South Camp Zebra

The Calving Grounds at Ndutu

Camp Zebra South sets up in the Ndutu woodlands, just across the park boundary inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where the nutrient-rich volcanic soils grow the most mineral-dense grass in the Serengeti ecosystem. This is the reason the wildebeest come here to give birth, and it is why Ndutu is arguably the most productive game viewing area in Africa from December through March.

• An Island in a Sea of Grass: Ndutu is a dense patch of flat-topped acacia woodland surrounded in every direction by open short-grass plains, with two alkaline lakes, Ndutu and Masek, at its center. That meeting of habitats concentrates an extraordinary variety of wildlife in a very small area.
• Off-Road Game Viewing: Because the Ndutu area sits inside the Conservation Area rather than the National Park, vehicles can leave the tracks, which makes a real difference when following a cheetah hunt or positioning for a calving.
• A Hub for the Whole South: The Triangle’s open plains are immediately to the north, Hidden Valley is about 14 miles northwest, and the Kusini Plains lie to the west. Olduvai Gorge is on the road toward the Crater.
• The Camp Moves On: At the end of March the camp packs up and relocates north to Kogatende for the dry season. Exact move dates can shift slightly depending on where the herds are.

Because the camp is pitched on open ground rather than fenced, the wildlife does not treat it as a boundary. Giraffe and elephant regularly stroll between the tents, hippo and elephant move along the lakeshore at night, and the roar of lions after dark is a frequent soundtrack.

The Green Season South

Camp Zebra South sits at the center of the Serengeti’s richest green season game viewing, with four distinct regions within easy reach and a fifth on the way out.

• Lake Ndutu: The camp’s home ground has been a base for wildlife filmmakers and researchers since the 1960s, when Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawick studied wild dogs, hyenas, and jackals here. From December into April the migratory herds spread across the surrounding plains like a lawnmower, and the synchronized calving of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest draws every predator in the south. In a sight that defies logic, the herds often wade straight through the shallow lakes rather than walk around them, calves in tow. The Masek lion pride is frequently found resting on the dry lakebeds, the acacia woodland is prime leopard and caracal habitat, and Ndutu holds one of the Serengeti’s largest elephant concentrations, including a well-known one-tusked old bull named Tabasco. The canopy is Maasai giraffe country, alive with vervet monkeys, Fischer’s lovebirds, and the imposing Verreaux’s eagle-owl.
• The Triangle: Just north of Ndutu, 80 square miles of short-grass plains with no permanent water transform into the migration’s main feeding ground once the rains arrive. The grass is extremely nutritious but short-lived, which packs hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle onto wide-open flats with long lines of sight. It is one of the best places in the park to watch a hunt unfold from start to finish, and the open ground suits cheetah in particular. The serval cat is a Triangle specialty, hunting rodents in the grass with its oversized ears and trademark vertical pounce. Hundreds of thousands of European white storks arrive in the green season to feast on grasshoppers, and golden jackals trail the herds.
• Hidden Valley: About 14 miles northwest of camp and well away from any official road, a 5-square-mile depression in the plains fills with rainwater in the green season and becomes a magnet for everything around it. Spotted hyena clans numbering in the dozens wallow in the muddy shallows, lions and cheetahs use the surrounding shrubs for cover as thirsty zebra and gazelle come down to drink, and the sheer density of game in such a compact area makes for concentrated, dramatic viewing. The valley is a sanctuary for smaller species that are hard to find elsewhere, including honey badger, bat-eared fox, and jackal, and black rhino occasionally wander in from the nearby Moru Kopjes. Because it is ecologically sensitive, access is sometimes restricted, so it is best visited with a guide who knows the current rules.
• Kusini Plains: West of Ndutu, 60 square miles of long-grass plains, rolling hills, and granite kopjes bridge the open south and the western woodlands. The highlight is the Kusini Crater, a circular grassy bowl ringed by old acacias that works as a natural amphitheater for wildlife, and a favorite hunting ground for cheetah using the forest edge for cover. Two resident lion prides live here, the larger numbering well over 20. Perennial springs keep elephant, giraffe, buffalo, and impala in the area year-round, and the woodlands are one of the few places in the Serengeti to spot the extremely rare striped hyena. From October to April the plains are blanketed with migrant white storks.
• Gol Kopjes (Full Day or En Route): About 30 minutes beyond Naabi Hill on the eastern plains, the Gol Kopjes are a 100-square-mile constellation of granite outcrops scattered across flat, volcanic-rich grassland, so striking that the area has been called the world’s largest Japanese rock garden. In the green season it holds the highest concentration of cheetahs in Africa, as migratory cheetahs follow the Thomson’s gazelle onto these plains and hunt in full daylight across open ground with nothing to block the view. The resident Gol Kopjes pride dens on one of the first outcrops in the complex and is often seen draped across the rocks, hyenas cool off in rainwater pools through the heat of the day, and when the migration is in, the herds part around the vehicle in a wave of tossing heads. Hundreds of game loops thread between the kopjes, which many photographers consider the best backdrops in the park. From Camp Zebra, Gol makes an excellent full-day excursion with a picnic lunch, and it is the route we normally take when game driving between camp and your lodge in the Central Serengeti, in either direction, so the transfer day becomes one of the best game drives of the trip.
• En Route: Heading the other way, Olduvai Gorge, the cradle of mankind, sits on the road between Ndutu and the Ngorongoro Crater and makes a natural stop on that transfer day.

In Camp

Giraffe browsing between the tents, elephants passing through at breakfast, lions found within a few hundred yards of camp on the morning drive, and hippo and elephant moving along the lakeshore at night are all regular guest reports. Birdlife around camp is excellent.

Classic Canvas, Done Well

Camp Zebra has 12 spacious tents, each available for single, double, twin, or triple occupancy. Four of them can be paired into two family tents, where two full-size tents are joined by an enclosed corridor, giving a family two bedrooms and two bathrooms under one roof.

• Room to Spread Out: Each tent has a proper bedroom and separate dressing area with luggage racks, a clothes rack, and a laundry hamper, plus a private veranda with a table and chairs for watching the plains.
• En-Suite Bathrooms: A ceramic flush toilet, wash basin, and walk-in shower with hot and cold running water 24 hours a day. Complimentary toiletries and shower sandals are provided.
• Sleep Well: Comfortable beds with quality linens, and hot water bottles at turndown for cool, damp green season nights.
• Stay Charged: Each tent has 220V solar power with more outlets than you expect in a tented camp, including USB ports for cameras and phones.

• All-Inclusive Bar: Premium spirits, wines, beers, and soft drinks are included in your stay, served from the dining tent bar or around the campfire.
• New Lounge and Dining Tents: Both were added for the December 2023 Ndutu season. The lounge has comfortable settees and armchairs, coffee table books, board games, and a writing bureau; the dining tent seats guests individually or as a group, and meals can also be taken outdoors.
• Thoughtful Dining: Chef-prepared breakfasts and dinners, lunch either as a packed picnic for a full day on the plains or served in camp, and pre-dinner bites at the fire. The kitchen has a strong track record with dietary needs, from vegan birthday cakes to gluten-free menus.
• Bush Meals and Sundowners: Sunrise bush breakfasts, bush lunches, and private sundowners out on the plains can be arranged.
• Fast, Free WiFi: Reliable connectivity in the tents and public areas, a rarity for a seasonal camp in the middle of the Serengeti.
• Light Footprint: The entire camp runs on solar power with a silent standby generator, shower water is heated by solar panels and low-energy boilers fueled with waste-wood briquettes, plastic bottles are banned, and all waste is trucked back to Arusha. When the camp moves on, little trace is left behind.
• Attentive Touches: Laundry and valet service, room service, mosquito spray in the tents before dinner, an escort to and from your tent after dark, and a staff send-off song on departure.