When taking about Serengeti, what comes to mind among many people is wildebeest migration, tree-climbing lions, hot-air balloon above the plains and the annual calving season.
However, there is a hidden gem sticking out of the endless plains …
This is the ‘Makoma Beacon Hill,’ a bushy escalation which was inspired by President Samia Suluhu Hassan during her shooting of the ‘Tanzania: The Royal Tour,’ film in 2021.
Following the premier of the film in 2022, many tourists visiting the National Park have taken a liking to the Makoma Hills that can easily be described as the ‘Eyes of the Serengeti!’
In fact, more than 150 American tourists from the United States recently traced the footsteps of President Samia Suluhu in Serengeti, by trekking up the Makoma Hill.
Surrounded by variety of wildlife, mostly ungulates, the hills are the eyes overlooking the vast plains and located not very far from the Seronera base station.
Senior Conservation Officer in charge of the Tourism Department at the Serengeti National Park, Victor Raphael Ketansi, reveals that the American tourists also had an open-air bush lunch on top of the Beacon Hill, where President Samia took her iconic ‘Royal Tour,’ footage about four years ago.
“Makoma is a hill where one can stand and get a view of the entire Serengeti plains below,” explained Conservator Ketansi, adding that the escalation stands out of the park because Serengeti is mostly wide plains.
The 150 American tourists who recently climbed the Makoma hill are just part of the many visitors who of late, have been taking great interest to scale the hill.
Before the shooting of the Tanzania Royal Tour documentary, the Makoma Hill was almost unknown, but the film has pumped new life to the bushy escalation which now attracts many visitors and becomes its own standalone attraction in the park.
Makoma is part of the crescent shaped hill-range which offers a spellbinding 360 degrees view of the National Park. It can be scaled on foot or by cars. President Samia drove up there in an all-terrain vehicle during the shooting of the ‘Tanzania Royal Tour.’
“With increasing number of attractions, Serengeti is also experiencing an increase of 9 percent in tourists flow per year,” stated Ketansi, adding that the park also records a 14 percent increase in annual incomes from tourism activities.
Serengeti also accounts for 54 percent of the total revenue collected from the 21 National Parks mapped across the country.
The park attracted nearly 365,000 tourists in 2023, the number which rose to 397,800 visitors in 2024 and with a 9 percent annual increase, it is expected that by the end of 2025 Serengeti should record over 434,000 tourists.
“During high seasons, more than 1000 vehicles pass through Naabi gate into Serengeti, mind you there is also the Fort Ikoma Gate which also records car entries,” pointed out Raymond Laizer from the Natures Land Safari and Rentals, one of the tour guides who had just taken visitors into the park.
The park management is now striving to encourage more investors to set up accommodation facilities in the country’s third largest National Park, which is famous for its annual wildebeest migrations.
So far, the Serengeti National Park has 6 luxury lodges, 31 permanent tented camps, 31 makeshift camps, one hostel capable of hosting 84 guests and a rest house run by the Tanzania National Parks which can accommodate 30 people.
Chen Jianxing, a Chinese Author, Photographer and travel Videographer who has been promoting Serengeti in China, says the park is easy to sell in Beijing because it has a variety of wildlife species that people in the far east are interested in.
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