Seronera and Lobo Public Campsites
Public campsite · Seronera (several sites) and Lobo, central and northern Serengeti · TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Seronera and Lobo Public Campsites yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (TANAPA)
TANAPA's public campsites are the only walk-in camping in the Serengeti. TANAPA says the park offers public campsites where "visitors bring their own tent and camping gears"; operator and self-drive sources place a cluster of small sites around Seronera and one at Lobo in the north. Expect a tap, toilets, cold showers and a roofed cooking shelter, and no fence: lion and hyena walk through at night. A non-resident adult pays $35.40 with VAT plus the $82.60 conservation fee. Most visitors who camp here come with an operator who brings the tents and the cook; if you drive yourself, these are the sites you will use. Choose them for the price and the Seronera game; skip them if you want a bed and a meal cooked for you.
Pros and cons
Pros
- The cheapest night in the park: $118 a head in TANAPA fees in peak season
- No reservation needed for public sites
- Seronera has resident game all year, so you camp in the middle of it
- No concession fee, unlike every lodge inside
Cons
- Unfenced, in lion and hyena country: stay by the tent after dark
- Bring everything: TANAPA provides no tents or cooking kit
- Facilities are basic and described only by secondary sources
- TANAPA publishes no list of the individual sites
What's here
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
We could not reach a website for Seronera and Lobo Public Campsites, so this list is incomplete by definition. Ask them directly.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Serengeti National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$70 plus 18% VAT, so $82.60, per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March; $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May.
- $83per person, per day
- Vehicle$40 plus VAT, so $47.20, for a foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg; a Tanzanian-registered safari vehicle pays TSh 20,000, about $8 at TANAPA's TSh 2,555 to the dollar.
- $47per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $639 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
A lodge or camp inside the park adds TANAPA's concession fee on top: $70.80 per adult per night from July to September and $59 from October to June, VAT included. Arriving by road from Arusha adds the Ngorongoro permit of $70.80 per adult each way.
The full fee schedule for Serengeti National ParkRates at Seronera and Lobo Public Campsites
From $30 pppn. Public camping is $30 per non-resident adult per night and $5 for a child of 5 to 15, free under 5, under TANAPA's 2023/24 tariff (still in force in October 2026). VAT of 18% is extra, so you pay $35.40. The conservation fee is on top: $82.60 per adult per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March, $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May, so a peak-season night costs $118 a head in TANAPA fees. A foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg adds $47.20 per 24 hours. No concession fee applies to campers. Pay online through TANAPA's reservation system or at the gate by card or mobile money.
Self-catering. You cook. Nothing else is included unless the entry says so.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked on 6 October 2026 against each operator's own website or rate sheet, in US dollars per person per night sharing unless the entry says otherwise. Two figures are per room, not per person: Serengeti Serena's $728 and Serengeti Explorer's $750 (a January 2025 opening offer). One figure is a reseller's, not the owner's: Africa Safari Serengeti Ikoma's $154 a night on Priceline (6 Oct 2026, basis not stated). Ndutu Safari Lodge's figures come from a rate sheet that ran to 15 December 2025, the newest on its site. Unless the entry says otherwise, TANAPA fees come on top of every rate inside the park: the conservation fee of $70 plus 18% VAT ($82.60) per adult per 24 hours from 16 May to 14 March, $70.80 from 15 March to 15 May, and the hotel concession fee of $70.80 per adult per night from July to September or $59.00 from October to June, VAT included. Camps at Ndutu and Lake Masek pay the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority instead: $70.80 entry per 24 hours and $59.00 concession per adult per night. Wilderness Usawa is the one rate we found that includes park fees.
Questions about Seronera and Lobo Public Campsites
How much does it cost to camp in the Serengeti?
A TANAPA public campsite is $30 per non-resident adult per night plus 18% VAT, so $35.40, and $5 for a child of 5 to 15 under the 2023/24 tariff. Add the conservation fee of $82.60 per adult per 24 hours in peak season, which makes $118 a head before the vehicle fee of $47.20.
Do you need to book the public campsites at Seronera?
No. Self-drive sources say no prior reservation is needed and you pay at the gate with the conservation fee; TANAPA's tariff says nothing about booking public sites. Special campsites, the rest house and seasonal sites all need a booking.
Are the Serengeti public campsites safe for children?
We found no published child policy beyond the fees: under 5 free, $5 for 5 to 15. The sites are unfenced and lion and hyena move through at night, so keep children in the tent after dark and walk to the ablutions together with a torch.