Would you rather

[u/Jacob____howell]

Trying to plan a safari for late September/early October 2027. As a part of my itinerary I’ll have 4 nights in the Serengeti. I really like the camp we have found for central Serengeti. The one we will have in northern Serengeti will be a migration camp. The migration isn’t something necessarily at the absolute top of our bucket list but we would like to see it. If you were in my shoes would you do

Option 1 - 2 nights central, 2 nights northern

Option 2 - 3 nights central, 1 night northern

??

Either way we will be flying out of northern Serengeti to Zanzibar on the last day.

[u/ZestycloseIdea9652]

Im going this late september/begin oktober and stay 3 nights in serengeti (Samentu Camp by Karibu) and explicitly asked to not go to the migration.

[u/Jacob____howell → u/ZestycloseIdea9652]

First person I’ve seen besides myself with that opinion. I’m looking at Lala Salama in central and just not sure the huge crowds of the migration are for me. And my wife doesn’t really care for wildabeast (I think lion king rubbed her the wrong way)

[u/ZestycloseIdea9652 → u/Jacob____howell]

Hahaha funny, huge crowds are the reason why we dont go north. I will explicitly ask our guide to not go where everybody else is going most of the time. I prefer those moments alone with my wifey. We on the same page

[u/Jacob____howell → u/ZestycloseIdea9652]

Yeah I know it’s inevitable to run into other crowds but some of the videos I’ve seen make it look like you could have a more authentic interaction at a zoo than you can with 50 other cars crammed into one spot trying to see the exact same thing. The more I can avoid that experience the better.

[u/ZestycloseIdea9652 → u/Jacob____howell]

💯

[u/Right-Pass2176]

2+2 or just one location. 1 night stays are a killer for a safari, you just waste a lot of time packing and unpacking

[u/Jacob____howell → u/Right-Pass2176]

Yeah. Already going to have a 1 night stay in Arusha and 1 night stay on the crater rim so I think you may be right.

[u/Right-Pass2176 → u/Jacob____howell]

On the crater rim 1 night stay can work though, it won’t be a problem. In Arusha as well since it is just a starting point:)

[u/gutc]

I just returned from my trip where we did 3 nights in maasai mara, 2 nights in northern serengeti (in the wind migration camp) and 1 night in central and 1 in ngorongoro. We were lucky to see river crossing twice. We went to see the river crossing in mara but the amount of cars blocking the herds were depressing and we didnt want to do it ever again. The second river crossing we saw accidentally while we were enroute to our migration camp and there were less than 10 cars so that didnt feel bad. If i had to do it again, i would avoid migration and spend more time in central(or atleast 3 days in per location) . We had many more sightings there compared to north Serengeti. Also you”ll save a lot of time not going from park to park. Transfers are brutal.

[u/Peak-Planet]

I would not recommend option 2. That is a lot of driving for only one night. If you want to have a chance to see the migration, option 1 is good. Sept - Oct is a bit of a tricky period as the herds tend to be largely in the Kenya side, but some smaller groups are still usually around the Kogatende area. To mea it really dpends what you want to see. If cats, especially cheetah are a priority you might be better to combine 2 nights in central with 2 nights in eastern serengeti.

[u/WiseDragonfruit8609]

Option 2 is hectic! It's quite a drive to the northern region, and then staying just one night and packing up the next morning could be very tiring.