Following the Migration- Serengeti Shared Safari Camp
The Serengeti Shared Safari Camp makes use of a Traditional Mobile Tented Camp on a shared -use basis, periodically moving location within the Serengeti according to Migration game movements and weather conditions. Although the camp will NOT move during your actual sta y, the chances of being w ithin reach of the wildebeest migration, which is one of the principle goals of any visit to the Serengeti, are greatly enhanced by this mobility.
The camp has up to 16 guests staying at anyone time in its eight luxury tents with en suite bathrooms. The focus of the camp is a large dining tent with a shaded ‘sitting out’ area. As well as a fully-stocked complimentary bar, there is a small reference library of African books and a variety of games. There is a campfire every evening, around which guests can share the day’s adventures with like -minded souls.
Guests at the Serengeti Safari Camp meet up and mingle with each other during the evening over pre -dinner drinks and candlelit dinners, but during the day you will set o ff on your own, with your own private guide and vehicle. By having your own vehicle and guide you can ensure you can do what you want when you want to do it – be that following the wildebeest, sitting by a waterhole or just waiting too get that perfect photograph.
Serengeti is derived from the Masai language and appropriately means “endless plain.” The park’s 5,700 square miles makes it larger than the state of Connecticut. Altitude varies from 3,120 to 6,070 feet. As you enter the park gate you will take a game drive through the open plains.
Nearly 500 species of birds and 35 species of large plains animals can be found in the Serengeti. The park may contain as many as 1.5 million wildebeest, 500,000 zebra, 300,000 Grant’s gazelle, 250,000 Thomson’s gazelle, 120,000 impala, 70,000 topi, 20,000 buffalo, 9,000 eland, 8,000 giraffe, 1,000 lion and 800 elephant.
The huge herds of plains game such as wildebeest, zebra and antelope dominate the park while the attendant predators such as lion and cheetah are to be found amongst the many kopjes scattered across the plain. Leopard can often be found draped in the trees along the Seronera River.
From December-May wildebeest, zebra, eland and Thomson’s gazelle usually concentrate on the treeless short -grass plains in the extreme southeastern Serengeti and western Ngorongoro Conservation Area near Lake Ndutu in search of short grass, which they prefer over the longer dry -stemmed variety.
This is the best time to visit the Serengeti. In April and May, the height of the rainy season, a 4wd vehicle is highly recommended.
The rut for wildebeest is concentrated over a three -week period and generally occurs at the end of April, May or early June. After a gestation period of eight and one -half months, approximately 90% of the pregnant cows will give birth on the short-grass plains within a six -week period between the mid/end of January and February . Zebra calving season is spread out over most of the yea r, with a slightly higher birth rate December-March. The best time to see wildebeest and zebra crossing the Grumeti River is in June/early July and November.
As a general rule, by June the migration has progressed west of Seronera. The migration then splits into three separate migrations: one west through the corridor toward permanent water and Lake Victoria and then northeast; the second due north, reaching the Masai Mara of Kenya around mid-July; and the third northward between the other two to a region west of Lobo Lodge, where the group disperses. At present, there are few roads in the region where the third group disperses; howeve r, this may change.
During July-September, the Serengeti’s highest concentration of wildlife is in the extreme north. The first and second groups meet and usually begin returning to the Serengeti National Park in late October; the migration then reaches the central or southern Serengeti by December.
