Serengeti National Park

01 The place

The Serengeti, in short.

The Serengeti is the reason most people come to Tanzania. Fourteen thousand square kilometres of open plain in the country's north, it holds the largest herds of grazing animals left on earth and the predators that follow them. The name comes from the Maasai siringet — "the place where the land runs on forever" — and standing on the short-grass plains in the south, watching the horizon curve away in every direction, you understand the phrase exactly.

For over sixty years the Serengeti has been a national park, and since 1981 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It sits at the heart of a much larger ecosystem that spills north across the Kenyan border into the Maasai Mara and south into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Animals do not recognise the boundary; the wildebeest that calve on Ndutu's plains in February are the same animals crossing the Mara River in Kenya five months later. Planning a Serengeti safari means understanding that movement — where the herds are, and when.

02 The migration

The Great Migration.

The Great Migration is not an event with a date. It is a continuous, year-round movement of roughly 1.5 million wildebeest, several hundred thousand zebra, and Thomson's gazelle, following the rains and the grass they bring. The herd moves clockwise through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem across the year, and where you should go depends entirely on when you travel.

From December to March the herds gather on the southern short-grass plains around Ndutu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This is calving season: in a roughly three-week window in February, close to 500,000 calves are born. It is the best time of year for predator action, because the concentration of newborns draws lions, cheetah and hyena into the open. From April the herds begin moving north-west through the Moru Kopjes and the Western Corridor, reaching the Grumeti River around May and June. July to October sees the herds in the northern Serengeti and crossing into the Maasai Mara — this is the period of the dramatic Mara and Grumeti river crossings, where the animals mass on the bank and plunge through crocodile-filled water. By November the short rains draw them south again, and the cycle begins over.

No single lodge or camp sees the migration all year. This is why serious Serengeti operators move their guests — or use mobile tented camps that relocate with the herds — rather than booking a single fixed base and hoping.

03 When to go

The best time to visit.

The honest answer is that the Serengeti rewards visitors in every month, but what you see changes. The dry season, June to October, is the classic safari window: sparse vegetation and animals concentrated around water sources make general game viewing easiest, and this is also river-crossing season in the north. It is the busiest and most expensive time to travel.

January to March is calving season on the southern plains — arguably the single best time for predator sightings, and quieter in the north. April and May are the long rains: the landscape is at its greenest, rates are at their lowest, and while some roads become difficult, the photography is extraordinary and the crowds thin. November, the short rains, is a genuine sweet spot — good value, freshly green plains, and the herds moving back south.

There is no closed season and no month without excellent wildlife. If your priority is the river crossings, come July to October. If it is calving and cats, come February. If it is value and green landscapes, come in the shoulder months.