Serengeti National Park: the Complete Guide to Tanzania's Best-Known Park

The Key Figures

The table pulls together the basic figures for Serengeti National Park and names where each one comes from. Note that even the area is disputed: the same Wikipedia article carries two numbers, and SafariBookings repeats the larger one. Elevation ranges differ by source too, which tells you the park spans a big vertical range from plains to hills.

Distances are road distances from Arusha, the usual starting point for Serengeti safari packages.

The Name and the History

The name Serengeti is usually traced to the Maasai word siringet, rendered as "the place where the land runs on forever" or "endless plains". Wikipedia flags the derivation as dubious and notes the word does not appear in Maasai dictionaries, so treat the translation as tradition rather than settled fact.

The protected history starts with the Tanganyika government creating the Serengeti Game Reserve on 19 November 1929, after a game warden was posted there in July 1929. Easy Travel dates a 2,286 km² reserve to 1930 in what is now the southern and eastern Serengeti, and says sport hunting was allowed until 1937. Major Richard Hingston proposed national park status in 1930. The area became a park in 1940, strict protection began in 1948 with the Serengeti National Park Board of Trustees, and the park was chartered in 1951 as Tanganyika's first national park.

In 1959 about 8,300 km² in the east was split off to form the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, removing Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge and the Salei Plains, roughly half the original park. The film Serengeti Shall Not Die, written and directed by Bernhard Grzimek, premiered on 25 June 1959, runs 85 minutes and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Michael Grzimek died on 10 January 1959 when his Dornier Do 27 crashed over the Ngorongoro Crater while surveying the ecosystem. The Serengeti Research Institute was established at Seronera in 1966, and the rebuilt Serengeti Visitor Centre at Seronera was opened on 7 October at a cost of TZS 3.9 billion, financed by Germany through BMZ and KfW Development Bank and implemented by TANAPA with the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

The Wider Ecosystem

The park is the core of a protected area of roughly 30,000 km² that Wikipedia says now holds 60% of its original size because of human encroachment, with Tanzania and Kenya protecting over 80% of what remains. To the north, the 1,510 km² Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya is contiguous with the park, and the two together form a Lion Conservation Unit established in 2005. To the southeast lies the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, split off from the park in 1959.

To the west sit Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, with Grumeti covering 411.89 km² and dating from 1993, and Maswa Game Reserve lies to the southwest. The Loliondo Game Control Area borders the northeast and east. Human habitation inside the park is banned except for park staff, researchers and lodge, campsite and hotel staff.

Between 2005 and 2012 the government considered a 452 km highway through the park and revived the plan in 2024. The Mara River is the only permanently flowing river in the whole ecosystem, and SafariBookings puts the migration loop across it at about 800 km, while Eos gives roughly 500 km a year.

The Regions Compared

Seronera in the central Serengeti is the main settlement and holds the primary Seronera airstrip, so it is the base for most Serengeti safari packages. The southern plains are almost treeless grassland, with Ndutu inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the park's edge. The Western Corridor follows the Grumeti and Mbalageti rivers, flatter and denser in plant cover than the south, with riverine forest and small mountain ranges.

The northern Serengeti runs from Seronera to the Mara River on the Kenyan border through open Commiphora woodland and hills, which Wikipedia calls remote and relatively inaccessible. SafariBookings names January to February and June to October as the best months overall, and Expert Africa notes game viewing at Ndutu is strongest December to March while June to October brings far fewer vehicles there.

The Kopjes

Kopjes are granite outcrops that rise from the plains, and Wikipedia describes them in the southern Serengeti as observation posts for predators. They are among the park's signature habitats, listed by Wikipedia alongside riverine forests, swamps, grasslands and woodlands. The Moru Kopjes shelter the Serengeti's only black rhino sanctuary with 19 animals tracked by the Serengeti Rhino Project, which keeps a small visitor centre there.

A short walk up the Moru granite leads to Maasai rock paintings in clay and ash showing shields, elephants and people, and to Gong Rock, a boulder with hollows that ring when struck. Further north, Lamai Serengeti sits on the Kogakuria Kopje, and Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti is built on a kopje next to a waterhole in the central Serengeti. Note that a special rhino viewing at Moru costs $100 per trip under the TANAPA tariff.

Fees Per 24 Hours

Every figure below is per adult unless stated. The core conflict is VAT. The TANAPA tariff read here quotes the non-East African adult conservation fee as $70 in peak season and $60 in low season, VAT exclusive, while Duma Explorer and SafariFind quote $82.60, $70.80 or $83 including 18% VAT.

The seasons also split differently depending on the fee: conservation fees run peak from 16 May to 14 March and low from 15 March to 15 May, while concession and campsite fees peak in July to September and drop from October to June. Children aged 5 to 15 pay child rates and under 5 is free. Fees are for multiple entry, once paid they are non-refundable, and proof of identification is mandatory at the gate.

Most self-drive visitors enter through Naabi Hill Gate, 85 km and 2 to 3 hours from the crater entrance, and permits are bought at the gate by credit card, as cash and debit cards are not accepted there per Roadtrip Africa. SafariFind says TANAPA moved to 100% digital payment at major gates in 2024.

The Rules Inside the Park

Game drives run from roughly 6 am to shortly after 6 pm per Altezza Travel, and moving around at night or disturbing animals at night is prohibited, which is why the Serengeti does not appear on the tariff's night game drive list, a list that covers Tarangire and Lake Manyara only. Guides do not drive off the roads laid out by the park authorities, so off-road driving is not allowed. Visitors may leave the vehicle only at picnic sites, observation areas and walking safari routes. Feeding animals is prohibited and campfires are not allowed.

Speed limits conflict by source: Altezza Travel gives 50 km/h in national parks, while Roadtrip Africa gives 25 to 40 km/h depending on road conditions and park. The B144 from Seronera to Naabi Hill Gate is rocky and badly corrugated and should be driven below 25 km/h per Roadtrip Africa. A TANAPA ranger for self-drive visitors costs about $40 a day plus a tip, is arranged at the gate and cannot drive your vehicle. The tariff sets a fine of TSh 200,000 for vehicles causing an accident in national parks, and open vehicles pay 50% extra on the vehicle entry fee.

By Road

Foot Slopes Tours puts Arusha to central Serengeti at approximately 325 to 335 km and says the drive typically takes 6 to 8 hours depending on weather and entry gate, advising a start between 6:00 and 7:00 AM. Roadtrip Africa is more cautious, saying Seronera to Arusha takes 9 to 10 hours and advising against doing it in one day. Expert Africa puts Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge about 340 km from Arusha, roughly 8 to 10 hours by road.

The usual route breaks at Karatu, 140 km and about 3.5 hours from Arusha. Karatu holds the last fuel station before the Serengeti, though Seronera has an emergency station with higher prices. From the crater entrance, Naabi Hill Gate is 85 km and 2 to 3 hours, Naabi Hill Gate to Seronera is 60 km and about 1 hour, and Seronera to the Lobo ranger post is 80 km and about 2 hours. Roadtrip Africa warns the road from Naabi Hill Gate to Seronera is bumpy with washboard surfaces, and some areas are only allowed with a Toyota Land Cruiser.

By Air

A fly-in from Arusha or Kilimanjaro airport takes approximately 1 to 1.5 hours per Foot Slopes Tours, or about 60 minutes by air to Serengeti Serena per Expert Africa. Auric Air lists eight Serengeti airstrips with codes: Seronera (SEU), Kogatende (KOG), Lamai Triangle (LAM), Sasakwa (SAS), Grumeti (GTZ), Fort Ikoma (FTI), Lobo (LOB) and Ndutu (NTU). Seronera Wildlife Lodge is 2 km, a five-minute drive, from the Seronera airstrip, and Sayari Camp is 9 km, a 15 to 20 minute drive, from Kogatende Airstrip.

If you want to skip the road entirely, the Serengeti Fly-In Safari has a scheduled flight to the Serengeti on day 1 for $2,750.77 per person (the inclusions do not name the flight, so confirm it is in the price), and the Zanzibar to Serengeti Safari flies return from Zanzibar to Seronera for $1,875 per person with one night at Africa Safari Serengeti Ikoma near the gate.

Sleeping Inside the Park

Named inside the park or on its edge: Seronera Wildlife Lodge with 78 rooms and a swimming pool carved into a rock outcrop, Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge with 66 rooms in the Kyabatero Hills 27 km from the airstrip, Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti with 77 units about 25 km north of Seronera and 90 minutes by road from the airstrip, Lamai Serengeti and Sayari Camp in the far north, and Ndutu Safari Lodge with 34 cottages inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Serengeti Under Canvas moves two camps of nine guest tents each with the seasons: Ndutu from before Christmas to early April, Seronera from early April to the end of May, Grumeti June to mid-July, Kogatende mid-July to early November, then Seronera again early November to mid-December.

Several bookable trips sleep at the Seronera campsite inside the park. The 5-Day Serengeti Camping Safari at $1,320 per person spends 2 nights at Seronera campsite and lists all fees and taxes as included. The 3-Day Serengeti Big Five Safari at $900 per person camps at Tumbili public campsite with all park fees included. The 4-Day Serengeti Camping Safari at $950 per person includes 2 Serengeti campsite nights and entrance fees. Lodge trips sleep inside too: the 3-Day Private Serengeti Safari uses Enkirari Wilderness Camp in the central Serengeti, and the 8-Day Serengeti Migration Safari spends 2 nights at Heritage Mara Camp in the northern Serengeti.