Serengeti Mobile Camping Adventure

What is this safari about?

This 12-day safari is a great option for the adventurous & experienced African traveller keen to camp in the wilderness and explore off the beaten track! It takes you to all the iconic spots of Northern Tanzania, including Tarangire, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, but without the crowds by rather camping in the wilderness!

The safari is organised on a private basis with a private guide and vehicle, and accommodation mostly in special campsites with a fully serviced mobile tented camp. So, if you are looking to camp right in the wilderness but prefer to have a guide and without doing the hard work associated with camping by yourself, look no further!

The safari offers great game viewing as well as authentic and truly unique cultural experiences with the Hadza community in the Yaeda valley. The itinerary can also be tailor made to incorporate proper multi-day, day, or short walking safaris in the wilderness zones of Tarangire and the Serengeti.

From a cultural perspective the safari offers the opportunity to spend a full day with the Hadzabe community. The focus of the visit here is to actively participate and learn from the Hadza by taking natural history walks with them and by visiting their camps. This is indeed a very special experience in this day and age. The Hadza are such fun people to be with and their bush skills are amazing. You would have a selected group of Hadza men and women with you in camp, who act as your hosts and guides while in the area. The morning is generally spent visiting a nearby Hadza camp, before going out on a forage with some of the men and women. In the afternoon, your hosts would show you how to make arrows, and you can test your hand at shooting their bows. End the day with a cold drink on one of the rocks with views out over the valley, just an amazing experience!

The game viewing on this safari is truly amazing:

• Tarangire in dry season offers amazing wildlife viewing with animals relying on drinking from the Tarangire river and swamp systems. Some of the best elephant viewing in East Africa along with most of your plains game, cats, and vast diversity of bird life. The mobile camp will be setup at Minyonyo campsite which is close to a water source that attracts elephant/buffalo to drink right in front of your camp.
• If Ngorongoro is part of the itinerary, after an early breakfast descend into the crater for a morning of wildlife viewing while the lions are still active and giving you a better chance of seeing black rhino. After a picnic lunch you will head out of the crater and onto the Serengeti plains.
• During the northern migration season two full days are allocated to explore the Northern Serengeti based out of a temporary tented adventure camp. The Kogatende area is a beautiful mosaic of open ridges, wooded valleys and springs emerging from the hillsides. Game drives are focused on the Mara River area to try intercept the wildebeest migration making their way across the river. Along with exploring the vast kopje systems with some of the highest density of wildlife in Africa!

Should you wish to do some REAL walking safaris this takes place in the wilderness zones of Tarangire and the Serengeti. Walks can be multi-day between camps, or shorter day walks from and back to camp.

• In Tarangire walking could be between waterholes or walking to a waterhole and sitting there waiting to see what comes to drink. These waterholes are a refuge for wildlife as they provide the only permanent water in the large part of this area during the dry season. Zebra, wildebeest, impala, kudu, hippo, elephant, buffalo, and waterbuck are just some of the larger animals that can be found around the waterholes. Some of the specialties of the area which you can see are lesser kudu, gerenuk and oryx.
• Walking in the wilderness zones of the Serengeti is along small rivers surrounded by rolling hills and small rocky out-crops. With a GPS point as a reference take off on foot and make your way over rolling hills to the private mobile camp that has packed up, driven around, and set up for your arrival around lunch! The afternoons are spent relaxing from the day’s walk. Smaller bird walks or game drives are evening options. Over the course of your days of walking from camp to camp you’ll cover a large area of pristine wilderness on foot.

The mobile camp details are as follows:

• The camping style is not luxury, but it is comfortable. The mobile camps are by necessity more basic, allowing the crew to break up camp in the morning and have the camp set up again and waiting at a new location when one walks in for lunch! This creates an experience of “real” camping, where one feels completely part of the environment around you, rather than apart from it.
• Food is normally eaten around a fire, under the stars, or in the shade of an Acacia Tree. However, a mobile dining canopy act as a central gathering point for meals, drinks, snacks and resource materials.
• The tents are large enough to stand in, and are furnished with cots, mattresses, bedding and towels.
• The solar showers provided are simple, but exactly what one needs to wash off the sweat, dust or mud after a day of walking or driving. Enclosed pit-latrines with a wooden seat over are provided, simple but effective, also aligned with a “leave-no-trace” philosophy.
• Camp fare is planned and organized from locally available foodstuffs and is generally considered better than good. Camp staff will prepare food and take care of your needs, from the first hot sip of coffee in the morning, to the last satisfied sip of your nightcap in the evening.

There are two vehicle options for the safari depending on the number of travellers:

• Double Cab with Bench Seat that fits camping gear: This is a great option for small groups of 1 to 2 people. The vehicle has a bench seat located in the back for great game viewing from the open. Having the pick-up in the back allows you to carry the entire mobile camp in the vehicle, which can be set up and taken down in a short period of time, allowing you amazing flexibility and access to the remote wilderness areas. Accompanied by your guide and a camp crew member, this is the complete safari option! On arrival in camp, enjoy a short walk or relax in the shade of a tree as your camp is set up and packed up each day.
• 5- or 7-Seater Pop Up Roof Game Viewing Vehicle: This option is a must if your group is larger than 2 people. You will have your own game viewing vehicle and there is a separate camp vehicle that will have the camping gear going ahead of your arrival to setup camp. The bonus of having a separate guest vehicle is that you have more space when game viewing and more flexibility to leave camp early or arrive at camp late in the evening.

All in all, this 12-night safari is one of the very best mobile camping safaris on offer in Africa!

See sample itineraries for the walking option and without walking option. These can be tailor made to suit your needs including shortening or lengthening the duration.

Who can go?

The safari is arranged on a private basis for families or small groups of 4 up to 7 guests.

It can also be arranged for a couple, or 2 single guests, in which case you can make use of the special double cab vehicle as described above, just a great option for a real adventure!

The safari comprises of remote wilderness camping in BIG5 terrain, so ideally you will have some experience of travelling in Africa and a sense of adventure!

If walking is incorporated in the itinerary reasonable fitness is required, although walks are not for long distances it still means walking for 3 to 4 hours at a time, often in hot conditions. The minimum age for walking safaris is 12 years at the time of travel.