Located on the banks of a secluded river in the Western Serengeti, Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge offers year-round game viewing and a great location for viewing the annual Great Migration.

River Lodge is situated in the Serengeti's Western Corridor on the banks of the Kanyanja River, a seasonal tributary of the Grumeti River, which is located a short drive from the lodge. The Western Corridor is remote and has only a handful of safari lodges, which means fewer crowds and less vehicles, allowing for an exclusive experience.

The lodge also sits on the route of the Great Migration of over two million herbivores (all of them zebras and wildebeests), which arrive in the area sometime in May and stay until continuing north sometime in July. Besides the Great Migration period, the western Serengeti is well-known for having excellent wildlife viewing all year, with plenty of resident plains game including buffalo, elephant giraffe, and topi, as well as predators, notably lion and spotted hyena.

This sector of the Serengeti is known for its large lion prides. There are several resident prides in the area and the lodge safari guides continuously monitor the lion numbers, so guests are assured excellent opportunities to see them. More often than not, guests will find themselves alone at a sighting, allowing ample time, as other vehicles are few and far between.

Activities at River Lodge include twice-daily safari drives, nature walks with an expert guide, birding, hot-air ballooning, and cultural visits to one of the nearby local communities.

The lodge consists of 10 elegant and very spacious guest suites, one of which is a two-bedroom family suite. Each of the suites has an outdoor deck with a private plunge pool for relaxing during the midday hours between safari activities. The viewing decks and pools all have riverfront views for chances to see wildlife.

Walking into the lodge's guest area upon arrival is a real ‘wow’ moment. Spacious decks overlooking the river are ideal for enjoying meals, while the sparkling rim-flow swimming pool provides a view of the seasonal hippo pods below. The proximity to water draws a profusion of wildlife throughout the day and night.

The main area includes an indoor/outdoor lounge, dining area, and a dazzling bar. Situated closely are the traditional boma for outdoor dinners and a well-equipped gym. Healing Earth wellness treatments and yoga sessions are also on offer.

AndBeyond are one of Africa's leading safari operators and they strive to minimize energy consumption at their camps and lodges. At River Lodge, a solar power system enables the lodge to run on 80% renewable energy. All back-of-house roof space (such as staff accommodation) has been used for solar panels.

Waste water from the laundry is recycled by an underground water-treatment system and used for activities such as the washing of safari vehicles. In addition, 2 600-gallon rainwater tanks support the filling of guest-suite plunge pools and the washing of the wooden decks. Strict eco-friendly environmental standards are maintained so that no harmful chemicals or waste is allowed to enter the pristine ecosystem of the Serengeti.

AndBeyond's 'Zero Plastic' initiative remains a consistent focus across their camps and lodges. Its 17 water-bottling plants have eliminated tens of thousands of plastic bottles (and counting) and translated into significant water savings. No heavy concrete foundations or slabs were used in the lodge's environmentally sensitive framework of lightweight steel clad in natural canvas, and sustainably sourced local hardwood.

About the Serengeti

The Greater Serengeti is part of an extensive ecosystem that includes Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and other reserves, wildlife management areas, and game controlled areas.

The Greater Masai Mara (directly to the north in Kenya) includes the Masai Mara National Reserve, as well as numerous private Mara conservancies. Together, the combined Greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, which combines the areas described above, covers roughly 15 000 square miles (39 000 sq kms).

The Serengeti-Mara is home to a very large number and diversity of wild animals and is also the location of the well-known "Great Migration" of over 2 million herbivores (read more below). This is arguably Africa's greatest overall wildlife destination.

Wildlife densities in the Greater Serengeti are some of the highest in Africa, with commonly seen herbivores including blue wildebeest, plains zebra, Thomson's gazelle, topi, Grant's gazelle, hartebeest, giraffe, elephant, buffalo, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog, and many others. Predators seen often include lion, leopard, spotted hyena, cheetah, serval, and jackal. Hippo and crocodile are found in large numbers in the larger rivers, including the Mara River and the Grumeti River.

ABOUT THE Western Corridor

The strip of land extending westward from Seronera (the central sector of Serengeti National Park) and reaching like an arm to within 5 miles (8 kms) of Lake Victoria is termed the Western Corridor. The Grumeti River is the key feature here, with forests and swamps lying to the north of the river and hilly grasslands to the south. This arm of land is much more densely vegetated than most of the park. The Mbalageti River also traverses the sector as it flows parallel to the Grumeti on its way to Lake Victoria.

The annual wildebeest and zebra migration typically arrives to the Western Corridor around May and remain in the area through July, before continuing north towards the Kenya border and eventually into the Masai Mara. Migratory crossings of the Grumeti River, usually occurring in June-July, are treacherous if the river is flowing, with hungry crocodiles that have waited up to nine months for the arrival of the herds.

Resident wildlife is good all year in the corridor, with giraffe, buffalo, topi, hartebeest, eland, impala, Thomson's gazelle, waterbuck, and non-migratory wildebeests and zebras. Predator sightings are good year-round, with an abundance of lions and leopards and even some cheetahs in the grassland area. Birding in the forests is superb and there is a population of black-and-white colobus monkeys as well.

The Great Migration

One of nature's greatest living spectacles is the Great Migration, a term given to describe the year-long, circular, clockwise march of over two million herbivores across the Serengeti and Masai Mara grasslands. The migration animals are made up entirely of two species: the blue wildebeest and the plains zebra (the majority of which are wildebeests).

The migrating herds follow their instincts to seek out fresh grazing and so the migration is ongoing, with the herds ever moving and taking a full year to complete a cycle across the Serengeti and Masai Mara. The animals move not as one herd, but as tens of thousands of animals in multiple herds of various sizes and spread out for many miles as they move.

The wildebeests and zebras take advantage of strongly seasonal conditions, spending the wet season (November through May) on the plains of Tanzania's Serengeti and the dry season in Kenya's Masai Mara. The wildebeests give birth between January and March on the short grass plains in the southern Serengeti.

The timing of the migration is rarely ever the same year-to-year, as local conditions influence grass growth and as such, the location of the bulk of there animals cannot be known precisely. Rains and other unknown conditions seem to direct the timing of the migration, but generally, it is known within several weeks when the animals will be in a general location.

The animals spread out to cover a vast area, but the main bulk of the animals moves south into the northern Serengeti around late-October and continue moving south towards the Serengeti's southern plains, arriving there sometime in January to graze on the rich grass growing on the volcanic soils. It is here on these short-grass plains, between January and early March, when the wildebeests give birth to their young en masse, producing some 500 000 baby wildebeests.

The herds remain on the southern short-grass plains until late March, giving the young animals time to grow and become strong, before heading north and west again. Many of the animals move towards the Serengeti's Western Corridor and Grumeti Reserve and the rest straight north into Central and Northern Serengeti, where they remain during June and into July. The herds move back into Kenya starting in late July, with the bulk moving into the Masai Mara in August.

Although many visitors time their visit to the Serengeti to coincide with the Migration, any region within the Serengeti offers very good wildlife viewing outside of the months when the migration may be present. This is because it is only the wildebeests and zebras that migrate, while the rest of the animals, including the major predators like lion, leopard, spotted hyena, and cheetah, as well as all the other herbivores, including springbok, gazelles, elephant, topi, hartebeest, and many others, do not migrate.

A popular aspect of experiencing the Great Migration is observing a herd as it crosses the Mara River, which requires animals swimming through waters inhabited by large Nile crocodiles that wait for a chance to get their first substantial meal in many months.

The dramatic river crossings (which take place along the Mara River in both Kenya and Tanzania) are certainly a spectacle and not for the faint of heart, with many of the wildebeest and zebras taken by crocs or succumbing to drowning or trampling in the chaos. The best chances for seeing a Grumeti River crossing is in June, while Mara River crossings are best in July and August.