Plan your safari
Wildebeest herds grazing on the Serengeti plains under a stormy sky, Tanzania

Serengeti National Park Safaris

The Serengeti: endless plains, two million wildebeest and some of Africa’s finest big-cat country. For January to March, see calving season in the southern Serengeti. The Serengeti also delivers four of the five on a Big Five safari.

Plan your safari Highlights
The Serengeti, up close

A lion pride with young cubs in the Serengeti. Indeed, it is the kind of quiet, unhurried sighting we design private journeys around, with your own vehicle and no queue behind you.

The Serengeti in motion. More on our YouTube channel.

The Serengeti is the safari against which all others are measured. Nearly 15,000 square kilometers of open grassland, kopjes and riverine forest hold Africa’s densest lion population and the full cast of the Great Migration, which never actually leaves the ecosystem. It just moves.

That movement is therefore the key to planning. The herds calve in the south around Ndutu in late January and February, push through the Western Corridor in May and June, and then mass on the Mara River in the north from July to October. As a result, we place your camp where the action is, not where the crowds are. Our guide to the best time to visit Tanzania sets out where the herds are in every month of the year.

Serengeti plains scattered with acacia, Tanzania
The Serengeti plains, acacia country that runs to the horizon

Highlights of Serengeti National Park

The Great Migration

Follow the herds: calving season in the south, river crossings in the north.

Explore The Great Migration →

Big cats of Seronera

The central valley is famous for leopard along the river lines and prides of twenty-plus lion.

Kopjes & the northern woodlands

Granite outcrops sheltering lion and klipspringer, and the quiet, beautiful north beyond the crossings.

Balloon safaris

Dawn over the plains by hot-air balloon, ending with a champagne bush breakfast.

Know before you go

Flights, entry rules, health and money: the practical details we handle for you, all in one place. Requirements can change, so we confirm everything when you book.

Getting there from the USA

Fly into Kilimanjaro (JRO), one stop from the US via Amsterdam, Doha or Addis Ababa. A 45-minute drive reaches Arusha’s garden lodges, and then bush flights to the Serengeti’s airstrips leave from Arusha the next morning.

Visas & entry

US citizens need Tanzania’s $100 multiple-entry e-visa, applied for online before travel (allow two to four weeks). Passports need six months’ validity beyond your trip.

Health

See a travel clinic 6–8 weeks out: malaria prophylaxis is standard for the Serengeti, and a yellow fever certificate is required only if you arrive from a country where the disease is present. A long layover can count. Camps supply nets and repellent.

Luggage & bush flights

However, light aircraft to the airstrips take soft duffel bags only, with strict weight limits. So we confirm your exact allowance with your flight tickets and help you plan around it.

Where you’ll stay in Serengeti National Park

Where you stay is selected privately around your journey. We recommend each camp, lodge or villa according to its location, season, guiding, privacy and suitability for the people traveling. You’ll see the places we suggest, and why, in your itinerary.

Plan your private safari

Practical details,
in one place

Money, health, connectivity and packing work the same way on every safari we plan, so they live in one place rather than on every page.

Best time to visit the Serengeti

Jan–Mar

Calving season around Ndutu: half a million wildebeest born in weeks, and predators everywhere.

Jun–Oct

The dry season. Crossings on the Grumeti, then the Mara River in the north from July.

Nov–Dec

Short rains green the plains as the herds return south. Quiet and beautiful.

Quieter seasons, considered

In the green months, however, rates ease at many of these camps, the plains empty of vehicles and the light turns dramatic. What each season gives, and what it trades, is set out in our Safari Planning Guide.

Planning & cost

Safari cost

Priced to your budget, and built around your camps, the season and how you like to travel. There are no fixed packages.

How we travel

Above all, every journey is privately designed, with private guides and vehicles arranged where specified, the finest lodges, and a specialist on call throughout. At fly-in camps, game drives may be shared unless a private vehicle is reserved.

Serengeti National Park FAQs

In general, three to four nights is the sweet spot for one area. If you want to follow the migration across two regions (say Ndutu and the north), allow five to six nights split between two camps.

Base yourself in the Kogatende / Lamai area in the far north between July and October. In particular, mobile camps there sit minutes from the main crossing points on the Mara River. Our guide to the Mara River crossings explains the timing and the vantage points. We compare the two in Kogatende or Lamai.

In fact, they are two halves of one ecosystem. The Serengeti is far larger with a longer migration season, whereas the Mara is more compact with superb year-round game. Many of our journeys combine both.

Late January through March, on the short-grass plains of the southern Serengeti around Ndutu. Hundreds of thousands of wildebeest are born within a few weeks, and as a result the predator activity that follows is some of the most dramatic of the year.

One stop: fly into Kilimanjaro (JRO) via Amsterdam, Doha or Addis Ababa, overnight near Arusha, then take a scenic bush flight to your camp’s airstrip the next morning. We arrange every leg, including the transfers between them.

US citizens need Tanzania’s $100 multiple-entry e-visa, applied for online before travel. Allow two to four weeks. We check your confirmation before you fly.

Easily. Zanzibar connects directly from the Serengeti’s airstrips, so the bush-to-beach transition needs no backtracking. For example, a week on safari and four nights on the spice islands is one of our most-loved shapes.

Getting to Tanzania: flights, visas and health

Correct when we wrote it. Before you travel, we check every requirement for your exact route and tell you what to apply for and when.

AirportsKilimanjaro International (JRO) for the northern circuit, Julius Nyerere, Dar es Salaam (DAR) for the south, and Zanzibar (ZNZ) for the islands. Bush flights to the camps leave from Arusha Airport (ARK) and the park airstrips.
Getting thereNo nonstop from the US: connect once through Amsterdam (KLM), Doha (Qatar), Istanbul (Turkish) or Addis Ababa (Ethiopian). Plan on 18–24 hours door to door.
Visa: US citizensUS citizens need the multiple-entry e-visa (about $100), applied for online before travel. Allow two to four weeks. Apply only at the official portal: visa.immigration.go.tz.
HealthYellow fever certificate required only if you arrive from a country where the disease is present; a layover over twelve hours in one can count. Malaria prophylaxis is advised for all safari areas. Country guidance: CDC Travelers’ Health.
PassportSix months’ validity beyond your return date, with at least two blank pages. Travel insurance including medical evacuation is required on every journey we plan. Tanzania also requires one applicable mandatory inbound insurance policy (USD 44), determined by your first point of entry; see our inbound insurance guide.
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Plan your safari