The Serengeti National Park was established in 1951 and is Tanzania’s oldest national park. Serengeti is the Masai word for ‘endless plain’ and it certainly seems endless! It is approximately 14,763 km2 (5700 square miles) and the altitude varies between 1000 to 1900 m (3280 to 6234 ft) above sea level. The name Serengeti comes from the Masai tribe who had been using the land as a grazing area for their livestock for more than 200 years before the establishment of the national park. The Serengeti is nearly ten times larger than its contiguous park in Kenya – Masai Mara National Reserve – yet it receives far fewer visitors each year, per square kilometer or square mile. Here you will find all big five: buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino. With an estimated 2 million wildebeest, 250,000 zebra, and 450,000 Thomson’s gazelles there is also an excellent chance to see a chase.

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Experience the breathtaking beauty of the Serengeti National Park on a once-in-a-life time hot air balloon flight. At dawn, rise as sun greets the day and float in whichever direction the winds of the morning take you. Your pilot can precisely control the altitude of your balloon. Sometime flying at treetop height and sometime lower, offering a unique perspective and great photographic opportunities of the wildlife below. At other times you will probably ascend to 1000' or more to see the vast magnificence and spectacular panorama of the Serengeti. At intervals the pilot will put more heat into the balloon with powerful whisper burners. In between these burns, there is tranquil silence apart from natural sounds below.

A top attraction of the Serengeti is the annual migration of the white-bearded wildebeest. To witness the migration of millions of herbivores is truly a must-see experience! The wildebeest migration is a circuit that follows the annual rainfall around the Serengeti in a clockwise fashion. Even when they head up into Kenya for a few weeks in September and/or October, there is nearly always a good time to see the migration. Because the migration does vary slightly year from year, the map below is only a rough guideline of where the migration will be. When you book your safari, we will have data from our camps that will help us put you in the best location possible to view the wildebeest action.

The central region has adequate water year-round, with the main trees being: fig-trees, sausage trees, and yellow fever acacia trees. Candelabra trees, desert date trees, and umbrella thorn acacias are also found in the open plains, valleys, and hills.

At the heart of the Serengeti is the lovely Seronera Valley. A crisscross of rivers can be found in the grassy plains of the Seronera and there will most certainly be ample herbivores about. This is the region that attracts the most visitors. This is mainly because there are always large numbers of animals in this region due to the permanent water supply. The migration also passes through here a few times during the year, depending on whether they are heading south from Kenya or north and west. There is a very good chance of seeing lions, leopards and cheetahs year-round here.

This region is also less explored and is an excellent location for wildlife viewing. In fact, the largest number of African elephants in the Serengeti can be found here. The annual migration passes through here between the end of July and the beginning of November. The valleys and hills are dotted with herbivores while flocks of vultures soar in the sky above. The nights are full of activity, with hyenas and lions making noise all night long. For them, this time of year is the time of plenty. Now is the perfect time to be in a tented camp and to snuggle up with a good book while being serenaded by hyenas and lions.

Western Serengeti is recommended in May through early August for wildebeest migration viewing.

The western regions are not frequented as much as those of central and eastern Serengeti. May through the start of August is the time to view the annual migration of zebra and wildebeest. This is also the rut season for wildebeest and the plains are noisy with male wildebeest defending their temporary territories.

Other animals to be found in the Serengeti include baboons, cheetahs, crocodiles, dik-diks, dung beetles, elands, genet cats, giraffe, guinea fowl, hippos, hyenas, impala, lovebirds, olive baboons, ostriches, rock hyraxes, serval cats, topis, vervet monkeys, vultures, and warthogs.