Spotlight on Serengeti
Synonymous with endless grassy plains – the ‘Serengit’ – after which it gets its name, Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park is also home to the famous wildebeest migration and stakes a claim as one of Africa’s greatest wildlife destinations.
Classic Serengeti: a mixed herd of zebra & wildebeest on the savannah, their fate determined by the seasons.
But endless plains are just part of the Serengeti landscape. It’s a big reserve – the size of Switzerland – with distinctly different regions, each with their own character and wildlife. And don’t forget that the much-anticipated wildebeest migration moves around these regions, and indeed is absent from the Serengeti for several months of the year.
To get the best out of the Serengeti, it’s important to understand its regions and what happens when, especially if you are planning to view the migration. Let’s shine a spotlight on the Serengeti and see how it works.
NORTHERN SERENGETI
We’ll start here as this is the least visited part of the Serengeti. A rolling landscape of grasslands and thickly vegetated hills, the northern Serengeti is home to most of the park’s elephants and the mix of habitats means a good range of predators. Lion prides and hyenas are often seen in the hilly areas, with cheetah and serval cat on the grasslands.
Grasslands dominate the northern Serengeti with habitat also suitable for elephants & large herds of buffalo.
Given the terrain and thicker vegetation, it is an area however with potentially fewer wildlife sightings than the Serengeti’s open plains. This doesn’t deter many safari travellers as it also usually guarantees a more exclusive experience with fewer other visitors and vehicles. This all changes in October when rain begins to fall: wildebeest herds begin arriving in the northern Serengeti, increasing during November and December. They are on the move, heading for the southern and eastern grasslands but their numbers guarantee that the predators of northern Serengeti have plenty to keep them occupied.
EASTERN SERENGETI
Now the Serengeti opens out into a flatter grassland landscape, punctuated by small rocky hills where leopard and eagles live. The region is dominated by Lake Ndutu and its rich grasslands are where the wildebeest are heading, many of them pregnant and ready to give birth. The eastern and south-eastern Serengeti is where the wildebeest calving season plays out over January, February and March, a dramatic chapter of the migration and a time renowned for its predator interactions.
Book your safari for the first months of the year if your aim is to witness the wildebeest birthing season.
What’s not to like? Bear in mind, however, that this is a rainy time of year and also a popular one for safaris; you’ll need to book accommodation long in advance and be ready to share sightings with other vehicles. Take advantage of private concessions in the region to ensure a more exclusive safari experience or visit between April and November when dry weathers brings the area’s animals to the few remaining water sources.
SOUTHERN & CENTRAL SERENGETI
This is classic Serengeti: the endless, grassy plains, dotted with flat-topped thorn trees and low hills, often viewed from the vantage of a hot-air balloon. Rich with year-round wildlife, think of this region as the Serengeti’s ‘predator centre’: lions, cheetah and hyena are all resident and relatively easy to see. Even the leopard, normally so difficult to find, records one of Africa’s densest populations in this region. The central savannah of Seronera lies at the heart of the Serengeti experience, and is especially rewarding between March and May when the migrating wildebeest herds move through the area.
The southern & central Serengeti is where the classic imagery of the African savannah is best seen as well as excellent wildlife.
It’s a fabulous area for wildlife viewing: ecologically, the central and southern Serengeti are contiguous with Lake Ndutu and even the Ngorongoro Crater; indeed, black rhino can now be seen in the Serengeti, a group that originated from the Crater. The price to pay – so to speak – is that this is also the most popular area of the park; consider the exclusivity of a private concession during peak season.
WESTERN SERENGETI
Flatter, wetter and greener than the rest of the Serengeti, the western Serengeti has great wildlife viewing year round and is largely unvisited by travellers for much of the year. Known for its smaller and more intimate accommodation, the area has a number of rivers running through it and these provides the backdrop to the most exciting part of the wildebeest migration: the river crossings.
The rivers of the western Serengeti pose the biggest challenge to the migration; book as early as you can for front row seats.
Having come almost full circle, the wildebeest herds are on their way back to Kenya’s Masai Mara but rivers full of patiently waiting crocodiles stand in their way. The wildebeest begin arriving in western Serengeti by June and the river crossing spectacle reaches a crescendo in July and August.
You’ll need to book a year in advance to secure accommodation and you’ll be one of many other vehicles at a sighting, so consider the adjacent Grumeti Reserve. Now you have classic Serengeti – including the river crossings and balloon safaris – in a reserve that permits no more than 60 or so visitors, plus access to activities that are not permitted in the national park: night-drives and off-road driving for special sightings plus guided bush walks.
