4 Days Exclusive Serengeti Wildebeest Migration Safari

Detailed itinerary

Day 1: Arrival and First Glimpse of the Serengeti

Your adventure kicks off the moment you land in Tanzania, whether by light aircraft or the rugged overland route— and the Serengeti spills out before you like a vivid painting of amber grass, stooped acacia, and the shifting silhouettes of antelope. A guide welcomes you at the airstrip or park gate, and the wilderness orientation begins. If the schedule and sunlight allow, a late-afternoon game drive rolls out. On this debut outing, the safari mood crystalizes: you could find wildebeest milling at the first waterhole, zebra strung like beads across the grass, and the slow, deliberate height of a giraffe. A solitary elephant drifting through the brush may be your gentle, momentary companion.

Back at camp, you’ll sign in, wash up, and settle in for your first meal under the African sky. While the sun spills into red and gold, and the first stars prick the deepening blue, the low rumble of distant lions and the chorus of crickets pull you right back to the wild, a long way from the city.

Overnight:

• Budget – Kati Kati Tented Camp or Africa Safari Ikoma Lodge
• Standard – Africa Safari Ikoma (Comfort)
• Luxury – Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 2: Following the Migration

Today the migration is your compass. Wake-up is at first light, and coffee and warm porridge slide onto your plate, fueling you to hit the trail while the world is still waking. The air is crisp, the light is gold, and the wildlife is on the move. It’s prime time for cats coming back from the night.

Our guide watches the radio chatter and the footprints, adjusting the plan to keep you where the action is hottest. You may find the wildebeest piling up at the Grumeti or feeling their way toward the Mara, the next big river. Standing at the water’s edge, you’ll see them forming a dark, restless cloud, the finish line so close. Below, the green back of a crocodile breaks the surface, jaws already lining up the gamble. The air prickles as the herd hesitates. Then, in a single heartbeat, they bolt, hooves drumming, dust turning the day into a bronze haze. The river is crossed, a line in the story, and you’ll carry it with you forever.

Lunch is laid out on big flat stones beneath a thorn acacia, the shade letting you eat, stretch out, and keep watching the land slip past. After your sandwiches and cold fruit, the afternoon brings more surprises—maybe the first, flat laugh of a hyena, the fast, low trot of a jackal, or vultures drawing circles above the bone-white flash of a taken animal.

At dusk, you drive back to camp. After quick, steaming showers, the cook sets out a steaming pot of stew. Under a ceiling of stars, you pass around the day’s stories and then check your gear for an early start.

Overnight:

• Budget – Kati Kati Tented Camp or Africa Safari Ikoma Lodge
• Standard – Africa Safari Ikoma (Comfort)
• Luxury – Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 3: Predator Encounters and Plains Discovery

At 5:00 the radio crackles a soft call. We slip out in the dark and roll slowly past the camp gate. Before the sun is a line on the rim, a lion’s roar shudders the air above the engine, and alone in the lightening shade a leopard melts back into the thorns. Finches bounce in the early-bud leaves as the color changes from night to soft, burnished gold.

Today we keep drifting into the park’s different faces. In one flat stretch, the moving black line of wildebeest is thick enough to smell the loose, dusty wind of a herd. In the next, wind through tall grass hides a cheetah’s pounce. We watch a lion pride on a sun-baked kopje, then feel the ground thrum as a family of elephants, tiny ones in the middle, waddles through a grove.

Around midday, you can return to camp for a leisurely lunch and a brief siesta, or you can stay out with a picnic tucked in your pack. This afternoon is marked by an easy game drive, when the sun is more angled for beautiful photos. You can pause in a place you love or ask your guide to track down any animals you haven’t yet crossed off your list.

When dusk settles, you will gather around the fire for your last dinner in the bush. Flames dance, lanterns cast a soft golden circle, and the Serengeti buzzes and chirps all around you.

Overnight:

• Budget – Kati Kati Tented Camp or Africa Safari Ikoma Lodge
• Standard – Africa Safari Ikoma (Comfort)
• Luxury – Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 4: Farewell to the Serengeti

The last morning you will wake again before first light for a brief drive. This is your last window to catch any animal you have so far missed. The soft light is perfect, and many creatures are out and about before the day truly warms. Your guide will help you seize every last moment.

After breakfast back at camp, it will be time to stow your gear and get ready for the road or the charter flight that carries you on. Whether you are heading to another lodge or flying out of the Serengeti, we will ensure that every detail is in place for a smooth and timely departure.

As you walk away, you take the rhythm of hooves drumming against earth, the golden light spilling over the wide, breathing grass, and the quiet wonder of seeing the world shift in endless, living colour.