Serengeti National Park reviews: Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is famous for being the location of the Great Wildlife Migration, which involves two MILLION wildebeests, zebras and antelopes. It’s also an extremely large and wild game park, and home to the Big Five of Africa.

What can be said about the Serengeti that hasn’t already been said? This is simply Africa as you always imagined it. Endless rolling bleached grasslands with scattered flat-topped acacia trees and animals everywhere. This is the Tanzania’ mirror image of Kenya’s Masai Mara and it’s physically much the same but on a much larger scale. Kenya’s Masai Mara is probably my single favourite park in Africa but the only reason it beats the Serengeti is because I know it better. If I had to choose between the two though, then it would simply come down to the time of year. Between roughly late-October and early June the Serengeti is home to over a million wildebeest and thousands of other grazers, but from June to October the majority of those animals head north to the Masai Mara in what’s known as the wildebeest migration. My decision as to which of the two parks would basically come down to where the wildebeest were at the time of my visit.

Whenever you visit the Serengeti you’re guaranteed a lifetime of memories. All of the Big Five are present, but while rhino aren’t that easily seen, lions are common and if you’re staying in one of the smaller, quieter camps then there’s a better than average chance that their deep throaty roars will seep into your dreams at night. Nerve wracking the first few times it quickly becomes a noise you’ll relish.

Parts of the Serengeti can get busy, especially the central Seronera zone which has the easiest access and highest concentration of camps and lodges. But it’s not hard to get a great slice of the Serengeti to yourself. Indeed on my last trip to the region (April 2016) to the far northwest of the park I actually didn’t see another safari vehicle for three days. The far east of the Serengeti is also very quiet and in the Namiri Plains, an area that until very recently was closed to all but scientists and park staff, there’s actually only one camp which means that absolute solitude is almost a given. The western corridor, the humid, fairly wet, finger of land that almost touches Lake Victoria, can also be much quieter than other parts of the park.

As well as looking at where the wildebeest will likely be at the time of your visit it’s worth considering what you yourself want out of a visit. This is a national park and so rules on what is and isn’t allowed are generally much tighter than in the nearby Ngorongoro Conservation Area (off-road driving isn’t allowed here which can make for some rather distant, and frustrating, wildlife viewing), but in some areas and from some camps short walking safaris can be arranged – a wonderful way to view the Serengeti. For this, I would strongly suggest the Namiri Plains area as the most pleasant area to walk.