think are coasting, and we will put you somewhere less well known if it is closer to where the animals actually are that week.
Nobody flies to Tanzania for the Serengeti alone. These are its neighbours, with honest travel times — the ones we most often build around it.
TANAPA park fees are charged per person per 24 hours, with separate vehicle and, in some areas, concession fees. Rates change annually. Ours are always quoted inclusive so there is nothing to pay at the gate.
Malaria prophylaxis is advised year-round. A yellow fever certificate is required if you arrive from a country with risk of transmission. There is no hospital inside the park; we carry medical evacuation cover on every trip.
Most nationalities can obtain a Tanzanian visa on arrival or online in advance. If you are combining with Kenya, ask us about the East Africa Tourist Visa before you apply for either.
Extended Land Cruisers with a pop-up roof, window seats for everyone, a fridge, and charging points. We do not put strangers together unless you have asked for a shared departure.
Patchy. Camps generally have some signal or satellite wi-fi in the main area; the plains have none. Most people stop checking after two days.
Neutral colours, a warm layer for dawn drives, a hat, a proper camera strap and binoculars. Laundry is done daily at most camps, so pack far less than you think. Soft bags only if you are flying.
Three nights in one area is the realistic minimum — anything less and you spend most of it travelling. Four or five lets you move between two areas, which is what we would suggest for a first visit.
No. It is seven to eight hours by road from Arusha in each direction. Anyone selling you a Serengeti day trip is selling you a day in a car. Day trips work for Tarangire, Manyara and Arusha National Park — not for this.
Fly if time is short or you are heading straight to the north for the crossings. Drive if you want Manyara, Ngorongoro and Tarangire on the way and would rather keep one guide throughout. Many of our trips drive in and fly out.
You will see wildebeest in the Serengeti almost any month. Whether you see a river crossing depends on being in the north between roughly August and October, and then on patience — herds can wait a whole day at a bank and not cross. Nobody can promise it, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Not inside the national park. They are permitted in the private concessions on the boundary, so if it matters to you we base you in one and tell you so before you book.
Not inside the park — it is prohibited and enforced. Ndutu sits in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where off-road driving is permitted, which is why serious calving-season photography is based there.
Yes, with the ordinary provisos: stay in the vehicle unless your guide says otherwise, keep tent zips closed at night, and do not walk between tents after dark without an escort. Camps have night askari for exactly this reason.
The range is wide — the same seven days can be built at very different levels depending on camp, season and whether you fly. We quote inclusive of park fees, so the number we give you is the number you pay.
Where you should be in the Serengeti depends almost entirely on when you can travel. Tell us that and we will tell you honestly which part of the park to aim for — and whether another park would serve you better that month.
✓Local Arusha team
✓Private guides and vehicles
Tell us a little about the trip you have in mind: when you would like to travel, who is coming and what you most want to see.
A planner in our Arusha office reads every request and writes back with a route that fits.
We usually reply within two hours.
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