Central Serengeti, Seronera, and Grumeti

The area around Seronera has truly vast, flat plains. On spotting a tiny blip on the horizon, I zoomed in with my camera to identify a cheetah far in the distance – sitting on top of a termite mound for height above the flatness. We spent precious long minutes with this cat, which walked past and into the distance in the other direction through herds of surprisingly calm Grant’s Gazelle. Space and time are two wonderful luxuries in this wild part of the world.

In the heat of midday, herds of buffalo crowded under the umbrella of distant acacias against yellow hillsides. Archipelagos of kopjes create a braillescape across the savannah. The Moru kopje is said to secret away the park’s last black rhinos, while these Maasai kopjes have become monuments to man’s place in this vast space. ‘Moru’ means ‘old one’ and these outcrops are silent overseers of time and evolving wilderness. The Maasai paintings on Gong Rock tell wordless, ageless stories. →

Golden Eyes in Golden Light
Central Serengeti has a reputation for being predator-rich and a good place to see big cats.

The Seronera area was also our springboard to the Western Corridor and Grumeti area, where we camped at the Kirawira campsite. The further we went from Seronera, the more remote it felt. The road snaked alongside tall, striated cliffs and rocky kopjes dotted with the odd, high-up lodge. Zebras picked their way through the rocks to the river and beyond, joining huge herds of wildebeest in a disappearing act that took them over the horizon and out of view. Zooming out in Google Maps showed Lake Victoria somewhere close by. This was like travelling through the safari hall of fame.

Grumeti Game Reserve lies alongside the Serengeti and is a vital part of the Serengeti ecosystem. The Great Migration crosses the Grumeti River with the same drama as crossings of the Mara. We saw truly enormous crocodiles lining the banks. Their size tells a story. This is also a place where you shouldn’t forget to look up. This area is home to the colobus monkey, hirsute and agile among the branches of the Grumeti’s gorgeous riparian trees. →

River Monsters
In the late afternoon light, the bank of the Grumeti River was lined with giant crocodiles in repose. When the Migration passes through the area, crossing the Grumeti River in the Serengeti Western Corridor, these leviathan creatures create a deadly obstacle course for wildebeest and zebra.

Hyena Hopscotch
After a big storm in the Western Corridor of Serengeti National Park, hyenas escaped the wet grass by lying in a checkerboard layout on the road.

In the morning, wildlife came out in numbers. We saw birds with drenched feathers and a big herd of buffalo. Elephants fed along the trees on rocky hillsides. Hyenas lay in the road in crossword puzzle formation between the puddles. I spotted the golden mane of a lone male lion a little down the road, observing the world from grass level after a wet, dark night. Giant Eagle Owls blinked at us from top branches.

Back in the Seronera River Valley, we explored the river. The emerald-green riparian bush was alive with herons, geese, ibises, and lapwings. Reedbuck fought half-heartedly and a single hyena walked through huge herds of Thompson’s Gazelle.

The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are stitched together with a long, straight road through incredible, flat terrain that leads up to the gate at Naabi Hill. It is a racetrack for operators heading to Ngorongoro who drive almost unbelievably fast over the road’s unforgiving corrugations. Naabi Hill Gate is buzzing with tourists enjoying meals and taking in the aerial view over the park. From here, I stood and looked back over the swathe of plains below. Pointers of dust blew up from game viewers on their way to Seronera – more groups of people on their way to life-changing experiences. →

Mad Max Scenery
Naabi Hill is the gateway to Ngorongoro - and has amazing views over the long, straight road that leads to Seronera.

Wallpaper Motifs
Central Serengeti offers innumerable vantage points for wildlife viewing. As we approached Seronera, fractals of shade-seeking buffalo dotted the hillside.

You and the View
Serengeti National Park is one of the most famous wildlife destinations in the world. For anyone passionate about wildlife, visiting the Serengeti is a trip of a lifetime.

Seronera Visitor Centre
The Seronera Visitor Centre is a great stop-off to buy some curios and learn the history of the park. Bernhard and Michael Grzimek were a father-and-son team who played an important role in conservation in the Serengeti. In 1957, they flew from Egelsbach to Tanzania in their small, zebra-striped plane, which they used for game counts (a novel idea at the time). They were instrumental in setting park boundaries and preserving the routes of wildebeest in the Great Migration.

Hunt Like No-One is Watching
On the verge of the road opposite the Seronera airstrip, a serval hunted in the grass. The road was busy with a commute of game-viewers, but this serval pursued its quarry without distraction.

Maasai Kopjes
In a land of predominantly long, flat savannah, the Maasai Kopjes stand as stone islands in the Serengeti grasslands.