Serengeti National Park Travel Tips and Advice

Serengeti National Park Travel Tips and Advice  : Serengeti National Park is the best safari park in Africa for Tanzania wildlife safaris. In addition to the Big Five, which include lions, Cape buffalos, leopards, rhinos, and elephants, Serengeti National Park is also home to crocodiles, hyenas, hippos, cheetahs, wildebeests, warthogs, zebras, kudus, gazelles, and many other animals that can be easily seen on your walking safaris, game drives, horseback riding, and hot air balloon safaris.

The park is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Africa and provides a fantastic and unforgettable safari experience for visitors who explore it. Because it is the best park and everyone wants to visit it, it is better to know important tips, highlights, and advice that will help you have an unforgettable safari experience and meet your satisfaction when you visit. So what are the travel/safari tips and advice for the Serengeti National Park tour?

Here are essential Serengeti safari tips, advice and suggestions to help you have the most wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience when visiting this park.

1. Choose the best time to visit depending on what you want to see and do.

There are two different seasons that affect the Serengeti National Park safari: wet and dry. Most people agree that the dry season, which lasts from June through October, is the best time to see animals. This has little to do with the number of animals, but rather how easily they can be observed. As waterholes and streams dry out, animals are forced to congregate in a smaller and smaller area, making them easier to spot.

This does not, however, imply that other months have subpar safaris. In no way. All year long, the Serengeti provides simple but fantastic opportunities to see wildlife. In fact, as will be mentioned shortly, being out of season has its benefits as well.

The Serengeti river crossings

Unquestionably, the legendary Grumeti and Mara River crossings are among the most distinctive and well-liked occasions to visit the Serengeti. Where streams of wildebeest risk their lives by crossing crocodile-infested waterways, they continue northward in search of greener pastures in Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve.

Get reservations early to view the river crossings.

Every year, these river crossings normally take place between June and September. However, campsites close to river crossings tend to fill up quickly. In order to offer your operator the best chance of securing first-choice accommodations, we strongly advise making reservations at least several months in advance because the river crossings also fall during the height of the dry season.

Serengeti national park calving season

In the southern Serengeti National Park, an additional noteworthy event takes place in late January, February, and March. The marvel of new life collides with a menacing concentration of opportunistic predators during the calving season. Every day, thousands of wildebeests and other animals give birth, and lions and other predators wait nearby, looking for an easy meal.

A haven for birders

The wet season can give you the impression that the park is all yours if you’re eager to avoid the busier times of year. The “long rains” occur in April and May, and most days will be cloudy with lingering rain. For those of you who enjoy watching birds, these months are ideal for observing the Serengeti’s over 500 species of resident and migratory birds. The park will also appear to be completely empty to you.

2. Selecting a safari operator carefully and prudently

Probably the most significant aspect of your safari is your tour operator and guide. While a lousy safari guide might sabotage your holiday, a good safari guide can change your life. After all, you’ll be with this person for a few days. You want someone who is professional, knowledgeable, approachable, and communicative. Together, you’ll go on extended game drives, eat meals, and have campfire conversations. Therefore, it’s crucial to pick the right kind of individual. How to choose/ select an appropriate or right tour operator and guide?

Read evaluations/ reviews

We advise spending some time looking up reliable safari companies. Online reviews are a terrific place to start; you can check them out on Google and TripAdvisor, Trust pilot. Look for reviews of the guide or guides from previous customers of the business.

3. Spend more time in the park if you are interested in seeing big fives (You have a better chance of sighting the Big Five on a lengthier safari)

The African lion, Cape buffalo, African leopard, African elephant, and rhino are collectively referred to as “the Big Five.” It seems to sense that the majority of safari visitors are eager to see all of the Serengeti Big Five Animals as well as some other well-known creatures like cheetahs and hippos. Since you’re observing animals in the wild, nothing on a safari can be guaranteed. In just a few days, you might be able to see every big animal, but you might not. Naturally, your chances of viewing as much wildlife as possible increase with the length of your visit and stay.

Out of all big fives in Serengeti national park, the easiest animals to spot are lions, elephants, and buffaloes. Even if you only spend two or three days in the Serengeti, your chances of seeing elephants, lions, and buffalo are extremely good. This is due in part to the abundance and close proximity of these species. In actuality, there are more lions in the Serengeti than anywhere else in Africa. There are over 3,500 lions in the park. Because black rhinos and leopards are difficult to find, your chances of seeing them increase the longer your Serengeti safari, Serengeti National Park Travel Tips and Advice.

4. Put on the appropriate attire.

It turns out that the khaki and earth tones people wear on safari have a scientific basis. These cool hues keep you cool and effectively hide any traces of the dust and muck of Africa. Blue and black are two colors to stay away from because it has been shown that they attract bothersome tsetse insects.

Protect yourself from the sun 

On a Serengeti game drive, you should dress appropriately because you’ll be outside for a while. Don’t be the tourist with the peeling nose and the red cheeks. Instead, choose a long-sleeved top with a collar, sunglasses, sunscreen, and a wide-brimmed round hat. You can have the best of both worlds by choosing zip-off pants. A practical technique to help prevent mosquito bites is to cover up. (Of course, you should also have mosquito repellent on hand, which you should reapply frequently.)

At night, it can get chilly.

Last but not least on what to wear on your Serengeti safari tour, many people are surprised to learn that the Serengeti experiences significant cooling when the sun sets. Expecting to sleep naturally is unrealistic. For camp, wearing long sleeves, pants, and jackets is highly advised.

OTHER SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK SAFARI TIPS AND ADVICES INCLUDES:

• Make sure your itinerary coincides with the movement of the herds if you want to observe the Wildebeest Migration river crossings on your Serengeti  safari.
• Book early because popular safari sites near the hotspots of the Wildebeest Migration frequently sell out a year in advance.
• Choose your activities wisely: usual activities include morning and afternoon wildlife drives, Walking safaris, horseback riding and some companies also provide hot-air balloon safaris. Only in specific locations are activities like night game drives and escorted bush walks allowed.
• The Serengeti is generally peaceful year-round, but from roughly May to August, crowds gather to see the highlights of the Wildebeest Migration, including the crossings of the Grumeti and Mara Rivers. If you want to avoid the crowds while still enjoying fantastic game viewing and seeing the migration’s mega-herds, consider going during the low or green season (about November to March).

TRANSPORTATION AND FLIGHTS TO AND AROUND SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Tarangire National Park are all accessible from Kilimanjaro international airport Via Arusha city. The Serengeti National Park has a number of airstrips that may be reached from the Masai Mara, Lake Manyara, Arusha, or Kilimanjaro.

Noting that international planes frequently land at Kilimanjaro International Airport after midnight, it is typically required to spend the night in Arusha before departing the next morning on a charter flight into the Serengeti National Park.

 Safari vehicles in Serengeti national park

Since Tanzania has a large number of well-maintained roads, closed vehicles are typically used for long-distance road transfers between airstrips, camps, and hotels. Three rows of seats are typical in a closed 4×4 game drive vehicle, which also has a pop-up roof hatch that can be raised for game watching and shooting pictures.

Game drives are often performed in open-sided 4X4 with canvas roofs and flaps that may be folded down to cover the windows in the Serengeti and its private sections.