Best time to visit the Serengeti: a month-by-month guide
The honest version, including the months we would talk you out of.
Dawn on the Serengeti. The first ninety minutes after the gate opens are the best of the day in every month of the year.
The short answer
If you want the highest chance of good general game viewing and you are not chasing the migration specifically: June to October. Short grass, dry ground, animals concentrated on water. It is also the busiest and most expensive stretch of the year, by a wide margin.
If you want the calving season and the predation that follows it: late January to early March, on the southern plains. Fewer vehicles than August, and in my view the more interesting spectacle.
If the budget matters more than the weather: November, or March. Green, quiet, cheaper, and with a real chance of a wet week.
Month by month
What follows is the pattern rather than a forecast. The herds follow grass and grass follows rain, and in any given year the rain can be three weeks early or a month late. I have seen August with no crossings and June with several.
| Month | Where the herds usually are | What it is like |
|---|---|---|
| January | Southern plains | Calving begins on the short-grass plains. Predator activity is the highest of the year. Hot, with short afternoon storms. |
| February | Southern plains | Peak calving — roughly half a million calves in about three weeks. The best single month for predation if that is what you came for. |
| March | Southern plains, moving | Calving tails off and the long rains begin. Green, beautiful, far fewer vehicles, and some tracks get difficult. |
| April | Dispersed, moving west | The wettest month. Several camps close. Cheapest, emptiest, and a genuine gamble on the weather. |
| May | Western corridor | Rain easing. The herds mass and start moving north-west. Grass is long, so game viewing is harder. |
| June | Western corridor | Dry season begins. The Grumeti crossings can happen this month or next — nobody can tell you which. |
| July | Northern Serengeti | The herds reach the north. Mara River crossings begin. The busiest and most expensive part of the year starts here. |
| August | Northern Serengeti | Peak crossing season in most years. Camps in the far north are full and booked many months ahead. |
| September | Northern Serengeti | Crossings continue. Dry, cool mornings, short grass, and excellent general game viewing everywhere in the park. |
| October | North, starting south | The herds begin drifting south. Still dry and still very good. Prices start to ease at the end of the month. |
| November | Moving south | The short rains. The herds move back towards the southern plains. A quiet, green, underrated month. |
| December | Southern plains | Herds back on the short-grass plains. Christmas and New Year are a separate, high-priced peak of their own. |
The trade-off nobody states
The months with the best game viewing are the months with the most vehicles. In the far north in August you can find yourself at a river crossing with thirty other cars, which is a different experience from the photograph that sold it to you.
There are two ways round this and both cost something. One is to go in a shoulder month and accept slightly worse odds. The other is to stay in a private concession or a smaller, more remote camp, which costs more per night and gives you ground with almost nobody on it.
A third option that is not really an option: going in April or May. The park is nearly empty of visitors and that is lovely, but black-cotton soil in the west turns to glue and several camps are shut.
How to actually pick a month
Decide first whether you are coming for the migration or for a safari. They are different trips. A migration trip means being in one specific part of a very large park at a time of year you cannot choose freely, and it often means worse general game viewing elsewhere on the route.
A general safari — cats, elephants, the crater, Tarangire's river — works in nine months of the year, and the question becomes budget and crowds rather than wildebeest.
If you tell us the month you have, we will tell you what it is likely to give you. If you tell us what you want to see, we will tell you the months that make it most likely, and whether your dates are one of them.
Sources
Checked 6 November 2026. Anything that can change should be read at the source rather than trusted here.
- Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) — park fees, regulations and official park information
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority — crater permits and conservation area fees
- Tanzania Meteorological Authority — rainfall and seasonal forecasts, which are the honest basis for any of this
Journeys this applies to
About the author
Tell us what you have in mind.
One conversation with the person who would plan it, and an honest answer about whether we are the right company for the trip.
Free, and with no obligation. A real planner replies within 24 business hours, East Africa Time. No payment is taken to enquire.