Northern Tanzania  é  East Africa

Serengeti Parc national

Where the land runs on forever é 14,763 square kilometres of ancient savanna, the world's greatest animal migration, and the largest lion population remaining on Earth.

14,763 kmé Protected Savanna
1.7 Million Migrating Wildebeest
3,000é4,000 African Lions
UNESCO World Heritage 1981
UNESCO World Heritage Africa's Largest Lion Population One of Seven Natural Wonders of Africa
Home é Destinations é Northern Tanzania é Parc national du Serengeti
Aperçu

L'infini Plains

Serengeti is not a destination. It is an encounter with deep time é a landscape so ancient, so ecologically intact, that scientists believe its weather patterns, fauna, and flora have changed very little in over a million years.

Le nom lui-même vient du mot Maasai siringet é "the place where the land runs on forever." Standing at the edge of the Seronera Valley at dawn, before the sun has cleared the flat horizon and the plains are still grey and cool, the name makes absolute sense. There is no end to this landscape. The grass runs to the horizon in every direction, interrupted only by the dark silhouettes of kopjes and the distant dark shapes of animals moving in the half-light.

Serengeti National Park covers 14,763 square kilometres and sits at the heart of the greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem é an interconnected network of national parks, conservation areas, and game reserves extending over 30,000 kmé across Tanzania and Kenya. It is Africa's most ecologically complete savanna ecosystem é a place where the full suite of African savanna wildlife still exists in numbers and in relationships that have evolved over millions of years without the simplification that human settlement imposes everywhere else.

In 1940, it became one of Tanzania's first national parks. In 1981, UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site é recognising both its exceptional natural beauty and its outstanding universal value for the study of ecological processes. The Serengeti Research Institute, established at Seronera in 1966, has produced some of the most influential ecological science of the 20th century, including George Schaller's foundational lion studies (begun in the 1960s and still continuing today) and the definitive research on predator-prey relationships that underpins modern conservation biology.

Park Statistics
Established1940
UNESCO Status1981
Total Area14,763 kmé
Ecosystem Area30,000+ kmé
Altitude Range920é1,850m
Wildebeest1.3é1.7 million
Lions3,000é4,000
Cheetah500é600
Leopard~1,000
Spotted Hyena7,500é8,700
Buffalo~50,000
Elephant8,000+
Bird Species500+
Large Mammals70+ species
One of Seven Natural Wonders of Africa
La grande migration des gnous est le phénomène naturel le plus emblématique d’Afrique et l’un des plus grands événements liés à la faune sauvage au monde.
La migration

Le plus grand Show on Earth

Chaque année, dans un mouvement entièrement régi par les précipitations et la pousse de l'herbe fraîche, environ 1,7 million de gnous, 260 000 zèbres et 470 000 gazelles de Thomson et Grant complete a continuous clockwise circuit through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. They have been doing this for over a million years. The circuit spans 3,000 kilometres. It is the largest overland animal migration on Earth é and in terms of total body weight, the largest animal movement anywhere on the planet.

La Migration n'a ni début ni fin. C'est une boucle continue, animée par un seul impératif : les troupeaux suivent la pluie, qui génère de l'herbe verte et fraîche. Lorsque les plaines à herbes courtes du sud du Serengeti deviennent vertes suite aux courtes pluies de novembre, les troupeaux se déplacent vers le sud. Lorsque ces plaines s'assèchent en avril, elles se déplacent vers le nord. Lorsque les hautes herbes du nord du Serengeti ont été broutées, elles traversent le Masai Mara au Kenya. Lorsque les pluies de Mara arrivent sur les plaines du Serengeti en novembre, elles reviennent. Le cycle n'a pas de pause.

Le Traversées de la rivière Mara é which typically occur July through October é are the Migration's most theatrical and most photographed moment. The wildebeest gather in their thousands on the southern bank of the Mara, milling, calling, pressing forward and back in a collective indecision that can last hours before a single animal breaks from the bank and the rest surge after it. The crocodiles é some over 70 years old and 5 metres long é wait. The current pulls at the animals. Not all make it. But the survivors press on north, following the rain and the grass, as their ancestors have for a million years before them.

Le saison de mise bas dans la région de Ndutu, dans le sud du Serengeti (typically January through March) is the Migration's most intimate chapter. Over 500,000 wildebeest calves are born in a compressed 2é3 week window é up to 8,000 in a single day at peak. Wildebeest calves are extraordinary athletes: within minutes of birth, they can walk; within hours, run. They need to be. The plains are dense with lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas, all timing their own breeding and hunting to coincide with this explosion of vulnerable, nutritious life.

La migration en chiffres
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1.3é1.7 Million
Western White-bearded Wildebeest
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260,000
Zèbre des plaines (précède les troupeaux)
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470,000+
Thomson's & Grant's Gazelle
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Rivière Mara
Crocodile crossing (JuléOct)
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500,000+
Calves born FebéMar (Ndutu)
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3,000 km
Annual circuit distance
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Year-Round
Migration visible in Serengeti every month
Where the Herds Are é Month by Month
January
Southern Serengeti & Ndutu Plains
Le vêlage commence
February
Ndutu Short-Grass Plains
Pic de vêlage
March
Southern & Central Serengeti
Moving North
April
Central Serengeti é Moru Kopjes
Longues pluies
May
Central & Western Corridor
Columns Form
June
Western Corridor é Grumeti River
Grumeti Crossing
July
Northern Serengeti
? Traversées de Mara
August
Northern Serengeti & Masai Mara
? Traversées de pics
September
Northern Serengeti & Mara
? Still Crossing
October
Eastern Serengeti é Moving South
Heading South
November
Est du Serengeti é Pluies courtes
Pluies courtes
December
Southern Serengeti & Ndutu
Returning South
Geography

Les Six Distinct Zones

The Serengeti is not one landscape é it is six distinct ecosystems, each with its own character, its own wildlife concentrations, and its own optimal time to visit.

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Seronera Valley
La capitale des prédateurs
The park's heart and most visited area é the Seronera River Valley contains the highest concentration of resident predators anywhere in the Serengeti. Hundreds of lions wander the plains around Seronera, the Simba, Moru, and Gol kopjes. The resident leopards of the Seronera River fig trees are among Africa's most reliably sighted. The valley sits at the convergence of the short-grass plains, the acacia woodland, and the riverine forest é three habitat types supporting three distinct predator communities.
Year-Round Lions & Leopards Simba Kopjes Central Location
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Ndutu & Southern Plains
Les terrains de vêlage
The southern Serengeti's short-grass plains é grown on volcanic ash from the Kerimasi Volcano, erupted 150,000 years ago é are the ancestral calving grounds of the wildebeest. Between January and March, these plains hold the most extraordinary wildlife spectacle available outside the Mara River crossings: 500,000+ calves born in weeks, every predator in the ecosystem converging on the feast, and the open green plains stretching to every horizon. The Ndutu woodlands in the southwest provide excellent year-round predator and resident wildlife viewing.
JanéMar Peak Saison de vêlage Predator Action Lake Ndutu
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Northern Serengeti
Le drame de la rivière Mara
The northern Serengeti é the Lamai Wedge, Kogatende, and the Mara River corridor é is the stage for the Migration's most dramatic chapter: the Mara River crossings, when wildebeest plunge en masse into crocodile-filled water in scenes of extraordinary chaos and survival instinct. The northern zone holds large resident elephant herds and less-visited game drive circuits away from the Seronera crowds. The Lobo Valley in the northeast holds unique wildlife and excellent game drives year-round.
JuléOct Best Traversée de la rivière Mara Elephant Herds Lobo Valley
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Western Corridor
La zone de la rivière Grumeti
The Western Corridor is the Migration's first major river challenge é the Grumeti River, with its own population of enormous Nile crocodiles (some among the largest in Africa), becomes the scene of dramatic crossings in June and July as the herds push north. The Grumeti Reserve and Ikorongo Game Reserve adjacent to the park support significant topi and roan antelope populations rarely seen elsewhere in the Serengeti. The broadleaved Terminalia-Combretum woodlands of the far northwest replace the acacia woodland, creating a completely different game drive character.
JunéJul Best Grumeti Crossing Topi & Roan Unique Woodland
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Lobo Valley
Le joyau toute l’année
The Lobo Valley in the northeastern Serengeti is one of the park's most beautiful and least-crowded areas é a world of rolling hills, rocky outcrops, and acacia woodland that provides excellent game driving year-round. In October and November, the herds pass through on their return south, filling the valley with wildlife. Black-backed jackals (more common here than anywhere else in the Serengeti), large elephant herds in the north, and exceptional landscape photography make Lobo one of the park's hidden rewards for those who venture beyond Seronera.
Year-Round Low Crowds OctéNov Migration Pass-Through
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Eastern Serengeti
Cheetah Country
The eastern Serengeti's volcanic grasslands é a Tropical Grassland Ecozone é are Tanzania's finest cheetah habitat. The park's estimated 500é600 cheetahs are densest in the open grasslands around Seronera and east toward Ndutu, where the short grass provides both visibility for the cheetah's hunting technique and clear sightlines for safari photography. The eastern plains transition into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area's protected lands to the southeast é the area the herds use for much of the year as a grazing extension of the southern Serengeti.
Year-Round Cheetah Capital Open Plains Photography
Predators

Africa's Greatest Concentration of Predators

The Serengeti sustains not just the largest migrating herds in the world, but the greatest concentrations of large predators on Earth é supported by the 2 million+ ungulates that fuel the entire food chain.

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African Lion
3,000é4,000 Individuals

The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem supports the largest lion population remaining in Africa é most likely the largest on Earth. Hundreds of resident lions wander the Seronera Valley alone. Prides of 20+ individuals hunt cooperatively, taking prey as large as buffalo and giraffe. The Serengeti Lion Project é begun by George Schaller in the 1960s é is the longest-running large carnivore study in the world, and the knowledge it has generated underpins the entirety of modern lion conservation science.

Seronera é Kopjes é Plains
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Cheetah
500é600 Individuals

One of the world's densest remaining cheetah populations. The Serengeti's open short-grass plains are ideal cheetah habitat é the combination of high prey density, low vegetation, and enormous space allows cheetahs to hunt, raise cubs, and compete with lions and hyenas at densities rarely achieved elsewhere. The cheetahs of the Ndutu area and the eastern plains are among the world's most studied and most photographed, with specific individuals and coalitions known to researchers by name.

Eastern Plains é Ndutu é Open Savanna
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Leopard
~1,000 Individuals

The Serengeti's leopard population is estimated at approximately 1,000 individuals é a density of 5.41 per 100 kmé in the dry season, one of the highest recorded in Africa. The leopards of the Seronera River are among Africa's most reliably sighted, their habit of draping themselves over the horizontal branches of the valley's large fig trees making them visible from vehicles at distances that would be impossible in denser bush. The interaction between Seronera's leopards, lions, and hyenas is the subject of ongoing scientific research.

Seronera River é Fig Trees é Riverine Forest
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Spotted Hyena
7,500é8,700 Individuals

Spotted hyenas outnumber lions in the Serengeti é and contrary to popular belief, they are far more often the hunters than the scavengers, with lions more frequently stealing hyena kills than vice versa. The Serengeti's hyena clans are extraordinarily complex social systems, with matriarchal hierarchies, coalition formation, and cooperative hunting strategies documented in detail by the long-running Serengeti Hyena Project. Hyenas are active throughout the day but most visible at dawn and dusk.

Ecosystem-Wide é Clans é Open Plains
La science du Serengeti
"Le Serengeti est l'un des écosystèmes les plus anciens et les plus importants sur le plan scientifique de la planète. La science moderne de la conservation trouve ses racines ici, où des pionniers comme Bernhard Grzimek, George Schaller et Jane Goodall ont mené des recherches qui ont fondamentalement transformé notre compréhension du comportement animal, de la dynamique des populations et des relations prédateurs-proies qui régissent le monde sauvage."
é Serengeti Research Institute, founded 1966
Faune

70+ Species of Large Mammal

The Serengeti's extraordinary wildlife diversity is a function of its equally extraordinary habitat diversity. In a single park, the savanna ecosystem includes volcanic short-grass plains, acacia woodland, riverine forest, swamps, rocky kopjes, and broadleaved miombo woodland é each supporting different species assemblages that together create the most species-rich savanna system in Africa.

70 large mammal species are recorded within the park, alongside over 500 bird species. The diversity of grazers is particularly remarkable é the Serengeti can support this variety only because each species, even closely related ones, occupies a different dietary niche. Zebras eat long, coarse grass. Wildebeest prefer short, actively growing grass. Thomson's gazelles eat the tiny, highly nutritious plants left when the grazers move on. The entire migration is essentially a sequential lawn-mowing operation, each species preparing the grassland for the next.

The elephant population é which numbered fewer than 2,000 in the 1986 aerial survey following decades of poaching é recovered to over 8,000 individuals d’ici 2014, démontrant l’extraordinaire résilience de la faune lorsque le braconnage est contrôlé avec succès. Les populations de buffles s'élèvent à environ 50 000 individus. Topi, élan, kongoni et impala sont présents par dizaines de milliers. La capacité de charge de l'écosystème pour les brouteurs est pratiquement inégalée partout en Afrique.

1.7M
Wildebeest
8,000+
Elephants
50,000
Buffalo
500+
Bird Species
70+
Mammal Species
260,000
Zebra
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Wildebeest
1.3é1.7M
Western white-bearded é Migration
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African Lion
3,000é4,000
Largest population in Africa
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Cheetah
500é600
Densest population in Africa
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Leopard
~1,000
Spécialité de la rivière Seronera
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Elephant
8,000+
Récupéré du minimum de 2 000 dans les années 1980
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Plains Zebra
260,000
Precede wildebeest; eat coarse grass
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Cape Buffalo
~50,000
Large herds é non-migratory
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Masai Giraffe
Thousands
Acacia woodland browsers
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Spotted Hyena
7,500é8,700
Plus commun que les lions
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Nile Crocodile
Large population
Mara & Grumeti Rivers
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Topi
Western Corridor
Large herds é wetter areas
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Raptors
80+ species
Aigle martial, bateleur et plus
Experiences

Que faire Faire dans le Serengeti

Hot Air Balloon Safari
Sunrise balloon flight over the Serengeti é one of Africa's most definitive luxury experiences. An hour over the plains as they wake, ending with champagne breakfast in the bush. Book months in advance. À partir de approximately $650 par personne.
Photography Safari
Dedicated photography game drives timed for golden-hour light é dawn at the kopjes, late afternoon at the river. Your guide positions the vehicle for optimal angles, waits for behaviour, and understands composition. The Serengeti is one of Earth's great photography destinations.
Migration Tracking
Haven Trails guides receive real-time intelligence on herd locations from a network of rangers and researchers. We position your safari to intercept the migration wherever it is é whether calving in the south, crossing the Grumeti in the west, or plunging the Mara in the north.
Night Drive
Select concession areas within and adjacent to the park permit night drives é revealing the Serengeti's nocturnal world: aardvark, serval, civet, African wildcat, porcupine, and the eyes of smaller predators glowing in the spotlight. A completely different safari experience.
Specialist Birding
500+ species including 80+ raptors, spectacular grassland endemics, and extraordinary migrant concentrations. Haven Trails can arrange specialist birding guides for dedicated birding days é the Serengeti's diversity of habitat makes it one of East Africa's finest birding destinations.
Bush Walk & Cultural Visit
Armed-ranger guided walks at selected park border areas. Maasai cultural visits é the Maasai people have coexisted with the Serengeti's wildlife for centuries in the areas bordering the park, and community-owned cultural experiences are available through Haven Trails.
Quand y aller

The Serengeti é Every Month is Different

The Serengeti rewards visitors in every season. The question is not whether to go, but where é because the experience changes dramatically depending on where the migration is and what the landscape is doing.

July é October
? HAUTE SAISON
The Mara River Crossings é Northern Serengeti
  • Mara River crossings at maximum intensity (JulyéSept)
  • Herds concentrated in northern Serengeti
  • Dry, clear skies é excellent game viewing visibility
  • Best photography light é golden, warm, low-angle
  • Tous les camps et lodges sont ouverts et pleinement opérationnels
  • August considered peak of peak é book 12+ months ahead
  • Most expensive period; highest visitor numbers
January é March
? SAISON DE VêlAGE
Southern Serengeti & Ndutu é Extraordinary Predator Action
  • 500,000+ calves born in 2é3 week window (February)
  • Tous les prédateurs concentrés sur les aires de mise bas
  • Lush green short-grass plains é beautiful photography
  • Fewer visitors than JulyéOctober
  • Migratory birds (OctéApr) at their peak
  • Quelques courtes pluies possibles et brèves averses l'après-midi
  • Ndutu area é mobile camps only in this zone
June
? EXCELLENT
Western Corridor & Grumeti River é First Crossings
  • Des troupeaux se rassemblent près de la rivière Grumeti pour leur première traversée
  • Dramatic Grumeti crocodile encounters
  • Dry conditions beginning é good game viewing
  • Faune résidente excellente dans tout le parc
  • Fewer visitors than JulyéOctober
  • Mara crossings beginning late June é some years
April é May
LONGUES PLUIES
Green Season é The Serengeti in Bloom
  • Dramatic skies é extraordinary photography opportunities
  • Lush green landscape é Serengeti at its most beautiful
  • Significant discounts at most properties
  • Very few other tourists é private experience
  • Faune résidente (lions, léopards) excellente toute l'année
  • Some tracks impassable; some mobile camps closed
  • Afternoon rains é may interrupt late game drives
Haven Trails Note on Climate Change
Migration timing has shifted in recent years due to inconsistent rainfall patterns é herds have been arriving at locations up to 2é3 weeks earlier or later than historical patterns. Our guides receive real-time intelligence on herd locations and adjust itineraries accordingly. We do not sell migration safaris based on calendar dates alone é we track the herds and position you where they actually are.
Conservation

Protéger le Serengeti

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60+ Years of Scientific Research
The Serengeti Research Institute (founded 1966) has produced foundational ecological science. George Schaller's Serengeti Lion Project é begun in the 1960s and still active today é is the world's longest-running large carnivore study. The data it has generated underpins modern lion conservation across Africa. The Serengeti Biodiversity Program continues annual wildlife censuses tracking migration routes, population changes, and ecosystem dynamics.
Research Institution
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Canine Distemper & Rabies Control
In 1994, an outbreak of canine distemper killed approximately one-third of the Serengeti's lion population. The response é a mass rabies vaccination programme for domestic dogs in Serengeti villages é has since indirectly prevented hundreds of human deaths and protected endangered species including the African wild dog. This programme is a model for community-based disease management in wildlife ecosystems globally.
Community Health Programme
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Elephant Population Recovery
The Serengeti's elephant population declined from approximately 2,000 in the 1980s (following decades of ivory poaching) to a recovered population of 8,000+ by 2014. This recovery é one of the most remarkable in African conservation é was achieved through intensive anti-poaching operations, community engagement, and the protection of the cross-border ecosystem connecting Tanzania and Kenya.
Anti-Poaching Success
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The Highway Threat é Ongoing Vigilance
In 2010, Tanzania announced plans for a 53 km commercial highway through the northern Serengeti é which would have fragmented the ecosystem and disrupted migration routes. International conservation advocacy successfully blocked the project, but pressure for infrastructure development remains. Tanzania National Parks and UNESCO continue to monitor and defend the park's integrity against ongoing developmental threats.
Ecosystem Defence
Practical Guide

Tout ce dont vous avez besoin to Know

Se rendre au Serengeti
  • Fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) or Julius Nyerere Airport, Dar es Salaam (DAR)
  • Trajet depuis Arusha : ~8 heures via les hauts plateaux du Ngorongoro
  • Vol charter d’Arusha/Dar à la piste d’atterrissage de Seronera : ~1h
  • Multiple airstrips: Seronera, Kogatende (north), Grumeti (west), Ndutu (south)
  • Haven Trails organise toute la logistique routière et aérienne
Accommodation
  • Camps de tentes économiques : à partir de 200$/nuit
  • Mid-range lodges (Seronera area): $400é700/night
  • Luxury camps (Asilia, &Beyond, Nomad): $900é1,600/night
  • Les camps de migration mobiles se déplacent avec les troupeaux
  • JulyéOctober lodges book 12+ months ahead
  • Haven Trails est un partenaire privilégié de niveau Argent avec des propriétés clés
Entry & Regulations
  • Visa touristique pour la Tanzanie: $50 USD (la plupart des nationalités)
  • Frais d'entrée au parc : 82 $ par personne et par jour (non-résident)
  • Frais de véhicule : 50 $ par véhicule et par entrée
  • Malaria zone é prophylaxis recommended
  • Certificat de fièvre jaune requis pour certaines nationalités
  • Tous les frais sont inclus dans les forfaits Haven Trails
FAQ

Common Questions

Quelle est la meilleure période pour visiter le Serengeti ?
The Serengeti is spectacular every month. For the Mara River crossings, JulyéOctober in the northern Serengeti. For calving season drama, JanuaryéMarch in Ndutu and the southern plains. For the Grumeti River crossings and good value, June. The park's resident wildlife é lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants é is excellent year-round. Haven Trails advises on the best zone to be in based on your travel dates.
Combien y a-t-il de lions dans le Serengeti ?
The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem supports an estimated 3,000é4,000 lions é Africa's largest remaining lion population. Hundreds of resident lions wander the Seronera Valley alone, and it is not unusual to see two or three prides in the course of a single game drive in this area. The Serengeti Lion Project has been studying these prides continuously since the 1960s.
Puis-je voir tous les Big Five du Serengeti ?
Yes é all Big Five are present in the Serengeti. Lions, leopards, elephants, and buffaloes are reliably seen. The black rhinoceros, however, suffered catastrophically from poaching (from 1,000 to fewer than 70 individuals) and is now very rarely seen. For reliable rhino encounters, Ngorongoro Crater é which has strictly protected its approximately 26 rhinos é is the recommended addition to a Serengeti safari.
Combien de temps dois-je passer dans le Serengeti ?
A minimum of 3 full days is needed to begin to understand the park. Five days is the ideal minimum for a meaningful experience. Our Great African Symphony 7-day safari allocates three full Serengeti days é which allows different circuits each day and a genuine sense of the park's scale. More days always reveal more, because the Serengeti's 14,763 kmé cannot be absorbed quickly.
Is a hot air balloon safari worth it?
For most guests, yes é the Serengeti balloon safari is one of Africa's truly defining luxury experiences. Floating over the plains at dawn, watching the landscape emerge from darkness, seeing animals move below in a completely different perspective é it is unlike anything a game drive delivers. The champagne bush breakfast that follows is also genuinely excellent. Book as early as possible; July and August flights book out months in advance.
Où sont exactement les gnous en ce moment ?
Migration location depends entirely on the current rainfall pattern, which makes specific predictions unreliable from a distance. Haven Trails receives daily updates from our guide network on herd locations across the Serengeti and positions your safari accordingly. We do not sell safari packages based on calendar predictions alone é we track the actual herds and go where they are.

Planifiez votre Serengeti Safari

Le Serengeti est l'expérience qui vous accompagnera pour le reste de votre vie. Laissez Haven Trails concevoir le voyage qui le mérite.

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