First, they are not the Gol Mountains
Two different features in northern Tanzania carry this name and they are frequently confused. The Gol Kopjes are a scattered group of granite outcrops on the eastern short-grass plains of Serengeti National Park. The Gol Mountains are a fault-bounded quartzite range rising 915 metres above the plains inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a substantial distance away and under a different authority.
They are in the same broad stretch of country and an itinerary naming one will often mean the other. It is worth checking which is meant before a day is planned around it.
What the Gol Kopjes are
They are inselbergs — ancient granite bedrock exposed where the volcanic ash blown from the eastern highlands lies thinnest — standing on some of the most open ground in the park. UNESCO’s description of the property is of 25,000 square kilometres of treeless expanses of spectacularly flat short grassland dotted with rocky outcrops, and this is the part of the Serengeti that description fits most exactly.
The plains around them are thin grazing for most of the year and exceptional for a few months after rain, which is what brings the migration through. When the herds are on the eastern plains the country around the Gol Kopjes is one of the great sights in Africa. When they are not, it is a very large empty grassland with rocks in it.
Cheetah are associated with this kind of open short-grass country and the eastern plains are where guides look for them, though no authority publishes a density or a location. TANAPA records more than 27 carnivore species in the park overall.
What is not published
No Tanzanian authority publishes a description, an extent or a location for the Gol Kopjes specifically. They appear in itineraries and guidebooks; they do not appear in TANAPA’s Serengeti brochure, on its website or in its data service, and UNESCO names no individual kopje group. Any figure attached to them in travel writing has no primary source behind it.
Reaching them
This is the eastern edge of the park, towards the Ngorongoro boundary, and it is a long way from Seronera on tracks rather than main routes. Balloon flights operate over the eastern Serengeti among other parts, and TANAPA lists walking safaris in the eastern part of the park, normally accompanied by a skilled armed park ranger — see balloon safaris and walking safaris.
For most itineraries the Gol Kopjes are reached, if at all, on a full day out from the centre in the months when the herds are on the eastern plains. Outside those months the drive is difficult to justify.
Common questions
Are the Gol Kopjes the same as the Gol Mountains?
No. The kopjes are granite outcrops on the Serengeti’s eastern plains. The Gol Mountains are a quartzite range inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, under a different authority.
Is it a good place for cheetah?
Open short-grass plains are the habitat cheetah are looked for in, and this is that country. No authority publishes densities or expectations for the site.
When should you go?
When the herds are on the eastern plains, which is a matter of rainfall rather than a date. At other times the same ground is largely empty.