Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, the Serengeti safari is famed for its annual wildebeest migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the Serengeti safari migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.
Best to know in Serengeti Safari
- Serengeti Migration Safari
The annual Great Tanzania Safari Migration of the animals from the Serengeti national park into Kenya in search of water and pastures is an amazing spectacle that attracts thousands of people worldwide. - Its ecosystem supports the greatest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa, including more than 2 million large mammals.
- At times the column of wildebeest can be 40km in length.The breeding season an explosion of 8,000 calves a day are produced.
- It is Tanzania’s oldest Park and its vast open plains have adorned the covers and pages of magazines for decades and featured in numerous films and documentaries.
- Nominated as one of the contenders for the 7th Natural Wonder of the World.
- Although Lake Manyara is known for its tree climbing lions, during the peak fo the great wildebeest migration, lions are seen climbing trees here also, in search of prey and simply to get out of the lush tall grasses its prey feeds on.
When to go
At the end of the rains in May and June when the wildebeest and other migratory mammals begin to head north-west to the Serengeti and Grumeti River.
Mid November until the annual calving in the southeastern parts of the Serengeti Safari between January and March. So effectively you would see the migration in different stages between December and June.
For predator viewing, the best times are June – October
ACTIVITIES
- Game driving in the open plains
- Float off into the sky, in a Hot Air Balloon Safari. Followed by a Champagne bush breakfast
- Bird watching – over 500 species of birds in Serengeti National Park
