Under canvas
Camping in Serengeti National Park
Camping in the Serengeti means an unfenced TANAPA site at Seronera or Lobo, a shared kitchen shelter and lions and hyenas on the other side of the canvas. TANAPA runs every campsite in the park; you bring the tent, the food and the water.
If you only want the answer
TANAPA's public campsites cost $30 per adult per night plus 18% VAT, so $35.40, and $5 for a child of 5 to 15, under the 2026/27 rates; you pay at the gate and need no booking. Special campsites cost $70.80 per adult from July to September and $59 from October to June, VAT included, and must be booked ahead. Add the $82.60 daily entry fee and one adult pays $118 a night in TANAPA fees before the vehicle.
How much does camping in the Serengeti cost?
TANAPA prices a public campsite at $30 per person per night for a non-East African adult and $5 for a child of 5 to 15, before 18% VAT: $35.40 and $5.90 at the gate. Those rates sit in the 2023/24 tariff sheet and are unchanged in TANAPA's own data for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. Expatriates with a Tanzanian residence permit pay the same $30; East African citizens pay TSh 5,000.
The camping fee comes on top of the conservation fee, $82.60 per adult per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March and $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May. One adult on a public campsite therefore pays $118 a night to TANAPA in most of the year, or $106.20 in the long rains, plus $47.20 a day for a foreign-registered vehicle.
| Category | Adult 16+ (before VAT) | With 18% VAT | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public campsite | $30 | $35.40 | None, pay at the gate |
| Special campsite, July to September | $60 | $70.80 | Required |
| Special campsite, October to June | $50 | $59 | Required |
| Fly campsite | $50 | $59 | Required |
| Seronera rest house, per head | $30 | $35.40 | Required |
| Hostel, organised groups only | $10 | $11.80 | Required |
The child rate on special campsites is printed as $5 from July to September and $10 from October to June, in the tariff sheet and in TANAPA's data alike. It looks transposed, but that is what TANAPA charges.
Where are the public campsites?
TANAPA's own register says the park has '2 public campsites' and that 'visitors bring their own tent and camping gears', without naming them. Self-drive and operator sources agree on the layout behind that number: a cluster of small sites near Seronera, in the centre of the park, and one public campsite at Lobo in the north-east. A self-drive hire company counts seven sites near Seronera Wildlife Lodge, with a large fenced cooking area and a roofed dining area.
The Seronera sites carry Swahili animal names such as Nyani, Pimbi and Tumbili. We do not print a full list, because TANAPA publishes none and the lists in circulation do not match. Ask at Naabi Hill Gate which sites are open when you pay.
Special and seasonal campsites
TANAPA names two special campsites, Mbuzi Mawe and Mbalageti, and says of both: 'Visitors bring their own tent and camping gears. Pre booking is needed.' They cost $60 plus VAT per adult from July to September and $50 plus VAT from October to June. There is no separate permit fee on top, whatever some operator pages claim about a $200 charge.
The 110 seasonal campsites in TANAPA's register, with names such as Lamai 1 to 5, Mara 1 to 9, Moru 1, 2 and 7 and Kusini 1, 3 and 14, are allocated to safari companies for their mobile camps. They are not a walk-in option for a self-driver.
How to book and pay
A public campsite needs no reservation: you pay for it at the gate together with the conservation and vehicle fees. Special and fly campsites, the rest house and the hostel need a booking, made through TANAPA's online reservation system or through a licensed operator. TANAPA publishes no lead times; a self-drive blog reported double bookings of campsites in 2018, so carry the confirmation.
- 1. Decide public or special. Public sites are first come, first served; special sites must be booked ahead.
- 2. For a special site, book through ors.tanapa.go.tz or a licensed Tanzanian operator, and keep the confirmation on paper and on your phone.
- 3. Bring a passport for everyone in the car. ID is mandatory at the gate.
- 4. At Naabi Hill or whichever gate you use, the fees are totalled and paid through the government payment gateway by Visa, Mastercard or Tanzanian mobile money. No TANAPA document mentions cash.
- 5. Fees are non-refundable once paid, so pay for the nights you are sure of.
- 6. Reach the gate by mid-afternoon. Gates close at 18:00 and driving inside the park is daylight only.
What the public campsites have
Secondary sources describe the same basics at every public site: a water tap, flush or long-drop toilets, cold showers and a covered cooking and dining shelter. TANAPA itself confirms only that you bring your own tent and gear. There is no fence and no shop.
Treat the tap water before drinking it, or carry your own; NaTHNaC's advice for Tanzania is water that is boiled, filtered or bottled. Buy food in Arusha or Karatu and fill the tank in Karatu: Seronera has a fuel point, but self-drivers report that it is not always supplied.
Wildlife at the campsites
The Seronera campsites are unfenced and sit inside the central study area of the Serengeti Lion Project, which monitored 21 prides there in 2022/23. A Tanzanian operator describes lions and hyenas moving through the sites at night. Hyenas take anything left out. Run a tight camp and it stays a highlight.
- Keep all food, rubbish and anything scented in the vehicle overnight, never in the tent.
- Zip the tent fully every time, even for a few minutes.
- After dark, do not walk beyond the firelight. Take a torch and a companion to the ablution block, and sweep the path with the beam first.
- Never sleep outside the tent or in an open vehicle.
- Take your rubbish out of the park with you.
Camping just outside the park
Ikoma Tented Camp, run by the Moivaro group just outside the boundary near Fort Ikoma Gate, has a campsite with a kitchen, toilets and hot showers. Outside the park you pay no TANAPA camping or concession fee, though every day you drive in still costs the $82.60 entry fee. The camp publishes no campsite rate, so ask before you go.
Ndutu, often sold as the southern Serengeti, lies in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Camping there is governed and charged by the NCAA, not TANAPA.
Who should camp, and who should book a camp
Camp if you have a well-equipped 4x4, carry your own food and water, and want the Serengeti at the lowest price it comes at: about $1,227 in fees for two people over three nights including the Ngorongoro crossing, against about $3,199 at a mid-range camp. Our costs page works through both.
Book a camp or travel with an operator if your time is short, if you have never driven corrugated park tracks or black-cotton mud, or if an unfenced night among lions is more than you want to manage. Almost every Serengeti visitor goes with an operator, and in the long rains of March to May the tracks in the south and west can become impassable.
Something this page does not answer?
Special campsites in the Serengeti are booked through a government system that does not always answer. If you cannot get a confirmation, ask us.
Ask us. We answer questions about the park itself, and we can usually tell you which camps work on one route and who to write to. If what you want is a trip someone else arranges, we will say so and hand you to an operator we know, and we earn a commission if that becomes a booking.
Nothing on this site sits behind the form. Every figure we have is already on the page.