How to Do a Safari in the Serengeti

I have been fortunate many times in life.  With the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, I have been fortunate twice.  I have done a safari in the Serengeti twice!  Both visits were different.  For example, how I got to be in Tanzania to begin with.  Or, which side of the park I entered through.  And the like, I figured I could share some insights into how to do a safari in the Serengeti and enjoy this unique ecosystem where nature does roam free.  Some of the best Africa, this unfamiliar place to most of us, has to offer.

Safari in the Serengeti National Park twice!

Back in 2007, I went to Tanzania for the first time visiting projects my employer supported in Stone Town (Zanzibar) and the Mwanza region while also visiting our main office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city (but not its capital which is inland Dodoma).

During my stay in Mwanza, I had a day off. I thought to myself:  if I never get to return to Tanzania, what would I do with that day?  Well, the answer was easy:  visit the nearby Serengeti, approaching it from its western side, to do a mini safari.  Though a day is not enough, when that’s all you have, you take advantage of the opportunity.  Experience a safari in the Serengeti:  sample a place so unique and present in our imagination from movies and the like!

The tiny Mwanza airport

A chance to do another safari in the Serengeti comes up

Fast forward to late 2012 and I was convinced, sold, pressured, <fill in the word here> to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.  Never on my list of things to do, I was surprised I agreed to do it.  Wine had something to do with it but also the great people with whom I would go on this adventure.

Once on board, the opportunity arose to do a four day safari through the Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti after the climb.  I knew I had barely scratched the surface on my brief visit in 2007.  In addition, I had not gotten to Ngorongoro in 2007 because it takes a day of its own and it was outside the Serengeti on the OPPOSITE side from where I was coming and going back to (Mwanza).

My visits were very different in duration, in how they were guided, and in how I got to and departed from the park.  These visits provided me a view of the options for someone contemplating doing safari in the Serengeti with potentially different itineraries.

Flying to Tanzania

First, one has to get to Africa to do a safari in Africa and, for the Serengeti, more specifically Tanzania (though you could come from Kenya).  For a North American departure, a good way to go is via Amsterdam which has a direct flight from Schiphol, Amsterdam’s world class and efficient airport, to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) which is the closest major airport to the mountain (though certainly not right by it!).  Or, you can fly into Dar es Salaam and then take a domestic flight to get you close to either side of the Serengeti:  its western entrance by Lake Victoria, or its eastern entrance towards Mount Kilimanjaro.  Flying in and out of Kilimanjaro certainly gives the most efficient routing so you more time time doing the safari, not getting to it.

Doing the Serengeti from Mwanza, or the western entrance

Getting to the Serengeti from Mwanza

One option on getting to the Serengeti is to enter it from its western side.  You would do this if you were coming, say, from Rwanda or were to get to Mwanza (Tanzania) on the shores of Lake Victoria.  On my first trip to Tanzania in 2007, this is how I visited the Serengeti, as I mentioned.  From Mwanza, it would take 3 hours or so to get to the Serengeti’s western entrance, the Ndabaka Gate.  Fair warning:  the road in was rather rough from this entrance.

Staying near the Serengeti on the Mwanza side

Since you really want to be at the park as early in the morning as possible, I stayed as close to the park’s entrance as possible.  They reserved a lake-shore bungalow at the Speke Bay Lodge (15 km from the park and 125 km from Mwanza) on Speke Bay (part of Lake Victoria) so I could get going really early – optimal time for seeing the wildlife at the park.

My bungalow at the Skepe Bay Lodge – outside

My bungalow at the Skepe Bay Lodge – inside

The shores of Speke Bay

The shores of Speke Bay

Exploring the Serengeti from the western entrance

I hired a driver from my organization to drive me in and out of the park.  He was thrilled at the opportunity as he would make extra money.  For the cost of his hourly wages multiplied by the hours spent taking me there/back plus a rather generous tip, I got to sample the Serengeti.  He was savvy enough to not get lost, handle the very rough roads, and show me a good bit.  However, he was not a regular safari driver who has more of knowledge and instinct for finding the action.  This was not ideal but beggars can’t be choosers, can they?  No complaints here.  I felt very fortunate to just get to experience something of this marvel of Creation.

Once in the park, he took me to the impressive Seronera Lodge so I could have lunch.  After concluding the “safari”, I went all the way back to Mwanza which made for a long day.  Needless to say, I recommend more than one day in the park.  Of course, I’d recommend staying in the park  though it can be expensive.  This would allow for taking advantage of the early hours of light.  An early start would almost guarantee one sees all that one hopes to see when doing a safari in the Serengeti.

Here a few images from that trip (film, not digital camera!).

Some of the wildlife…

Anyone need a ride?

Love this zebra picture!

Doing the Serengeti from Arusha / Kilimanjaro

Getting to the Serengeti from Arusha

The most common way to visit the Serengeti is to approach it from Arusha.  Arusha is proximate to the Kilimanjaro airport, as mentioned earlier.  More or less, it takes about four hours to get from Arusha to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area by car or bus.  The visit to the Ngorongoro can take a whole day so I would not recommend going back and forth from Arusha.

On the road in the Ngorongoro Crater

Staying near the Serengeti on the eastern side

We stayed at hotel outside the Ngorongoro called Highview Hotel in Karatu (the vistas from the hotel reminded me of the hills of Tuscany!) which made it perfect because, the day after visiting the Ngorongoro, we launched from there into the Serengeti.  We then spent two full days in the Serengeti staying in the park at a nice tented camp (we had a bathroom in the large tent as well as two separate beds!) that allowed us to get a very early start the second day.

My tented camp “tent” – nice!

Exploring the Serengeti from its eastern entrance

On this safari, we did go on a guided safari which definitely helped make the most of this great experience.  We were a group of twelve or so; we split into two vehicles.  One vehicle would be leaving at the crack of dawn and the other sometime after dawn.  I stuck with the group that slept a little more 🙂

We were taking a gamble…  Would we miss the best wildlife action, a lion kill, by sleeping “late” until 6 AM?  Actually a lion kill really meant a lioness or two hunting down some wildebeest.  Well, thankfully, we did not sacrifice the opportunity to see how the hunt takes place.  The hunt was more interesting to me than the actual kill.

The vehicles we rode in sat a small group and the top would open, as most of the vehicles you see during safari.  This way one could stand to look out without the glass of the windows obstructing a clear view out.  Also, who wants to sit for hours on end on uneven dirt roads??  One can be in the open surrounded by who knows what lurking animals.  Aside from it being a little dusty at times, it is the perfect way to be as out there.  Tip:  For the dust, bring a bandanna to serve as a mask in case you need it.

Second visit, an.other zebra shot..

Hippos enjoying the water

We named ourselves the type B group (vs. the other group, which we lovingly labeled the type A group).  We had been given lunch boxes prepared by our camp to be our lunch on the go, but the type B group (my group) drove past the Seronera Lodge (yes, the one I had had lunch at six years before!) and we asked the driver to stop there.  Once inside, we decided lunch boxes were for the type As and we proceeded to go to the restaurant for the lunch buffet… yes, no shame here – we enjoyed the ‘luxury.’

Anyway, that may not be how everyone wants to do on a safari in the Serengeti.  But it felt SO good to sit down, eat a real meal, sip on a glass of wine or a beer and look out the window at nature.  In the end, it is YOUR safari, YOUR journey so do it however it pleases you.  However you feel you got to unwind, however it helps you to not over-exert yourself.  No shame!  Do it!

Pool at the Seronera Lodge – with a great view of the plains

In this visit, we witnesses an almost lion kill in the Ngorongoro (we saw the lion patiently monitoring things with three lionesses not far probably doing the hard work).  And then we got the full experience when we got to observe a lioness hunt and kill of some wildebeest in the Serengeti National Park itself.  An incredible sight – it was amazing to witness the patience and finesse of the lioness, and also the cleverness of the wildebeests too (OK, all but one’s…).

Patiently waiting for the menu to walk by…

This is not going to end up well for someone…

Africa never ceases to amaze me.  The vistas, the wildlife and the people, so amazing.  The stuff we see on TV and that is so foreign to our daily experience (at least for those of us urbanites).  Though I wish coverage of Africa were better rounded than it is.  It seems me only hear about it when it is bad news, or something.

It is a beautiful place.  A far destination for some of us that is well worth the effort and the leap.  I leave you with these two images of the sunsets I experienced during the last safari in the Serengeti.  Perhaps these images will help convey a little of the beauty of the continent.  Have a good safari!

Amazing sunset on its way while we safari

Amazing sunset from the restaurant at our tented camp

Pin these images to your travel board!

P.S. – I received no free anything, or discount, or special treatment by any of the providers mentioned in this post.  I mention them because they were part of my experience and, if I had not been pleased with them, I would not mention them at all…