Few camps will attempt what Ubuntu does. Twice a year it comes down entirely and goes back up alongside the Great Wildebeest Migration, chasing the herds across the Serengeti instead of waiting for them to pass. From December to March it is pitched on a Kusini hillside in the south. Below are the short-grass plains where the calving plays out. The ground is open and hides nothing.
Below are the short-grass plains where the calving plays out.
Then, as the herds move, so does the camp. From June to November it is pitched in the Lamai area of the north, within reach of the Mara River crossings. Kusini lies apart from the busier Ndutu tracks, so the calving herds and the lions and cheetahs that follow them are watched by far fewer vehicles. The northern site keeps close to the river yet clear of the densest cluster of lodges.
Ten canvas tents, one of them a family tent, make a camp that stays small on purpose. They are spaced well apart, each with a private veranda facing the plains, each pitched to feel like the only one there. Inside are proper beds dressed in fine linen and wooden campaign furniture, with en-suite bathrooms, a flushing toilet and a fire-heated bucket shower. Sisal matting underfoot, canvas overhead.
Lions, hyenas and the grunt of wildebeest carry through the night.
A traditional bush camp, run for comfort and not for gloss. Warm towels arrive after game drives, hot water bottles turn up in cold beds, and lantern-lit paths link the tents to a canvas mess and lounge at the centre of camp. Lions, hyenas and the grunt of wildebeest carry through the night. There is nothing between you and the country here.
Between December and March, hundreds of thousands of wildebeest gather on the Kusini short-grass plains to give birth within a few short weeks. The mass of newborns draws intense predator activity, and the open ground lays it bare. Kusini lies apart from the central Ndutu tracks, so game drives here regularly find large herds and hunting cats with barely another vehicle in sight. That is the camp’s strongest argument for the calving season, a front-row seat to the migration’s most dramatic weeks, without the congestion that builds around the busier calving grounds nearby.
The southern camp stands on a low hillside, and the elevation earns its keep. Herds spread across the plains below, storm fronts build along the horizon, and the sunrises and sunsets play out over open ground. Off-road driving is generally prohibited in the Kusini sector, which lies within Serengeti National Park, where the rules require vehicles to keep to designated tracks. Walking is possible in the hills behind camp, following tracks and small signs on foot, a slower way to read the ground that no game drive can quite offer.
The mass of newborns draws intense predator activity, and the open ground lays it bare.
When the camp shifts north for the dry months, the days turn on the Mara River. Herds mass on the banks and plunge across in the face of strong currents and waiting crocodiles, one of the migration’s most charged sequences. Game drives fill the rest, with resident lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant and giraffe moving alongside the migration herds. The kitchen here buys its fresh produce from local communities, guests can visit a nearby Kuria village, and hot-air ballooning over the northern plains can be arranged.
Dinner is a sociable business, three courses in the mess tent, and when the weather holds the tables are laid under the stars beside the campfire. Breakfasts are packed for long days out. The camp itself is built to be dismantled and moved without leaving a permanent mark, and it runs on solar power. Ubuntu suits travellers who want to be genuinely inside the migration, in a smaller and quieter setting, and who are happy to trade a little polish for canvas, firelight and the sounds of the plains.
accommodation
Ten canvas tents, one of them a family tent with two bedrooms joined by a shared lounge. Standard tents take double or twin configurations, triples on request, each opening onto a private veranda over the plains. Inside are proper beds in fine linen, wooden campaign furniture and en-suite bathrooms with a fire-heated bucket shower.
activities
Morning, afternoon and full-day game drives are the core, in open 4x4 vehicles. Walking is offered at the camp’s northern sites, arranged at an extra charge. In the north, guests can visit a Kuria community and arrange hot-air ballooning over the plains.
conservation
Ten dollars from every night at Ubuntu goes to named partners: Honeyguide, the Serengeti Cheetah Project and the KURU tracker-dog unit. Honeyguide was founded in 2007 with the operator's start-up money, and its second dog team, working the Serengeti, Grumeti and Ikorongo, seized more than 150 snares in one three-month spell; the operator also funds the Frankfurt Zoological Society's livestock patrol on the eastern Serengeti boundary. The kitchen buys its produce through a community programme in the nearest village.
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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It changes with the herds. In the northern season, June to mid November, you fly from Arusha to the Lamai or Kogatende strips near the Mara River, up to two hours in the air, then finish with a long game drive into the camp's corner of the Lamai area, an hour and a half or more that doubles as your first safari. In the southern season, mid December to mid March, the flight lands at the Serengeti South strip with around ninety minutes' drive to the Kusini hillside.
A private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, can meet either season directly from Arusha or Kilimanjaro. Soft bags only on the scheduled flights, about fifteen kilograms each with hand luggage counted in.
It is, in both seasons. Neither the Kusini plains nor the Lamai country rises anywhere near the 1,800 metre line, and below that height the UK's official travel health advice and the American CDC rate the malaria risk across mainland Tanzania as high, so tablets are the sensible default for this camp.
Have a travel clinic or your doctor confirm the current recommendation close to your departure, then rely on the tent nets, repellent and covered arms once the fire is lit.
Two windows. Mid December to mid March in the south, timed for the calving on the Kusini plains, and June to mid November in the north for the river months, with July to October the crossing peak. From mid March to the end of May, and again from mid November to mid December, the camp is off the ground entirely while it makes its long moves, so those weeks are simply not available.
If the crossings are the goal, hold three nights or more and let the river set the pace. If it is the calving, February is the surest month for newborns on the ground.
For the right family, very well. Children come from age five, younger ones share a tent with an adult, and the family tent pairs two bedrooms around a shared sitting area. What Ubuntu asks in exchange is a taste for the real thing: bucket showers heated on the fire, canvas rather than walls, lions audible at 2am.
Children who like camping tend to remember it as the best part of the whole trip. Tell us the ages and temperament and we will say honestly whether it fits, or whether a more built-up camp would serve better.
The camp keeps a modest connection running for essentials, and that is the honest ceiling: a message home from the mess area when the satellite cooperates, not a working connection, and mobile signal in the camp's remote corners is scarce.
This is a camp people choose partly to be unreachable in. If something at home genuinely requires a reliable line, tell us before booking and we will confirm with the camp what is possible that season.
All meals from the camp kitchen, house drinks with champagne the exception, laundry, the scheduled game drives, and the road transfers to and from the seasonal airstrip. Hot-air ballooning in the northern season is arranged separately, and park fees are charged per person per 24 hours on top of the nightly rate.
We fold the park fees and any extras into a single quote at the start, so the mobile camp's moving parts never reach your invoice as surprises.
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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.
