Place · National Park
Serengeti National Park
best Mar–May
Other protected area1 subject
These details come from research and have not been checked yet. We have no position for this park yet, so it has no pin, light or weather here. Tell us if something is wrong
What's here, and when
1 subject
| Subject | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African Lion | Outside the window | Outside the window | Peak | Peak | Peak | Outside the window | Outside the window | Outside the window | Outside the window | Outside the window | Outside the window | Outside the window |
Hides, lodges and tours (0)
No hides, lodges or tours match these filters yet.
African Lion — Namiri Plains, eastern Serengeti — March–May green season
Shoot window
GoodOdds: Likely, 4 of 5. Verdict: Good.
African Lion: you will probably see it (Mar–May)
| Month | Presence |
|---|---|
| Jan | Outside the window |
| Feb | Outside the window |
| Mar | Peak |
| Apr | Peak |
| May | Peak |
| Jun | Outside the window |
| Jul | Outside the window |
| Aug | Outside the window |
| Sep | Outside the window |
| Oct | Outside the window |
| Nov | Outside the window |
| Dec | Outside the window |
- Peak
- March and late May. March gives ~75% cloud with the herds still south and reasonable tracks. April has the year's best light (78% cloud) but is the wettest month everywhere — 155 mm across 22 rain days — and some tracks become impassable. Late May is the recovery: rains tapering, 69% cloud, ground firming.
- Days needed
- 9 days
- Behaviour
- Hunting / predation, Territorial fighting
- Coat
- Not applicable
- Habitat
- Green season / lush
- Crowds
- Quiet
- Also here
- Cheetah — the sector was a closed cheetah-research reserve for ~29 years and Expert Africa records 100% cheetah sighting success. Leopard (71%). Serval, caracal on the open plains. Granite kopjes with hyrax, agama and klipspringer. Eastern Serengeti raptors. Moru adds Euphorbia candelabra and Lake Magadi flamingos if you shift there.
- Light
- 2.43°S at Seronera, the reference point for this sector. Sun climbs ~13.5°/hr. Civil dawn to sunrise 21–22 min; sunrise to 6° 27–30 min; to 10° 43–47 min; to 20° 84–90 min. Max noon altitude 63.5° in June, 88.6° at the equinox. SOURCE OF SOFTNESS: cloud, decisively. March 75% and April 78% overcast/mostly-cloudy are the highest figures of the year and turn ~1h35m/day of usable light into 4–6+ hours. FOR A SOFT-LIGHT-ONLY BRIEF THE GREEN SEASON IS NOT A COMPROMISE, IT IS THE CORRECT SEASON — and the dry season is the compromise. That is the opposite of standard safari advice and it is the single most useful conclusion in this research. ACCESS LIMITATION: Serengeti NP driving hours are 06:00–18:00 (operator-restated, not TANAPA-published — confirm at the gate), and there are no night drives. You cannot be in position before civil dawn. Under 75% cloud that matters far less than it would in August, because the usable light is not confined to the bookends.
- Weather risk
- Rainy season and Fog / mist (asset)
- Atmosphere
- Storm build-ups and rain-shaft light over open plains — with a kopje for scale this is the strongest landscape-with-animal setup in the subject. Wet coats. Low cloud on the kopjes at first light. Green grass against grey sky is a colour register nothing else here offers.
- Permits
- Inside Serengeti NP, so: NO OFF-ROAD, NO NIGHT DRIVES, gate hours apply. Walking is offered with certified TANAPA guides. Minimum approach cited at 25 m and speed 50 km/h — both operator-restated rather than TANAPA-published; TANAPA's own site states only 'observe speed limits and gate times', 'do not off-road unless explicitly permitted', 'drone use is restricted and requires special permissions'. Assume you cannot fly a drone. Expert Africa also notes Namiri has VERY FEW GAME-DRIVE ROUTES. You get the best clean-background lion habitat in Tanzania and near-zero vehicles, but you shoot it from the track at whatever angle the track gives you. That is the trade.
- Getting there
- Fly to Seronera airstrip, then ~1.5 h east by road. Namiri Plains and Dunia sit at the upper end of Tanzanian pricing — realistically $1,300–2,000 pp/day with a private photographic vehicle, plus government fees of ~$160–180 pp/day. April access risk is real: budget for tracks being slow rather than impassable, and do not plan tight connections.
Who runs trips here: Asilia Namiri Plains — specialist photographic vehicle with DROP-DOWN SIDES for prone low-angle shooting and three swivel seats. This partly offsets the on-track restriction: you cannot reposition, but you can drop to ground level where you are. Asilia Dunia Camp at Moru (8 tents) has the identical vehicle spec and adds granite kopjes and Lake Magadi ambush hunting, with more route choice and more vehicles. Expert Africa traveller data records 100% lion and 100% cheetah sighting success at Namiri.
Confidence: medium · Last verified 9 Sept 2026