Alex Walker’s camp goes up each December in a grove of umbrella acacias on the southern short-grass plains of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, ground the migration walks straight through. Four tents and two suites, with one open 4WD, its own guide and spotter, for every booking. The camp comes down again in May, when the grass gives out and the animals move on.
Cheetahs hunt newborns in the open, and nothing hides
The calving herds spread across the plain outside. Between January and March they drop calves by the hundreds of thousands within three or four weeks, drawn to grass grown on volcanic ash. Cheetahs hunt newborns in the open, and nothing hides. Golden-backed jackals, spotted hyenas and honey badgers work the same ground, and the flat country means a chase can be watched from start to finish.
Alex Walker founded the camp and hosts there when he is in residence, eating at the long table with everyone else. He is a fourth-generation East African, raised in the tea country of Mufindi in southern Tanzania. More than thirty years of outfitting safaris across the region lie behind Serian, which remains his own operation, and a private vehicle and guide come as standard, not as an upgrade.
Lions and elephants pass between the tents at night.
The tents are canvas, with wrought-iron beds and Moroccan rugs underfoot. Bucket showers are filled with water heated on the fire, flush toilets sit at the back, and no Wi-Fi reaches camp. Lions and elephants pass between the tents at night. What the camp gives up in plumbing it gets back in position, pitched where the herds are, not where foundations were poured.
Ash blown from the Ngorongoro highlands has left the soils here loaded with calcium and phosphorus, and the short grasses that grow on them carry exactly what a lactating wildebeest cow needs. The herds arrive with the short rains and stay for as long as the grass holds. The camp keeps to the edge of that open country, close enough to reach the calving grounds early and far enough into the acacias for shade, which matters by ten in the morning. Ndutu lies within reach of the camp for a full day out.
A mobile camp is struck and rebuilt each season, and its exact pitch shifts within the area according to where the animals are and how the ground is holding after rain. There are no foundations, no pool, no air conditioning and no glass. Power comes from a generator, water from a well and tower, and when the camp leaves in May the site goes back to bush. The trade is straightforward: less polish than a permanent lodge, a great deal more proximity to what people come for. Six units in total keeps the mess tent conversation to one table.
The herds arrive with the short rains and stay for as long as the grass holds.
Days here follow no fixed camp timetable: a vehicle, a guide and a spotter belong to each group for the length of a stay, which allows dawn starts, full days out with a picnic, or an afternoon parked beside one cheetah and her cubs. Walking safaris are possible here, with an armed ranger, in one of the few parts of Serengeti National Park where the practice is permitted. Meals are eaten together at a long table in the mess tent, family style off large platters, with drinks by the fire beforehand and giraffe photographs on the canvas walls.
The southern camp returns to Kusini in December. Children are welcome, with a minimum age of twelve for walking safaris. The two suites, each pairing two bedrooms around a shared canvas sitting room, suit families and friends travelling together. Evenings are spent by the fire, with the herds audible in the dark beyond the tents.
accommodation
Four tents and two suites, all Meru-style canvas under shade flysheets, furnished with wrought-iron beds and Moroccan rugs, a writing desk and a private veranda. Bathrooms sit at the rear, with a flush toilet, washstand and bucket shower filled on request. Each suite pairs two bedrooms around a shared sitting room.
activities
Game drives run to each group's own timetable in a private open 4WD with a dedicated guide and spotter. Walking safaris with an armed ranger are permitted in this part of Serengeti National Park, one of few zones where the practice is allowed. Bush breakfasts and picnic lunches are taken out on the plains, with drives towards Ndutu and hot-air ballooning available seasonally in the area.
conservation
Alex Walker's camps support snare-removal work in the Serengeti carried out with Tanzania National Parks and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Closer to the southern plains, a local school has had a classroom refloored and refurnished, and a food store built so it can receive government supplies. Most staff are hired locally to the area in which they work.
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.
01
Serengeti National Park
02
Serengeti National Park
03
Serengeti National Park
04
Serengeti National Park
05
Serengeti National Park
06
Serengeti National Park
07
Serengeti National Park
08
Serengeti National Park
09
Serengeti National Park
10
Serengeti National Park
11
Serengeti National Park
12
Serengeti National Park
13
Serengeti National Park
14
Serengeti National Park
15
Serengeti National Park
16
Serengeti National Park
17
Serengeti National Park
18
Serengeti National Park
19
Serengeti National Park
20
Serengeti National Park
It is smaller and it is Alex Walker's. Four tents and two suites, pitched on the short grass plains from December to May, run in the old mobile tradition where the camp goes to the animals rather than the other way round.
Six units means a camp that can move properly and that fills with one or two parties rather than a crowd, and it means the guiding is close: you are not queuing behind five other vehicles at breakfast. If you want the calving season without a lodge around it, this is the shape of trip that delivers it.
The calving, and everything that comes to it. The wildebeest give birth on this short grass from about December to March, with the heaviest of it in late January and February, and the predators concentrate accordingly. By April and May the herds have begun to move north and west, so a stay at the end of the season is a different trip from one at the height of it.
Tell us which you would rather have. February is the spectacle; April is quieter, greener and far less busy, and some people prefer it for exactly that reason.
Fly into Ndutu or Kusini, the strips that serve the southern plains, then drive to camp. From Arusha the sector runs around fifty minutes to an hour, and from Kilimanjaro International about an hour to an hour and a half, longer if the aircraft calls somewhere on the way.
A mobile camp moves, so we confirm the strip for your dates with the camp rather than working from last year's position. Soft bags only on the light aircraft, fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage and cameras.
Yes. Both the UK's official travel health service and the American CDC treat all of Tanzania below 1,800 metres as malaria country, Zanzibar included, and set apart only ground above 1,800 metres. The southern Serengeti plains lie at roughly 1,650 metres, below that line. The UK service rates the country high risk and recommends antimalarial tablets for it.
We do not make medical recommendations, and we would not want to. We arrange travel; we are not doctors. Which tablets suit you, how they sit with anything else you take, and what is right for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic. On the practical part, dusk is the hour that matters, so long sleeves, long trousers and repellent are worth the packing space.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
