When to Visit Serengeti National Park
To fully benefit from visiting the Serengeti bush land, it is vital to take note of the best time when to take a look at the wild wonders. Viewing the wildlife in the Serengeti National park is possible throughout the year,but some areas are better off visited at particular times.Taking an example of the dry season that kicks off from late June to September.Around this time of the year,the wild life viewing in general is perfect with the migration of the wildebeest as the absolute highlight. For each time of the year,the migration varies with its timing.The best opportunity to see the migration is during June and July while from late January to February takes over for the calving of the wildebeest.
This has 5 good months ( June to October) of the migration of the wildebeest in the western corridor in June to July
Waterholes and rivers, the less thick vegetation attract the animals to concentrate around them making their spotting easier.
There is very little rain since it is mostly sunny lowering the chances of catching malaria given that there are very few mosquitoes during the sunny season.
Given that this is the peak season for wildlife viewing,the Serengeti is rather crowded around the seronera area,with cold mornings and nights.Warm clothing is a pre-requisite during the early morning game drives from the month of June to August.
The wet season
The wet season stretches on from November to May for 7 months .Looking out to see excellent predator action, late January to February is the time to take a look at the calving in the southern Serengeti.
The luxuriously growing vegetation is flourishing around this time.
Bird watching is at its best since migratory birds are also present and this is possible because the Serengeti can be visited throughout the year to view the wildlife.
With exceptions for the months of March, April and May, short afternoons usually define the rains which do not often interfere with your Tanzania safari trip.
The peak of the wet season is normally experienced for 3 months from March to May.
April and May mark the low season one of the reasons for the park being less crowded and thus with possibilities of making the rates less.
The best weather with little to no rainfall is expected from June to October.
Want to catch the wildebeest before they return to Masai Mara in Kenya, during August,your time to visit the Serengeti is between October and July.
Big toe animals move as a bunch,it does not only depend on the patterns of the rains for each year,but large groups of animals move around the Serengeti with considerations for the time of the year.
The Serengeti is mainly covered by classic bimodal rain trend for East Africa with short rains mainly falling during November and December. The period between March to May brings in the long and heavier rains bringing the maximum mean monthly temperatures to being relatively uniform throughout the year.Having them constant at 27 -28 degrees Celsius at the seronera.Very cold nights can be experienced at the Ngorongoro due to the altitudes.The rains are long in Northern Tanzania during April and May,it is therefore perfect to be on Safari any other time apart from then.
When to go to Sereneti should be the visitors question before they start traveling. If you have thought of having the best game viewing time in your life Serengeti will grant you that since game can be viewed all year round; but there are particular months where specific game can be viewed such as the great migration; there are seasons where the wildebeests are calving and crossing the Grumeti River.
The overall time regarded as the best for game viewing in Serengeti is between the months of
June and September
; this is a dry season so during this time the wildebeests accompanied with gazelles and zebras are crossing the
Grumeti River
especially in
June and July
, this is awesome that whereby also predators are not far since they need to get prey. It is a remarkable moment watching the migration!
The
calving season
of these wildebeests is between
January to February
and this time excites different predators like the cheetahs and lions which want to feed on the newly born and naive calves. This is an action-packed experience but really not for the faint hearted.
As earlier said that mostly game viewing in Serengeti can
be done all year round.
The question of when to go is mainly based on whether you want to watch
the Great migration
or not. Otherwise even during rainy seasons wildlife can still be viewed such as the elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, leopards among others.
Months of
October, November
and
March, April
are rainy seasons and of course the ever crowded park has lesser visitors hence a great time for you to watch and have the game drives and the park to yourself. This is also a good time for nature lovers and birders, this time is when different migratory birds return.
During the calving season of the wildebeests, the best lodges to sleep at are Ndutu lodge, Nomads tented camp and Olakira tented camp and with this you are advised to make your bookings early enough since there are more visitors interested to travel during this time.
Please note that;
the time you choose to visit Serengeti National Park should be in line with what exactly you are interested in doing (activities), also make your reservations early enough, ensure you do prior bookings in the lodges to sleep in. I promise that you will get the experience in Serengeti you have never gotten or will never get anywhere!
