Every few months, and sometimes at short notice, Usawa Serengeti is taken down and pitched again elsewhere in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Its tents move with the wildebeest instead of waiting for them. Each of the two camps has six tents for twelve guests, and every site falls inside one of the park’s designated walking zones, so guided walks leave straight from the canvas.
Its tents move with the wildebeest instead of waiting for them.
December to February belongs to the Southern Plains, where the herds calve on volcanic-ash grassland. In June and July they gather in the Western Corridor, and one camp follows them to Grumeti, where riverine forest lines the river. Between July and October the camps work the north, in the Northern Hills and at Lamai, within driving distance of the Mara River crossings.
The tall stretch tents are made in Arusha and open to an almost all-round view, and on moving day the furniture inside doubles as packing. The rugs and blankets are the work of Arusha craftspeople too. When the camp moves on, nothing is left in the grass. The solar panels that power it are loaded up with the canvas and carried to the next site.
When the camp moves on, nothing is left in the grass.
Each tent has an en-suite bathroom with hot showers. There is a charging point in each one, and after dark rechargeable lamps light the canvas. Wi-Fi reaches camp, and meals use produce from Tanzanian farms and small suppliers, served in the central tent or around the fire. Usawa, Kiswahili for balance, opened in 2023, and Lamai and Grumeti followed in 2025.
Each site is chosen away from the busiest parts of the park, yet close enough that the main concentrations of game are a drive rather than an expedition. A guide and an armed park ranger lead small groups out from the tents into the surrounding walking zone, moving slowly enough to read tracks and dung and to put names to the grasses and trees. They stop for birds. Every walk begins and ends at camp and stays within the designated zone, while the wider park, the river crossings included, is left to the vehicles.
Two watercourses run close to the Northern Hills site, and the resident lion pride there is seen regularly. Lamai is more open, a grassland broken by Balanites trees, where the prides keep to the cover of the escarpment streams. Grumeti changes the scenery again, to woodland, the Simiti Hills and the Ndabaka Plains. Large lion prides and elephants share it with wildebeest that stay all year. On the Southern Plains, calving fills the short grass and predators hunt in full view, with the Ndutu woodlands and Hidden Valley within reach.
Later the canvas lets in the night, hyenas calling and grazers snorting just beyond the tents.
Morning and afternoon drives cover the country around camp, and full days push further with a picnic, stopping wherever the game has gathered. Birders go looking for the grey-breasted spurfowl and the rufous-tailed weaver, two of the region’s endemics. When season and weather allow, a dawn balloon flight can be added, coming down to a bush breakfast. After dark there is stargazing. Later the canvas lets in the night, hyenas calling and grazers snorting just beyond the tents. You can hear them tearing at the grass, and some mornings wildebeest file past at first light.
Because the canvas moves and the guests do not, each stay begins at whichever camp is operating on their dates. Light aircraft land at Kogatende, Seronera or Serengeti South, depending on where the tents stand that month, and transfer times shift with them. Children from six are welcome, with under-16s sharing a tent with an adult. Younger children can come when a whole camp is booked for sole use, which gives friends or several generations travelling together all six tents and the central dining tent to themselves.
accommodation
The two camps each have six en-suite tents for twelve guests. The tall stretch tents, made in Arusha, open to a near all-round view. Inside are safari-style furnishings, with charging points and rechargeable lamps. Bathrooms have hot showers. Either camp can be taken for sole use.
activities
Guided walks leave directly from camp with a guide and armed ranger, inside the park's designated walking zones. Drives follow park rules, running in the morning and afternoon or as full days with a picnic. Birders seek endemics such as the grey-breasted spurfowl. Stargazing and a dawn balloon flight are offered, weather permitting.
conservation
Usawa Serengeti works with the Tanzania National Parks Authority on training programmes for children and the community, aimed at reducing snaring, poaching and tree-cutting around the Serengeti. Food comes from Tanzanian farms and small businesses, and the camp runs on solar power, leaving no permanent fixtures when it moves.
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 or Kilimanjaro, to whichever Serengeti airstrip serves the camp on your dates. For the northern sites that is usually Kogatende or Lamai, for the Western Corridor it is Grumeti, and for the southern plains it is Seronera or one of the southern strips. Coastal Aviation and Auric Air both fly these routes daily, with a first departure from Arusha landing before nine.
From the airstrip the transfer is a game drive, from about half an hour to an hour and a half depending on the site. We can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, straight to the right strip at an hour that suits you. Scheduled flights allow fifteen kilograms a person, hand luggage included, in soft bags.
That depends on the month, because the camp moves every few months to stay near the herds, and it can shift at short notice if they change course. There are two camps at any one time, so the plan is built around where each stands on your dates. We confirm the site and the airstrip before you fly.
As a pattern, from July to October the camps sit in the far north, in the hills of the northern Serengeti and at Lamai, just north of the Mara River. In June and July a camp is often at Grumeti in the Western Corridor. From December to February the camp moves to the southern plains for the calving.
Yes. Every site the camp uses lies inside one of the park's designated walking zones, so short guided walks leave straight from the tents. They are about the detail a vehicle misses: tracks, plants, birds and the smaller creatures. You never walk alone; a trained guide leads every walk, and the walks stay near camp, because longer walking safaris and night drives are not permitted in the national park.
The rest of the day is spent on morning and afternoon game drives, or a full day out with a picnic lunch. Birding is good, with Serengeti specials such as the grey-breasted spurfowl and rufous-tailed weaver. A hot air balloon flight can be added at extra cost, depending on the weather and the season.
Yes, from the age of six. Children under sixteen share a tent with an adult, so a family of four takes two tents with a parent in each. Younger children are welcome only when a whole camp is booked for sole use, which works well for a family or friends travelling together: six tents and room for twelve, with the days run at your own pace.
Tell us their ages when you enquire and we will plan the days around them.
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 draws its line at the same height. The Serengeti runs from about 920 to 1,850 metres, so the camp's sites fall inside the risk area in every season, and both services include antimalarial tablets among their recommendations, alongside avoiding bites.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so the choice of tablets sits with you and your doctor or a travel clinic. Covering arms and legs from late afternoon and using repellent on any skin left bare helps in every month.
More comfortable than the word mobile suggests. Each of the six tents has its own bathroom with hot water, and the tall tents were made in Arusha to give a near all-round view of the plains, with wide shaded space outside. Much of the furniture, the rugs and the blankets were made by Arusha craftspeople, and some pieces double as packing cases when the camp moves.
The whole camp runs on solar power, with rechargeable lights and charging points in the tents and wifi in camp. Because nothing is fixed to the ground, the site is left as it was found when the camp moves on. The camp opened in 2023 and added its Lamai and Grumeti sites in 2025.
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