The Serengeti in December is one of the park’s most beautiful and most underrated months, a time when the long rains have ended, the landscape is green and lush, the herds have returned to the short grass southern plains for the final weeks before calving begins in earnest in January, and the visitor pressure has eased from the October shoulder season to some of the lowest levels of the year. December in the Serengeti offers a combination of fresh green landscape, good resident wildlife, the beginning of the southern plains concentration, and accommodation value that makes it one of the strongest months for travelers seeking a genuinely different Serengeti experience from the peak season crowd.
The Herds Return to the South in December
The migration calendar in December finds the wildebeest herds in transition: following the return southward from the Masai Mara in October, the herds move back through the central and southern Serengeti in November and December, reaching the short grass southern plains around Ndutu by late December or early January in most years. By late December, significant numbers of wildebeest are present in the southern Serengeti, and their arrival back on the southern plains marks the beginning of the buildup to the calving season that peaks in late January and February.
Travelers visiting the southern Serengeti in December may encounter large herds on the move or beginning to settle on the plains, alongside the fresh green grass produced by the November short rains. This combination, large herds on green plains with Ngorongoro’s volcanic landscape in the background, produces some of the most dramatic landscape photography of the year. The late December timing overlaps with the Christmas holiday period, and some quality Serengeti camps run at full occupancy in the last week of December: booking by May to June for a December Christmas week visit is advisable.
Wildlife in the Central Serengeti in December
The central Serengeti in December has excellent resident wildlife. The Seronera area lion prides are active and well-supplied with prey: the dispersed nature of the December landscape, with good grass coverage providing hunting cover, tends to produce productive lion encounters in the woodland edges and riverine areas. Leopard sightings along the Seronera River are consistent in December, with the river’s permanent water attracting prey that keeps leopards well-supplied and active in the area.
Cheetah activity in December takes advantage of the newly greened plains of the southern and central zones: the fresh grass brings Thomson’s gazelle and Grant’s gazelle into the open areas where cheetah hunting is most effective. The December conditions, with moderate grass height (not the flat, short grass of the deep dry season but not the impenetrable tall grass of the late wet season) represent good cheetah visibility conditions in the central zone.
December Birdwatching in the Serengeti
December is an excellent birding month in the Serengeti. The Palearctic migrants (European roller, Barn swallow, various harriers and eagles) that arrived in October and November are still present in December, adding to the already abundant resident bird community. The green season breeding activity of resident species is beginning in December, with many species starting nest construction and the associated aerial displays and behavioral activity that accompany breeding. The freshly filled waterholes and seasonal pans attract wading species that are absent or rare in the dry season: Ruff, Wood sandpiper, Little stint, and other Palearctic waders use the Serengeti’s ephemeral water sources as stopovers on their migration routes.
December Serengeti: The Southern Return of the Herds
December marks the return of the wildebeest and zebra herds to the Serengeti’s southern and central plains as the short rains have greened the nutritious short grass that the southern plains offer. The wildebeest migration — which spent July through November in the northern Serengeti and Masai Mara — begins moving south through the Loliondo area and the central Serengeti by November, and by December the leading herds are often already visible on the Ndutu and Ngorongoro short grass plains, where they will remain through February’s calving season. December is therefore a transition month in which the southern plains are receiving the returning herds while the northern Serengeti still holds the last of the season’s animals moving south.
The green character of December’s landscape is immediately visible. The long rains that fell in April and May and the short rains of November have together produced a Serengeti that is lush, green, and visually rich in a way that contrasts dramatically with the golden-brown of the August dry season. The December Serengeti photograph is recognizably different from the peak dry-season image — the grass has color, depth, and movement in the wind that the dry season’s flat golden stalks lack. For photographers arriving from the northern hemisphere’s winter, the green Serengeti in December with its dramatic storm-cloud skies and vivid animal coloration against fresh vegetation provides a photographic palette entirely unlike the postcards of golden savannah that most people visualize when they think of Tanzania.
December Wildlife: Predators, Raptors, and Return Season Dynamics
The Serengeti’s resident predator population — lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas — benefits from December’s arrival of the southern herds because prey availability increases sharply as the wildebeest and zebra return. The Serengeti’s lion prides in the central and southern zones have been managing on resident prey (impala, gazelle, warthog, topi) through the northern circuit season and the arrival of the returning migration herds in December provides an abundance of prey that stimulates pride hunting activity and cub feeding that is immediately visible to game drive vehicles in the prides’ territories. December is also when the Serengeti’s resident cheetah population — the best-studied cheetah community in the world, monitored by the Serengeti Cheetah Project since the 1970s — benefits from the gazelle fawns that are born as the short grass plains green and attract the Thomson’s gazelle breeding herds south.
The December bird list in the Serengeti is at its annual maximum. Palearctic migrants that arrived in October and November are now settled in their wintering territories: steppe eagle, lesser spotted eagle, European roller, bee-eater, Montagu’s harrier, various warbler and flycatcher species. The resident breeding birds are in their breeding cycle, and the wetland areas of the southern Serengeti — the Ndutu lakes, the seasonal pans that fill with the short rains — attract enormous wader and waterbird concentrations. For birders visiting Tanzania in December, the Ndutu area combines the returning wildebeest herds, the lake waterbird communities, and the short grass plains raptors in a single accessible area that is one of Tanzania’s most rewarding December birdwatching locations.
December Accommodation in the Southern Serengeti
The camps best positioned for December’s southern herd return and the lead-up to the January-February calving season are in the Ndutu-Ngorongoro interface area and the southern Serengeti’s Kusini area. Ndutu Safari Lodge — the original and most established of the southern Serengeti camps — sits between the two Ndutu lakes in the short grass plain area where December wildebeest arrive first and February calving concentrations are highest. Sanctuary Kusini offers a remote southern Serengeti experience with the southern plains accessible from camp. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area’s mobile and semi-permanent camps that operate in the Ndutu area in December-February give the flexibility of relocation as the herds move through the plains. For 2027 December Serengeti south planning and camp availability, contact our team to book the right position for the returning herds and the approaching calving season.
December 2027 Serengeti: Green Season Value
December brings green season pricing to the Serengeti — typically 20 to 35 percent below July-October peak rates — with the exception of the Christmas and New Year festive period (December 22 to January 2) when demand from holiday travelers pushes rates and occupancy upward. Arriving by December 5 to 15 captures the best combination of green season pricing, the returning southern herds, and the atmospheric December landscape before the festive season premium begins. A 4-night December southern Serengeti stay in 2027 gives the full transition season experience: green plains, returning migration, active predators, and exceptional bird lists at the most cost-effective price point of the annual Serengeti calendar outside of the deepest green season months of April and May. Contact our team for December 2027 Serengeti southern plains camp bookings.
