How many nights in the Serengeti?

Three nights is the answer for most people. It gives you two full days in the park plus the drives in and out, which is enough to see the cats properly and to have one slow morning. Four nights is better if the migration is the reason you are coming.

Why two nights is usually too few

The Serengeti is the size of a small country. By road, the day you arrive and the day you leave are mostly travel, so two nights leaves one real day. That works if you fly in and out, because the airstrip is inside the park and the game drive starts at the plane. By road, we would rather give you three nights there and one fewer somewhere else.

When to add a fourth or fifth night

Add nights when you need two areas. From July to October the river crossings are in the far north, a long way from the central plains where the resident lions and leopards are: two nights in each is the classic split. In February, three nights around Ndutu for the calving can stand alone. Photographers always want one more day than they booked.

Where the other nights go

One night on the Ngorongoro rim so you are first down into the crater, and one or two in Tarangire for the elephants. That makes the week most first safaris are built on: Tarangire, the Serengeti for three nights, the crater, and home or on to the beach.