Why January Might Be the Best Month to Be in the Serengeti
Everyone talks about the river crossings. The calving season is the part of the Great Migration nobody prepares you for.
Ask someone to describe the Great Migration and they will describe one scene: wildebeest throwing themselves into a crocodile filled river. It is a real moment, and it happens mostly in the northern Serengeti in the middle of the year. It is also only one chapter of a loop that never actually stops.
The migration is a circle, not an event
Well over a million wildebeest, joined by hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle, move in a roughly clockwise loop through the Serengeti ecosystem, following the rains and the fresh grass. Where they are in any given month is a pattern, not a schedule. Good guides talk in probabilities, not promises.
What happens in the south
Around late January and into February, the herds settle on the short grass plains of the southern Serengeti and the Ndutu area near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The grass there is rich, and this is where the wildebeest give birth, often hundreds of thousands of calves in a few weeks. A newborn wildebeest is usually up and running within minutes. It has to be.
That many young animals in one place draws predators. Lions, cheetahs and hyenas are all in the area, and the plains are open, which makes them easier to watch. If you want to understand how the whole system fits together, this is the month it is on full display.
What it is actually like
It is green. The short rains have usually passed and the plains are lush. Mornings are cool and the light is soft. You will spend long stretches parked and watching, and that is the point. The best calving season days are the slow ones where nothing happens for an hour and then everything happens at once.
How to plan for it
- Base yourself in the south. A camp in the Ndutu area or the southern Serengeti will save you hours of driving.
- Book early. This is a popular window and the best positioned camps fill up.
- Stay at least three nights in one area. Moving every day costs you time with the herds.
- Bring a camera with real zoom. Phones are great for landscapes and terrible at 200 metres.
The river crossings will always get the headlines. The calving season gets the people who go once and keep talking about it for years.
