Serengeti Under Canvas never stays put for long. It is a pair of identical nine-tent camps on private campsites inside Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, and about five times a year both are taken down and pitched again further along the route of the Great Migration. Big herds of elephant and buffalo are seen all year, wherever the tents are pitched. The camp moves to the herds, and the wildlife comes to the camp.
Big herds of elephant and buffalo are seen all year, wherever the tents are pitched.
The year begins near Ndutu, on the southern short-grass plains where the wildebeest drop their calves. As the herds drift on, the camp drifts with them, through central Seronera and out to the Western Corridor near the Grumeti River, then finally north to Kogatende, close to the Mara River and the crossings along its banks.
Each tent opens onto a private veranda looking out over the plains. Inside, custom-made rugs cover the floor and the beds are dressed in crisp linens. Every tent has its own private butler, who sees to the details of each day. Chandeliers hang beneath the canvas, polished brass catches the light, and a daybed and sitting area fill out the space.
Drinks are poured at the fire-pit, under a sky dark enough for stars.
After dark, lanterns glow softly outside the tents. Drinks are poured at the fire-pit, under a sky dark enough for stars. Dinner follows under the stars, served on crystal and silver. The canvas lets the night through, and it is common to fall asleep to lions calling somewhere out on the plains. The camp is unfenced, so after dark a guard with a torch walks each guest back to their tent.
Each camp runs its own semi-open safari vehicles and guides, the vehicles fitted with sockets for charging cameras. Days take one of two shapes: an early drive and a late-afternoon one with the midday hours back in camp, or a full day out with a picnic lunch, reaching herds too far for a morning loop. Lions and leopards turn up often, leopards above all around Seronera. Rhinos keep to the north, while cheetahs hunt the southern plains, and near the Grumeti River the topi make a migration of their own.
When a guest asks for a shower, staff heat the water and fill the his-and-her buckets in the open-air bathroom, and each tent has its own flushing WC. The canvas lets it all through, from lions calling far off to herds shifting at first light. The camp is unfenced, so after dark an escort with a torch walks each guest between tent, fire and dining table.
The canvas lets it all through, from lions calling far off to herds shifting at first light.
Children aged six and over are welcome, with never more than four in camp at once. Each camp keeps one family tent, two tents linked by an enclosed canvas walkway, so parents and children sleep apart without stepping outside. A family can take a private vehicle and set its own timings, out at dawn or back for a midday rest, and babysitting can be arranged. Meals are taken in the dining tent or out in the open, wherever the butler picks: under a tree, beside the fire at night, or at a private table outside the tent.
Guests fly in by light aircraft to whichever airstrip serves the current site, whether Ndutu, Seronera, Grumeti or Kogatende, then finish by road. Whatever the site, chandeliers hang under the canvas beside polished brass samovars and custom-made rugs. The sitting tent looks out across the plains, a place to read between drives. None of it is permanent. When the herds move on, the tents are struck and everything down to the crystal is packed away, leaving no concrete, foundations or lasting mark behind.
accommodation
Each of the two camps has nine tents, one of them a family tent. Double or twin beds share the space with a day bed and a sitting area, and each tent has a safe and a personal bar. The ensuite has a flushing WC and a basin, with his-and-her open-air bucket showers filled with hot water on request.
activities
Game drives run twice a day across Serengeti National Park, or stretch into full days with a picnic lunch. Hot-air balloons lift off over the plains at dawn. From the Ndutu site, a day trip reaches Olduvai Gorge and the Shifting Sands. Birdwatching and stargazing fill the quieter hours.
conservation
Patrol teams from the Serengeti De-Snaring Programme, which the camp supports, remove wire snares set by poachers. Children from the surrounding communities receive conservation lessons. Through Wild Impact, the camp also backs community work beyond the park.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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By light aircraft from Arusha to whichever Serengeti airstrip is nearest the camp on your dates: Ndutu on the southern plains early in the year, Seronera in the centre, Grumeti in the Western Corridor or Kogatende in the north. Coastal Aviation flies to each of these strips three times a day, and the drive from the airstrip to the tents is included in the stay.
If you would rather set your own timings, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, straight to the same airstrip. Scheduled light aircraft allow fifteen kilograms a person, hand luggage included, and soft bags are strongly advised. Laundry is part of the rate, so a light bag goes further than it sounds.
Wherever the herds are most likely to be that month, because the camp has no fixed site. Two identical camps of nine tents move between private campsites in Serengeti National Park about five times a year, and we confirm the exact site and airstrip for your dates before you fly.
Most years the camps sit on the southern plains around Ndutu from late December to March for the calving, at Seronera in April, May and November, in the Western Corridor near the Grumeti River in June and early July, and near Kogatende and the Mara River from late July to October. The herds cross rivers when they choose, so a crossing is likely but never certain.
Yes, for children of six and over, and the camp takes no more than four children at any one time, so it stays quiet. Each camp has one family tent, made of two tents joined by an enclosed walkway, each with its own bathroom, for two adults and two children, or three children on request.
Children of six to eleven join game drives at the camp manager's discretion, and shorter drives can be arranged. A private vehicle, at extra cost and subject to availability, lets a family set its own pace, and we would usually build one in. The camp is unfenced, so children stay with an adult at all times. Balloon flights take children from seven, or from six at Kogatende.
Meals, soft drinks, house wines, local spirits and beers, tea and coffee, refreshments on drives, twice-daily game drives, a laundry service and the transfers between the airstrip and camp are all in the rate. We include medical evacuation cover as standard. Park fees are charged per person for each day inside the park.
The extras are champagne, cognac and fine wines, a private vehicle, a sunrise balloon flight over the plains and, when the camp is in the south, a day to Olduvai Gorge and the Shifting Sands. Each tent has Wi-Fi and a safe, but mobile reception comes and goes, so plan on messages rather than calls. Drones are not allowed.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates all of Tanzania below 1,800 metres as high risk for malaria, and the CDC in the United States uses the same height as its line. The Serengeti's plains, where all of the camp's sites stand, lie below that height through the year, and both services include antimalarial tablets in their advice, together with avoiding bites.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so the choice of tablets sits with you and your doctor or a travel clinic. The tents are sealed canvas rather than open to the night air, and long sleeves with repellent from late afternoon help on the evening drives.
February and the dry months from July to October are the strongest. In February the short grass of the southern plains holds huge numbers of grazing animals and the predators that follow them; from July to October the grass is thin, the skies are clear and game is easy to find. January, March, June, November and December sit between the two and bring fewer vehicles.
April and May bring the long rains, April being the wettest month of the year, and a drive can be cut short by a heavy shower. They also bring green plains, big skies, soft light for photographers and the year's lowest rates, and the camp still moves to stay close to the game.
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our approach
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