Want to run in the Serengeti?

If you’re a keen runner, the annual Serengeti Girls Run is definitely one to add to your bucket list. Why not follow this year’s event to give yourself a taste of what to expect? And you can lend your support to a great cause, too.

Singita is an eco-tourism and conservation brand that operates 15 lodges and camps in amazing wilderness areas across four African countries. Every year, it invites female athletes to undertake the “ultimate girl power run” through the Serengeti.

The Serengeti Girls Run is arranged by Singita’s conservation partner in Tanzania, the Grumeti Fund, and is part of the brand’s collection of “Safaris with a Purpose”. The event sees female athletes running through the Serengeti – famous for the “Great Migration” of wildebeest and other animals – to raise money and awareness for the empowerment of young women and girls in the adjacent rural areas.

These young women suffer a multitude of challenges every day in rural Tanzania. Due to limited access to education, cultural marginalisation and extreme poverty, their potential is severely impacted. In order to make a change, the Grumeti Fund conducts a number of different outreach programmes to engage and assist in villages surrounding the reserve.

Funds raised from the Serengeti Girls Run go towards empowerment events for 5,000 high school girls; these include providing sanitary pads for one year, enterprise development training and providing scholarships for local secondary school students for vocational studies and university.

About this year’s run

The athletes will traverse 63km over three days through the vast plains of the Serengeti from  27 October to 1 November 2020. The women will be accompanied by expert scouts from the Grumeti Fund’s Anti-Poaching Unit, as well as a support team in a shadow vehicle who will be in charge of their safety and comfort throughout the journey.

Runners will encounter the Serengeti’s untouched, breathtaking scenery, and witness some of Africa’s magnificent wildlife that live on the reserve – giraffes, elephants and rhinos and more.

Then, after each day’s exertions, the participants will recuperate in the newly-redesigned Singita Sabora Tented Camp, a luxurious permanent camp on the sweeping plains of the Serengeti.

Reopening later this year, Sabora Tented Camp features nine tented suites set close to the ground and positioned near to two waterholes. The location means that, as a guest, you can fully immerse yourself in the African wilderness.

The tents themselves are breathtaking, too – we’re talking the height of barefoot luxury, with a private meditation deck with endless views of the surrounding grasslands, an outdoor deck with daybeds to relax on after running all day, and a fully stocked in-room pantry. Runners in the event can even enjoy nighttime game drives and guided bush walks to learn more about Singita Grumeti’s conservation programmes.

As well as an incredible physical achievement, participants in the Serengeti Girls Run leave Tanzania knowing that they’ve given back to a community in need and made a real difference to the lives of many women.

The Serengeti Girls Run 2020 is from 27 October to 1 November 2020. For more info and details of how you can support the event, visit conservation.singita.com/project/all-woman-multi-stage-fundraising-run.

This article first appeared in the September 2020 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase a copy or subscribe so you never miss an issue!

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