When to Go?
Serengeti & Tarangire National Parks
Each of our Planned Safaris has been designed to take into account the animal migration and the weather patterns and will visit the different parks at different times of the year. This section is meant to give you a brief idea of what those patterns are like. For more specific information, go ahead and request a free proposal for one of our trips.
Serengeti
The Serengeti Plains and National Park in Tanzania, provides for an unforgettable and remarkable African wildlife experience and can be enjoyed throughout the year. The rainy seasons (March to May and October to November) may affect road conditions, but this does not usually provide a serious problem. The wildebeest migration normally takes place between April and June, while the wildebeest are usually concentrated in the southern Serengeti during the calving season from December to May. From December to February the park is at its busiest, and to a lesser extent during July to August. The Serengeti Plains and National Park is however massive and it will not get anything like the congestion experienced in the Ngorongoro during the same periodes. Short rains fall November to mid December in Tanzania and the long rains are from March to the end of May. By September and October the bulk of the migration is concentrated in the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya, but even during this period there’s plenty of wildlife to see, including thriving lion prides and large clans of hyena.
Tarangire
The first migrating animals start to arrive in the Tarangire National Park during early June, and will remain in the park until November – just before the start of the short rainy season – when the migration moves north again. This annual wildlife Tarangire migration makes for fantastic game viewing in the dry season.
Don’t worry too much if you cannot coincide your trip with the annual migration period – many animals including African elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, a wide range of antelopes and warthogs – stay in the park all year round. Although the park offers many animals to be seen during the rainy season – you will however have to content with lush vegetation, rain and the plentiful insect population. June to October is the prime time to visit Tarangire.