Grumeti Private Crossings

The Grumeti is not the Mara. It is narrower, greener, and the crocodiles here are old and enormous. Herds bunch on the south bank for hours, then go. You watch from a vehicle that is one of perhaps three in a reserve the size of a small country. Afternoons run to horseback on the Sabora plains, clay shooting, or the wine cellar cut into the hill. Nothing about this week feels shared.

Best months

Late May to mid-July. The column pushes north-west out of the central Serengeti into the Western Corridor and reaches the Grumeti River, where crocodile-heavy crossings run through June and early July. The 140,000-hectare Grumeti Reserve is a single-operator concession, so vehicle numbers stay in single figures while the reserve fills with game.

-2.1167, 34.2500

Grumeti Game Reserve, western Serengeti

Day by day.

• Day 1 Arusha

  Arrival and highlands night

  Kilimanjaro International arrival, 45-minute transfer to Legendary Lodge. Early night, luggage repacked into 15 kg soft bags for tomorrow's light aircraft leg. Guide briefing and dinner.

• Day 2 Grumeti Reserve

  Hilltop manor above the plains

  Coastal Aviation Arusha to Sasakwa airstrip, roughly 80 minutes. Transfer to Singita Sasakwa Lodge on its escarpment. Afternoon drive across the Sasakwa plains for buffalo herds and resident lion.

• Day 3 Grumeti River

  Read the crossing points

  Full day on the Grumeti with your private guide and tracker, working the traditional crossing points near Kirawira. Crocodile up to five metres hold station. Bush lunch under a fig.

• Day 4 Grumeti Reserve

  Ride out onto Sabora

  Morning horseback safari across the Sabora grasslands, riding among zebra and topi. Move to Singita Sabora Tented Camp for two nights. Evening drive for cheetah on the open plain.

• Day 5 Grumeti Reserve

  Anti-poaching and rhino recovery

  Morning with the Grumeti Fund's anti-poaching and canine unit, then the black rhino sanctuary. Afternoon archery, clay shooting or a swim, then a sundowner on the Sabora airstrip.

• Day 6 Grumeti Reserve

  Riverine forest and leopard

  Transfer to Singita Faru Faru Lodge on the Grumeti River. Dawn drive through riverine forest for leopard and colobus. Afternoon hide session at the river, hippo and elephant crossing below.

• Day 7 Grumeti Reserve

  Walk the Nyasirori country

  Guided walking safari into western Grumeti, tracking on foot with an armed ranger. Afternoon spent on standby for crossing action. Cellar tasting and last dinner at Faru Faru.

• Day 8 Departure

  Fly Sasakwa to Kilimanjaro

  Morning drive back to Sasakwa airstrip and a 90-minute flight to Kilimanjaro International, or connect onward to Zanzibar with Auric Air in roughly two hours.

What the price actually covers.

From USD 21,650 per person sharing. Permits, park fees and charter legs are inside that number, not added at the end. International flights and visas are not.

• Serengeti and Grumeti Reserve concession fees plus 18% VAT

• Private guide and tracker, sole-use vehicle throughout

• Horseback safari, archery and clay shooting at Sasakwa

• Coastal Aviation charters Arusha to Sasakwa and return

• All premium beverages, laundry and the Grumeti Fund levy