Lodges & partnersSeronera Central Serengeti
Nine tents and one family suite among the kopjes on the eastern edge of the central Serengeti, with the grass running up to the verandah and the whole camp running on the sun.
About
Nyumbani sits on the eastern side of the central Serengeti, tucked into a run of granite kopjes with the Ngarenanyuki river in front of it. There are nine tented suites and one family suite, which in Serengeti terms is small, and the camp is laid out so that none of them looks at another. The canvas is raised on platforms above the grass, each tent has its own verandah, and the ground between them is left as it is, so at six in the morning you are woken by francolin and the odd zebra working its way past rather than by anything the camp is doing.
Inside, the tents are plain in the good sense. A bed made up as a king or as twins under netting, mesh on three sides so the light comes through from first thing, a writing desk, a wardrobe, a safe, and a bathroom at the back with a rain shower and water hot enough to be worth standing under. The whole camp runs on solar, from the lighting to the pumps to the water heaters, which is unusual this deep in the park and means the evenings are quiet in a way a generator never allows. The family suite is two tents joined by a shared living space, so children sleep next door rather than across camp.
Meals are full board and taken in the mess tent or out on the plain if the day suits it, and there is a separate lounge to sit in between drives. The fire is lit in front of camp at dusk and that is usually where everyone ends up. Seronera, with its permanent water and its resident lion, leopard and cheetah, is about forty minutes south by road, which is close enough for a long morning drive and far enough that you do not share your camp with the traffic that goes there. Being inside the national park, the Serengeti rules apply, so there are no night drives and no walks from camp here. The sister camp in Tarangire does both, and a northern circuit that takes in each of them gives you one of each kind of day.
Signature experiences
The drive most guests do on their first morning. Permanent water and long grass hold lion, leopard and cheetah through the year, and the valley is about forty minutes south of camp.
The kitchen packs up and lays breakfast out on the plain at a spot chosen that morning. You come back from the first part of the drive to a table already set.
An evening in camp with the staff, learning to throw a spear and then reading the sky once the fire burns down. The camp makes no charge for it.
Camp sits among granite outcrops on the eastern edge of the central Serengeti, and the light on them at the end of the day is the reason photographers come back.
Gallery
Room types
A tented suite on a raised platform with its own verandah, a bed made up as a king or as twins under netting, mesh windows on three sides and an en suite bathroom with a rain shower and hot water. Nine of the ten tents in camp are built this way.
Two tented suites joined by a shared living space, so a family has its own pair of rooms with somewhere to sit between them. The camp has one. It is not yet on sale here because the contract prints no rate for it, and we do not show a price the supplier has not published.
At a glance
Best time to visit
Best months: June to October and December to February.
Location & access
Seronera Central Serengeti
About 3 hours in total. Roughly 45 minutes by road from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arusha Airport, about 1 hour in a light aircraft to Seronera airstrip, then about 40 minutes by road to camp. Bush flights carry a soft bag limit of around 15 kg. The camp charges the airstrip transfer separately and it is not in the nightly rate.
About 8 to 9 hours in total from Kilimanjaro International Airport. Roughly 1 hour to Arusha, about 1 hour 45 minutes on to Mto wa Mbu below the Lake Manyara escarpment, about 1 hour 45 minutes up through Karatu to the Lodoare gate, around 2 hours 30 minutes across the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the Naabi Hill gate, then 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes north to Seronera and a last 40 minutes east to camp.
On the map
2.440° S, 34.955° E
What's included
Frequently asked
On the eastern side of the central Serengeti, among kopjes facing the Ngarenanyuki river, inside Serengeti National Park. Seronera and its valley are about forty minutes away by road.
Most guests fly into Seronera airstrip and drive about forty minutes to camp, which takes roughly three hours in total from Kilimanjaro International Airport including the road leg to Arusha Airport. Driving the whole way takes about eight to nine hours through Manyara and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The camp is open every month. January and February bring the herds onto the southern and central plains, June to October is the dry season with easy game viewing and the busiest skies, and April, May and November are green, quiet and the best value of the year.
Accommodation on a full board basis, meaning breakfast, lunch and dinner, with government taxes and VAT. Park fees, the 24 hour special camping fee and the tourism levy are added to your trip price rather than paid at the camp.
Children of five and over are welcome and the camp publishes its own child rate for each season. They must share a tent with one or two adults. Children under five are only taken under special arrangements the camp makes itself, so we do not price them here.
Yes. One suite is two tents joined by a shared living space. The camp has not published a rate for it, so we have not put it on sale rather than show a figure the camp has not given us. A family of four can take two standard tents in the meantime.
Not from this camp. Serengeti National Park rules allow neither, so drives run between sunrise and sunset. The same owners run Hilala Camp in Tarangire where both are offered, and many guests pair the two.
The camp runs on solar through the day and night, with charging in the tents, and there is wifi in camp. Mobile coverage in this part of the park comes and goes.
April and May are the long rains. The grass is high, the plains are green and empty of vehicles, and the camp stays open. Showers tend to come in the afternoon rather than all day, and game viewing is quieter but closer to camp.
The camp is about forty minutes from Seronera, which has an airstrip used for medical flights. Flying Doctor cover and travel insurance are not included in the rate and every guest needs their own.
Yes. Tanzania has required inbound travel insurance at 44 USD per adult since 1 October 2026, and it is listed in your trip price. Your own comprehensive medical and travel cover is a condition of the camp contract.
What's nearby
About forty minutes south, under an hour
Permanent water, kopjes and long grass, and the part of the park where lion, leopard and cheetah are seen most reliably through the year. The first drive of most stays goes here.
South west of Seronera, a full day
Granite outcrops with Maasai rock paintings and the old gong rock, and some of the better rhino country in the Serengeti.
Near Seronera, about an hour
A bend in the Seronera river where hippo pack in close together, and one of the few marked places in the park where you are allowed out of the vehicle.
Launch sites near Seronera, very early start
About an hour aloft at first light with the licensed balloon operators in the park, breakfast on landing. Added to your trip in the builder, not booked through the camp.
Nearby
The Seronera Central Serengeti guide: where to stay, when to go and how to get there.
View : Every lodge we work with in Seronera Central Serengeti
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