Everyone knows Serengeti National Park. Simply mention its name and people will envision the classic African landscape – rolling savannahs of grass, with acacia trees scattered around the landscape, wild animals everywhere. We’ve always wanted to visit Serengeti National Park with kids, so we were super excited when we finally got a chance to visit during our family trip to Africa.
Did it live up to the hype? As you’ll see, we had the equivalent of two full days in the Serengeti with our kids. We did a ton of game drives, and we had such amazing success, I can hardly believe it. The African beauty of this Tanzanian national park was breathtaking and we had some truly incredible animal sightings.
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Every safari experience will be different, but we loved our family trip to Serengeti National Park and we’re confident you will too!
Day 1 (Afternoon)
Afternoon Airport Transfer Game Drive
It was a long travel day from Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya to Serengeti National Park. By the time we entered the national park, we only had an hour or so of daylight left. Rather than just drive us directly to our bush camp, our new safari driver took us on a mini-game drive instead.
The game drive to our bush camp started out really well, with a quick spotting of some Grant’s gazelles and warthogs. This was followed by our first star attraction of the day, which was some Maasai giraffes – an adult and a little one.
Shortly after we turned off the main road in Serengeti National Park onto a side road, we had a pretty incredible lion encounter – way better than any we had during our two weeks in Kenya with kids (and we had some great ones there!).
At first, we thought we had found a single lion sitting in the shade of a bush. Our driver moved to get us a better angle, and we discovered there was more than one lion, there were five!
As exciting as seeing a lion is, to be honest, a lion sighting can get boring kinda quickly as they are typically sleeping. But these five lions were up and very aware – in fact, they were staring into the savannah behind us… looking at something… This was amazing for pictures as they were looking right at us!
Then, one lion got up and started walking towards us. It sat down on a little hill really close to our 4×4 Toyota Landcruiser. Then, one-by-one, the rest of the pride got up and starting walking towards us too. What a thrill!
We soon realized that there was a second group of 3 lions behind us, which is what the first set of lions must have been looking at. The original group walked right past all the safari trucks to get a much better view of the other lions, who had just crossed a small river. It felt like there was some territory being defended.. it was all very exciting!
We must have watched the Serengeti lions for nearly an hour. When you have an exciting animal encounter while on safari with kids, you need to get as much out of it as possible. It’s moments like these that our kids will remember about their family safari trip to Tanzania.
Day 2 in Serengeti National Park with Kids
Today was our full day for our family trip to Serengeti National Park. We were very excited for our full day game drive as Serengeti is one of the most famous national parks in the world. I must admit – the Serengeti delivered big time today.
We had so many amazing African animal encounters today in Serengeti National Park, that it’d be pointless to list them all. Instead, I’ll cover the big highlights of our full day game drive in Serengeti National Park with kids.
The Big African Cats (Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs)
As you’ll see, we had a ton of exciting African animal encounters in Serengeti, but on our full day game drive, the big cats stole the show.
Lions
We had four lion encounters today on our family game drive in Serengeti National Park:
The first was a pretty typical lion encounter; we discovered three lions sleeping in the bushes. Lions are magnificent and beautiful creatures, but they are very lazy, sleeping most of the day away. We had a little excitement when one of them got up and walked a little bit.
Our next lion encounter in Serengeti National Park was perhaps the best lion encounter we’ve had anywhere in Africa. Our expert driver spotted the lions early – there was a lion jam of trucks ahead, but he noticed they were walking in our direction, so he parked about 50 feet away. This strategy paid off big time.
It was exciting enough to see a female lion followed by a male lion walking slowly, but we nearly exploded with excitement when the female laid down on a little hill, just 10 feet from us. The male lion laid down about 20 feet behind her.
We would normally take a few pictures and videos, then move on to let others have the same experience, but the lion jam around us became so huge, that we were hopelessly pinned into our position. We were unable to move our truck, even if we wanted to.
We got to watch these beautiful African cats sitting in their kingdom, surveying all around them. They were aware and looking all around the entire time. Just to make the scene even more surreal, we had elephants and giraffes walking around in the background. We were incredibly lucky!
Our final two lion encounters on our family game drive in Serengeti National Park were with the same lion. The first time we passed, the massive male lion was asleep in the bushes near the side of the road. He had a dead warthog by his side and was so soundly asleep that his paws were dream twitching.
We came back about 30 minutes later to find him awake and aware, happily eating his warthog. This was a true, raw African experience which I’m grateful we got to experience. Our kids are animal lovers, but they understand the food chain and were fascinated to watch this scene which you can only experience in Africa.
Leopards
Leopards are the most elusive of the African Big 5 animals. Most visitors to Africa will come and go without ever seeing a leopard, so whenever there is a chance to see one, it’s very exciting. We were lucky enough to see not one, but two leopards on our full day game drive in Serengeti National Park with kids.
Our first sighting happened as we were enjoying lunch at the Serengeti picnic area. There was a buzz of excitement in the air, and our driver went to investigate. When he told us there was a leopard nearby, we dropped our sandwiches and ran to see.
The leopard was very far away at the bottom of our hill and in the shade of a tree, but he was visible with the naked eye. Normally, leopards stay in the secrecy of trees, so to see one on the ground was amazing!
Celine was able to get good pictures with the ultra-zoom lens on her DSLR, and our kids were able to take turns with the binoculars, so everyone got a good look.
Our second leopard sighting came in the afternoon. This time the leopard was up in a tree – it was aware, looking around, with its paws hanging over the edge of the branch. The leopard was very far away and not visible with the naked eye. Celine got pictures and our guide was able to see it with binoculars, but the rest of us were out of luck. This is how it goes with leopards – you’re lucky to even get a chance to see one.
Cheetahs
It’s not every day that you can see three separate species of big cats in Africa, but we did at Serengeti National Park. Our cheetah sighting was on our way to the picnic area – the cheetah was sitting in the grass eating a kill. It was too far away to see specifics, but they are such beautiful cats, it was a thrill to see.
More of the Big 5 in Serengeti
Elephants
Our family loves elephants, so we were very excited about the multiple, excellent elephant sightings we had on our family game drive today. We spotted elephants on at least 7 occasions today – I bet we saw over 50 elephants in one day, including many cute little elephant babies!
The best elephant encounter was when we were very close to a herd of 14 elephants, including many little ones. We were very lucky when they crossed the road in front of our Landcruiser.
Water Buffalo
Water buffalo are the least interesting of the Big 5 animals in Africa. We saw a few of them grazing in the field, but we didn’t stop for long.
Rhinos
There are southern black rhinos in Serengeti National Park, but they are in protected areas, unreachable by the public, so sadly we only got to see four of the the Big 5 during our family game drive at Serengeti National Park.
Other Favorite African Animals
Hippos
There are tons of hippos in Serengeti National Park, and let me tell you something… they smell! We saw groups of hippos on at least four occasions during our game drive with kids.
The best hippo sighting of the day was seeing a massive herd of hippos all clustered together in a calm river. For the most part, they were peaceful and quiet, but every now and then, one of them would need to move and cause all the hippos around them to get grumpy. It was pretty funny!
We also saw a massive hippo lying on the ground out of the water – a pretty rare sight during the day, when they usually hide from the scorching sun.
Giraffes
We saw many different herds of Maasai giraffes on our game drive today. None of them had a real story behind them, outside of the fact that giraffes are awesome and it’s always fun to see them on a family game drive. You really know you are in Africa when you are watching a giraffe walk slowly across the savannah.
Chameleon
We saw our first ever wild chameleon today! It was small and bright green and was slowly walking across the road. I didn’t even know they had chameleons in Tanzania!
Warthogs
Everyone loves warthogs! There’s tons of warthogs around Serengeti National Park – just keep looking and odds are you’ll see one running through the grass with their tail straight up in the air. Warthogs are so funny – they always make us laugh!
Sadly, there are no meerkats in Serengeti National Park, but they do have lots of mongoose colonies. We saw several packs of mongoose and they act almost exactly like meerkats, so it’s almost as good as seeing Timon in person.
Zebras
It’s not Africa without zebras, right? We didn’t see a ton of zebras during our Serengeti game drive, but we did see several herds.
Dik Diks
The smallest of the antelope species, it’s impossible not to fall in love with the tiny dik diks. They are just the cutest little things – we saw lots of them during our time in the Serengeti, including many which wandered around our safari camp. Just try not to smile when looking at a dik dik – I dare you!
Baboons
Baboons are just mean looking animals and it’s always fun to see a group of them during a family game drive. Our kids liked to find the ones with the colored butts, but we liked looking for the babies as they are so cute!!
Vervet Monkeys
These fun little grey monkeys are everywhere in the Serengeti National Park. We saw many troops of them during our game drive today, including babies. It’s a fun time of year to visit the Serengeti with kids as there are a ton of baby animals around!
Ostriches
We saw several groups of ostriches on our game drive today. One especially interesting ostrich sighting was a male and a female, dancing around each other in a mating ritual. As fun as it was to watch, it seemed to be taking them a long time to get interested in each other, so we didn’t stay to watch the end result.
Crocodiles
Crocs play a big part in the drama of the annual Great Migration, when the wildebeest cross the rivers to reach greener pastures in Kenya. We didn’t see a single wildebeest today, so they must all be in Kenya now, but we did see a few crocodiles in the river, including one who was resting with his fierce jaws open.
Hyenas
There’s nothing quite like seeing a hyena in the wild. They are such raw, powerful hunters that you can’t help but feel intimidated in their presence!
The Rest of the Serengeti Animals
Rounding out our sightings on our incredibly productive family game drive in Serengeti National Park include:
Violet breasted roller – an incredibly beautiful bird – we saw three today!
Kori bustard – the heaviest flying bird in Africa.
All the other hooved animals (waterbucks, impalas, Grant’s gazelles, Thompson gazelles, reedbucks, hartebeest, etc.)
We saw a tawny eagle eating something while sitting on a nearby tree branch.
Grey herons are always near the water. They seem especially interested in the hippos.
A beautiful Secretary bird landed right in front of our safari truck. They come in for a running landing, which is a pretty fun sight!
Day 3 (Morning)
Game Drive from Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro
The final day of our family trip to the Serengeti National Park was a functional, yet fun game drive. We needed to get to our new safari camp near Ngorongoro National Park, so we went on a long safari to get there.
Our final Serengeti game drive started in fine fashion when we drove past a small group of dik diks – they always put a smile on our faces. This was quickly followed by sightings of water buffalo, impala, zebras and a topi who was running through the savannah.
Our first exciting animal encounter was the avian kind, when two beautiful secretary birds flew directly over our Toyota Landcruiser.
Shortly thereafter, we discovered a freshly killed zebra near the side of the road. Some of its entrails were on the grass, and there was a little red showing beneath the black and white exterior, but other than that there was no signs of it being eaten. It must have been a very recent kill.
Just down the road, we came across the same three lions as we did at the beginning of our full day Serengeti game drive the day before. They were more awake this time, and we figured the zebra belonged to them. The lions posed for our pictures for a while, before walking away in the direction of the zebra.
Our family game drive continued to be successful with our first giraffe sightings of the day – a mom and her little one. This was quickly followed by two more giraffes.
We were then very excited to come across a mother cheetah and her two cubs sitting in the shade of a tree. They didn’t do much, but they were up and aware, which was pretty exciting.
You may not believe this next bit, but it’s true. We were driving along a river and saw a pod of hippos in the water. Hippos get a bit boring after a while, so we kept driving. Then we saw something incredible – a hippo fight!
It happened so fast, we didn’t get any pictures, but we saw one hippo kick another hippo off a 5 foot dirt cliff into the river below, then the attacker fell into the river too! It’s super rare to see a standing hippo in the daytime, let alone a hippo fight!
The fighting hippos floated away down the river, but then we realized there were more hippos standing outside the water, including a little baby hippo! They were walking around, so we stayed and watched this rare sight for quite some time.
Serengeti National Park just kept showing off after that, with another big pod of submerged hippos, a herd of elephants, some sleepy lions under a tree, with giraffes in the background.
Next was quite possibly the most exciting moment of our family trip to Serengeti National Park – an aware leopard in a nearby acacia tree!! It was a classic leopard scene, with the leopard just flopped out cat-like on a huge tree branch, with not a care in the world. It just sat there, surveying the world around it.
The leopard in the tree was close enough to the road that we all got a great look through our guide’s binoculars, and the girls got excellent pictures on their DSLR cameras. We were beyond excited about our two leopard sightings the day before, so this blew our minds!
As we left the treed area of Serengeti National park, we passed a Kori Bustard, more giraffes, elephants and hippos.
The landscape changed to be flat and treeless, with occasional clusters of large rocks. Without trees, the animals seemed to be more scarce, except for the gazelles, which were everywhere. We did see a female ostrich giving herself a dirt bath in the middle of the road, and a male lion next to the road.
Then, more Serengeti magic happened! We came across the biggest herd of elephants we’d ever seen. There were roughly 40-45 elephants in this herd with many little ones. We stayed and watched them move silently across the landscape for quite a while, before moving away.
Less than a minute later, we came across yet another giant herd of elephants – this time near a small lake. They were so close, we could still see the original herd. We must have been able to see over 100 elephants at once!
The herd in the water was so much fun to watch. Two males were play fighting, while others drank water and gave themselves mud baths. The tiny elephants were so cute learning how to have fun in the water like the big elephants.
This was special way to say goodbye to this amazing part of Tanzania. We will always remember the two days we spent in Serengeti National Park with kids.
Where We Stayed – Embalakai Camps
Staying in a safari camp is a super fun idea for a family safari vacation. We stayed at several safari camps during our family safari vacation to Kenya & Tanzania and we highly recommend this adventurous accommodation option.
For our family trip to the Serengeti, we stayed at the Embalakai Camps, right in the heart of the national park. We stayed in a large family tent, which had a queen sized bed and two single beds – perfect for our family of four.
Our tent was right on the edge of the wilderness, and we could hear the sounds of wildlife as we fell asleep each night. We could clearly hear the sound of a hyena, which was exciting and a little unsettling. Thankfully, Maasai provide animal security for guests and will escort us around the property in the dark, as required.
We stayed at the Embalakai Camps on a full board meal plan. The buffet food was delicious and they had enough selection that our picky kids had full tummies each night. One night they had a special barbeque, while our second night was a made to order pasta station.
On our final night, we had a tiny dik dik wander past our tent as we got ready for bed. I just love those little animals. Experiences like these are great reasons to stay in a safari camp on a family vacation to the Serengeti.
Read More
Serengeti National Park was just the beginning of our family trip to Tanzania. Follow along to our next stop when we went on safari at Ngorongoro National Park with kids.
A Printable Serengeti Safari Scavenger Hunt
To help make your family safari even more fun, we’ve designed this printable scavenger hunt for kids! Designed for ages 5 – 12, this scavenger hunt turns your game drive into an exciting mission to spot 20 real animals found in Serengeti National Park.
Your kids can check off animals, follow location hints, and track their points to earn a safari rank – like Rookie Ranger or Legendary Wildlife Guide!
Each 8 page Serengeti National Park Scavenger Hunt includes:
- 20 safari animals found in the Serengeti with fun location hints.
- Points-based game with a 4-level scoring chart.
- Checklist format with space to write scores.
- Fun facts about the Serengeti and its animals.
- Color + black & white versions included (4 pages each).
- 8.5″ x 11″ printable PDF.
Our Serengeti National Park scavenger hunt is the perfect activity for your family safari. Your kids will love it!
More KENYA SCAVENGER HUNTS
If your family vacation to Tanzania takes you beyond Serengeti National Park, check out the rest of our printable Africa Safari Scavenger Hunts!
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
Dan Brewer is an intrepid family travel blogger with a passion for exploring the world's most captivating destinations. With 58 countries under his belt and a sense of wanderlust that knows no bounds, he has made it his life's mission to share his travel experiences and insights with fellow families who love to travel.
When Dan isn't traveling with his wife and kids, he's either out enjoying the Canadian Rockies he calls home or working on one of his three travel sites (Family Can Travel, Travel Banff Canada and Ultimate Sports Road Trip).