Activities & facilities

Things to do in Serengeti National Park

Name: Serengeti National Park
Address: Tanzania

The Serengeti is a game-drive park. Almost everyone sees it from an operator's 4x4 with a driver-guide, and the extras are a dawn balloon flight, a guided walk arranged by your camp, and a bush meal or sundowner. Night drives are not part of the park's menu.

If you only want the answer

Book game drives with a licensed guide: TANAPA allows driving from 6 am to 6 pm on authorised tracks only. A balloon flight costs US$599 per person in 2026 (US$660 from 1 January 2027) plus TANAPA's US$50 balloon fee, and a guided walk costs US$20 for one to four hours plus VAT. Night drives are not offered inside the park; for those you need a lodge on private or community land just outside it.

Game drives: how almost everyone sees the Serengeti

TANAPA's visitor guide tells visitors to travel with certified guides or tour operators and says solo wandering is discouraged. In practice nearly every visitor arrives in a Tanzanian operator's 4x4 with a driver-guide, either by road from Arusha through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area or by light aircraft to an airstrip such as Seronera or Kogatende, where the camp's own vehicles take over. In a park of 14,763 km², a guide who knows where the herds have moved is worth more than any map.

Where you drive depends on the month. The Seronera valley has resident lions, leopards and cheetahs all year. The southern plains and the kopjes around Naabi, Gol and Simba fill with the herds from about December to March, the Western Corridor and the Grumeti River from about May to July, and the north and the Mara River from about July to October. A full-day drive with a picnic lunch covers far more ground than two short drives, and in the calving season it is often the better choice.

Park rules that shape a game drive

TANAPA says the gates close at 6 pm, and its general rules allow driving only between 6 am and 6 pm. The other rules come from TANAPA's rules sheet as reproduced by a tour operator, plus the fines in the 2023/24 tariff, which TANAPA's system still applies in 2026/27.

Rule	What it means for you
Driving 6 am to 6 pm	No game drives in the dark; plan to be at camp or the gate before 6 pm
Authorised tracks only	No off-road driving, even for a cat sighting
Speed limit 50 km/h	Overspeeding fine TZS 50,000; causing an accident TZS 200,000
Stay in the vehicle	Leaving the vehicle is forbidden except at designated places; keep at least 25 metres from animals, especially cats
Drones	Prohibited without special permission

Watching a Mara River crossing: the rules

From about July to October the herds cross the Mara River in the north, and TANAPA manages the crossing points under its own Mara River Migration Crossings Guideline, revised in 2024. Vehicles must park at designated crossing points marked with the point's name, the distance from the bank and the maximum number of vehicles allowed there. You watch from one side of the river only, stay in the vehicle, do not approach the animals and do not picnic on the banks.

Park management can close an area at any time, and a good guide will wait at a legal point rather than chase a crossing. The guideline gives a hotline, +255 689 062243, and an email address, serengeti.tourism@tanzaniaparks.go.tz, for reporting problems.

Can you do a night drive in the Serengeti?

Not inside the park. Driving is limited to 6 am to 6 pm, and TANAPA's tariff lists night game drives at US$50 per adult for Katavi, Ruaha, Mikumi, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Nyerere and Burigi-Chato, with no line for Serengeti. If a night drive matters to you, stay just outside the boundary. &Beyond Klein's Camp on a concession east of the park, Mapito Safari Camp near Fort Ikoma Gate and Ikoma Tented Camp all list night drives on their own sites, because they operate outside the park's rules.

Walking safaris

TANAPA lists walking safaris led by expert guides among Serengeti activities. The 2023/24 tariff charges non-East African visitors US$20 per adult for a short walk of one to four hours and US$25 for a long walk of more than four hours, plus 18% VAT, with US$10 and US$15 for children of 12 and over. Children under 12 are not provided for, so walking is effectively 12-plus. A guide or ranger fee of US$20 per group per day applies.

You do not book a walk at the gate. Walking happens through your camp, with an armed ranger. Elewana's Serengeti Migration Camp includes a two-hour walk on its game package and charges US$115 for a four-hour walk; Asilia's Sayari Camp in the north includes a short walk of about 90 minutes to two hours from 1 June to 15 January; Serengeti Explorer offers guided bush walks from age 16. TANAPA publishes no list of walking areas, so ask your camp what it actually runs before you book.

Balloon safaris over the Serengeti

Serengeti Balloon Safaris, flying here since 1989, charges US$599 per person in a shared balloon in 2026, rising to US$660 from 1 January 2027. The price covers collection from your camp, the flight, a champagne toast and a full English breakfast; park entry fees are not included, and TANAPA adds a balloon operation fee of US$50 per person per flight plus VAT. The minimum age is 6 on the day of the flight.

Flights run from central Serengeti all year, and seasonally in the Western Corridor, the north and the Ndutu area; the operator's own pages give different seasonal dates, so confirm with them for your month. Passengers are returned to their guide at around 09.45 at the Seronera Visitors Centre, which leaves the rest of the morning for a game drive. Several lodges, Four Seasons, Serena and Seronera Wildlife Lodge among them, list balloon flights on their own sites and can book them for you.

Bush meals, sundowners and filming

TANAPA lists bush meals as a park activity and charges US$5 per person per day for a hot bush meal or lunch, and US$5 per adult (US$2 per child) for a sundowner in designated areas, plus VAT. Most lodges arrange both and fold the fee into the bill. Serengeti Serena, for example, runs bush breakfasts, lunches and dinners and sundowners at Mbingwe Valley.

Commercial filming needs its own permit: TANAPA charges US$300 per person per day for Serengeti, covering entry, camping and filming. Holiday photography needs nothing beyond your entry permit, but drones remain prohibited without special permission.

Cultural visits around the park

There are no villages inside the park, so cultural visits happen on the way in or just outside. On the road from Arusha you cross the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Maasai grazing land, where operators stop at Maasai bomas; the NCAA publishes no list of them or their fees, so agree the price with your guide in advance. Serengeti Serena offers day trips to Ngorongoro and Olduvai, and Seronera Wildlife Lodge lists Maasai village visits.

On the western side, the villages of Ikoma, Robanda and Mugumu sit between the park and the Grumeti and Ikorongo reserves. Mapito Safari Camp runs cultural visits with the Ikoma people, and &Beyond Klein's Camp offers Maasai culture on its concession in the east.

Self-drive: the short version

Self-drive is legal and possible with a high-clearance 4x4, but rare, and TANAPA discourages solo travel. A foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg pays US$40 plus VAT (US$47.20) per 24 hours in the park, and a Tanzanian-registered hire car pays TZS 20,000. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the road from Arusha charges its own permit of US$70.80 per adult and US$47.20 per foreign vehicle, valid for one entry within 24 hours, so you pay it on the way in and again on the way out.

Pay park fees by card or mobile money; a Tanzanian self-drive hire company reports that cash is not accepted. Karatu is the last reliable fuel stop before the park; Seronera has an emergency fuel point that self-drivers describe as unreliable. Public campsites around Seronera and at Lobo cost US$30 plus VAT per adult per night and need no prior booking; special campsites must be booked. Carry two spare tyres and offline maps, keep to the 6 am to 6 pm driving hours, and expect the black-cotton tracks of the west and south to become impassable after heavy rain in March to May and November to December.

Combining the Serengeti with neighbouring parks

Ngorongoro comes almost automatically: the main road from Arusha crosses the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Naabi Hill Gate, and the Crater is the classic first or last stop. Lake Ndutu and Lake Masek, the calving-season base, are in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area too, not the park, so NCAA fees and rules apply there. Lake Manyara and Tarangire complete the usual northern circuit from Arusha.

Combining with the Masai Mara in Kenya takes planning. The Bologonja border post between the northern Serengeti and the Mara has been closed to tourist traffic since 1977, so road transfers go west through the Isebania and Sirari border post, six to seven hours to the border and a change of vehicle, because Kenyan vehicles are not permitted in Tanzanian parks and vice versa. Most travellers fly instead: Coastal Aviation links the Serengeti airstrips with Tarime, from where a road transfer crosses to Migori in Kenya for a Safarilink flight to the Mara.

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