Safari
About 40 per cent of Tanzania's land is under some form of protection, on World Bank figures for 2025. The question is never whether there is wildlife. It is which month, which circuit, and how long you have.
Six of twenty-two. The rest — the western chimpanzee parks, the vast southern reserves, the island parks on Lake Victoria and Zanzibar's Jozani — are all on the full parks index.
Nothing about it is on a timetable. It follows the grass, and the grass follows the rain.
Dec – Mar
Ndutu & the southern plains
Calving. Around half a million wildebeest are born in a few weeks on the short grass, and the predators gather for it.
Apr – Jun
The western corridor
The herds move north and west through the long rains, gathering at the Grumeti River. Fewer vehicles, greener country, softer roads.
Jul – Oct
The northern Serengeti & Mara River
The crossings. Dramatic and entirely unschedulable — the herds go when they go, and waiting is most of the day.
Nov
Returning south
The short rains pull the herds back down towards Ndutu. A quiet, cheap, underrated month to travel.
Five thousand, eight hundred and ninety-five metres
Short itineraries turn far more climbers back than long ones. The difference is not fitness. It is time spent between three and four thousand metres, and there is no way to buy your way past it.