Serengeti National Park

Beaten track, but beaten for a reason.

Unfortunately we missed the migration at the park, but it was still busy with tourists. The landscape is open and expansive, meaning you're not constantly surrounded by other vehicles - unless you come across a pride of lions, in which case expect a steady build up of tourists.

There's a great number of animals to be seen at the park, and you'd have to be pretty unlucky not to come away with several decent sightings. Being driven around certainly makes for a relaxing tour, and there are plenty of extras to consider including camping or staying at a hotel within the park and balloon tours.

Our guide was interesting, we really liked him though I would imagine more professional ones are available. He was good at spotting wildlife but wasn't overly knowledgeable about each species. He compensated for this by being a fun and hardworking guide. The food provided was ok - not exactly fine dining, but we weren't expecting that anyway.

The weather during our time there was good - hot but not too hot, and sometimes cloudy. It didn't rain.

The highlight was probably the lions, as we saw them close up and with the male, who came and lay down right next to our vehicle. Just as we were about to leave a female arrived and called to her cubs, who arrived through the long grass. They were very cute. I also loved the hippo pool, where there was loads of activity.

All in all we had a fantastic time at the park, and would thoroughly recommend it to others who have an interest in wildlife.

Vast plains, huge concentrations of wildlife. The great migration of course. If you want to see as much as possible, go here. All the big cats, all the undulates. Great landscapes, koppies and oasis like rivers. Downsides are the amount of tourists. You see many vehicles standing around a group of lions or that cheetah.

We stayed in Central Serengeti in June while the migration was also taking place in this area. Very impressive. We stayed there for 10 days and therefore also had days when the migration had already passed through the area. Those days it was not easy to spot the wild animals. Overall I expected to see more cheetahs, elephants and leopards. There is no shortage of lions, but here too we were always there with easily 70 other cars, all moving continuously to see the lions just a little better and tourists shouting at the animals. Not the relaxing and romantic safari that I am used to from private parks in, for example, Namibia or even the national parks in Zambia. The roads are dramatic even though you pay a large fee to enter the park and the rest camps are places where you really don't stop for fun.
I have the feeling that they can also make the roads much more 'romantic'. Sometimes you have a beautiful river, but you don't see anything because the road goes in the completely opposite direction. The Masai Mara does this much better.
Overall I also thought the guides were very poor. They pushed the animals too much and often locked them in.
Overall, I would rather spend my money on a safari in Zambia, Namibia or Kenya, for example.

I went to central Serengeti and didn’t know that animals were migrating to the south. It should be said when I booked my trip, then I could change destination.

Not many animals and bad roads. Beautiful nature though.

Tanzania Northern Circuit - Too crowded

Hi Folks,

Just a quick one to let you know about my experience in Serengeti and Ngorongoro.

We had an amazing well organized safari with Serene Tours Tanzania, in fact this is the second one I did with them. The first one was back in January in the South of Tanzania. But for the North of Tanzania I am a bit disappointed, it was way too crowded and spent quite some times at gates of the parks.

My advice to you guys, do not do the same mistake as I did. Start with the North of Tanzania first, do not do the safari in August as it is peak season and then only do the South of Tanzania. Doing so you will have a different feel of your safaris and will not remain and a mixed feeling.

This been said, Tanzania is well worth it but, you need to be careful when you choosing the itineraries as well as the time of the year you will visit!

Enjoy Tanzania,

Xavier

Too many cars and dust, stress for the animals, large distances covered with high speed

Too vast, bad roads, impossible to come close to animals