Three tents stand in the Lamai Wedge, the corner of Serengeti National Park north of the Mara River and close to the Kenyan border. The river runs roughly a kilometre off, and from July the plains between fill. Wildebeest and zebra gather here in their hundreds of thousands. They work the ground, deciding where and when to cross.
Wildebeest and zebra gather here in their hundreds of thousands.
Alex Walker, who founded the Serian camps, sets them on the edge of clearings, close to game but away from the busier ground around Kogatende south of the river. Kidimbwi is that thinking at its endpoint: six guests, one guide, one open vehicle, nobody else in residence. Game drives run in daylight hours, as the park requires, but their length and direction are the party’s own.
Wildebeest begin arriving from the south and west in late June and July, and a crossing can come anywhere from July into early November. Crocodiles hold position at the bends the herds favour. Lions, hyaenas and leopards work the same stretch of bank. With no fixed timetable, a party can hold at a crossing point for as long as the wait takes, or leave it and find another.
Crocodiles hold position at the bends the herds favour.
By November the herds have turned south for the calving plains, and the wedge quiets. Lion prides stay on, leopards hunt the Wogakuria kopjes, elephants move through the fig groves, and hippos crowd the river shallows. The grass greens, the migrant birds arrive, and few camps in the area stay open. Sightings take longer outside the migration months, with far fewer vehicles doing the finding.
Three tents are raised on teak decks under the acacias, heavy canvas with stone detailing, wrought-iron beds and sisal rugs inside, en suite bathrooms with a flush toilet, a washstand and a bucket shower filled to order. A single mess tent serves the camp, a fire pit outside it and hurricane lamps lit at dusk. Alex Walker’s own reasoning is that a lion’s roar carries differently when nothing else competes with it in the air. After dark the sound comes off the river and from the kopjes beyond camp. There is no Wi-Fi.
One party has the mess tent, the fire and the guiding team to itself, so breakfast can happen at four in the morning or not at all, lunch can be laid under a fig tree by the river, and an entire afternoon can be given to one leopard. A larger sister camp shares the same wedge, ten tents and suites split across two mini-camps, open a longer season and run on a more communal footing, with a private guide and vehicle for each booking rather than one exclusive-use party. Both are available, and the choice comes down to how much company a group wants around the fire.
After dark the sound comes off the river and from the kopjes beyond camp.
Walking safaris go out with an armed ranger, as park rules require, and are open to guests aged twelve and over: an hour or so on foot through acacia scrub, tracking spoor and stopping at the detail a vehicle would pass at speed. Fly-camping is arranged in advance as a multi-night extension out across the Lamai plains and around the Wogakuria kopjes, where leopards turn up from time to time. Bush breakfasts and long lunches by the Mara are part of the routine, night drives are not permitted inside the park, and photography sets the pace of a drive as often as the wildlife does.
Meals are taken at one table, under the trees or wherever the day has ended up, home cooking rather than plated formality, the crew hosting as though the camp were a private house. Alex Walker joins guests at the table when he is in camp. Evenings settle around the fire, with a bao board in the mess tent and a night sky with nothing else competing against it. Children of any age are welcome, since the whole camp is taken by one party. Guests fly into Lamai airstrip in the far north of Tanzania and drive the last stretch to camp.
accommodation
Three tented rooms take up to six guests, and the camp is let to one party at a time. Each is pitched on a teak deck under acacia, in heavy canvas with stone detailing, with a wrought-iron bed, sisal rugs and a veranda facing the plains. Bathrooms are en suite, with a flush toilet, washstand and a bucket shower filled to order.
activities
Game drives run in an open vehicle with a private guide, in daylight hours, per Serengeti National Park regulations. Walking safaris go out with an armed ranger and are open to guests twelve and over. Fly-camping is arranged in advance, out across the Lamai plains and around the Wogakuria kopjes. Bush breakfasts and picnic lunches by the Mara River are part of the routine; balloon safaris can be booked separately.
conservation
Serian contributes to the Frankfurt Zoological Society's Serengeti De-Snaring Programme, which clears wire snares from ground covered on walking safaris; a share of every walking safari fee goes toward it. Most camp staff are drawn from communities around the park, with apprenticeship programmes bringing younger recruits through the guiding and hospitality trades.
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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Yes. Kidimbwi is three tents in the Lamai Wedge taken as a private camp by one party, which is the whole point of it. There is no other party to time your day around, no fixed breakfast hour, and the vehicle and guide are yours, so you can sit at a crossing point for as long as it takes rather than leaving because someone else wants lunch.
Three tents suits a family or two or three couples. Tell us the shape of the party and we will say plainly whether taking a private camp makes sense at that number or whether you would do better in a camp with other guests in it.
It is the far northern corner of the Serengeti, north of the Mara River and up against the Kenyan border, and it is the last ground the herds reach before they cross into the Mara. That position is the reason to be there: the crossings happen on this stretch of river, and being camped north of it means you are on the right side rather than driving to reach it.
It is also markedly quieter than the central Serengeti. The Wedge takes far fewer vehicles than Seronera, so a sighting here tends to be yours rather than shared with a line of cars.
Usually from July to October, with August and September the strongest months, and some crossings back south again in late October and early November as the herds turn. Kidimbwi is pitched for that window rather than open all year.
No one can promise a crossing on a particular day, and anyone who does is guessing. The herds move on rain, grass and the state of the river, so we book your dates into the strongest part of the window, and we would rather you arrived expecting good general game viewing with a real chance of a crossing than expecting a crossing and being disappointed by an ordinary excellent day.
By light aircraft to Kogatende, the airstrip that serves the northern Serengeti and the Lamai Wedge, and then a drive to camp. From Arusha the flight is about an hour and a half, sometimes longer where the aircraft calls at other strips on the way north.
Soft bags only, fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage and camera equipment. It is worth knowing that this is one of the longer sectors in Tanzania, so we generally avoid pairing it with a long international leg on the same day.
Yes. The UK's official travel health service rates all of Tanzania below 1,800 metres as high risk and recommends antimalarial tablets for it, treating only ground above 1,800 metres as free of risk, and the American CDC uses the same altitude line. The northern Serengeti around Kogatende sits at roughly 1,400 metres, well below it, and the river the camp is here for is itself standing water.
We do not give medical advice. We are travel planners rather than doctors, so the choice of tablets, and whether they suit everyone in the party, belongs in a conversation between you and your own doctor or a travel clinic. What we can be useful on is the non-medical part: cover up once the light goes, and carry repellent.
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