SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
The Serengeti is Tanzania’s oldest and most famous national park, it is perhaps the best know game reserve in the world. It is a World Heritage Site and hosts the greatest natural spectacle on earth, the annual wildebeest migrations.
Six times the size of the Masai Mara, the Serengeti has been proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder and offers the best wildlife viewing in Africa.
Six times the size of the Masai Mara, the Serengeti has been proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder and offers the best wildlife viewing in Africa.
The Serengeti National Park covers 14,763 km2 of grassland plains and savannah with occasional forest and woodlands. It abuts the Kenyan border, where it is contiguous with the Masai Mara National Reserve.
Despite its fame and popularity, the sheer size of the Serengeti means that it is relatively easy to get away from other safari vehicles.
Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in the Serengeti, and still ejects carbonatite lavas and ash and are responsible for the treeless terrain around the volcano.
The famous migrations begin around October when almost two million grazers (one million wildebeest, 250,000 zebra, and hundreds of thousands of various antelope species) head south from the northern hills in Kenya to the Serengeti’s southern plains in pursuit of the rains.
The 1000 km return journey begins in April, leading to the name the ‘Circular Migration’.
Despite its fame and popularity, the sheer size of the Serengeti means that it is relatively easy to get away from other safari vehicles.
Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in the Serengeti, and still ejects carbonatite lavas and ash and are responsible for the treeless terrain around the volcano.
The famous migrations begin around October when almost two million grazers (one million wildebeest, 250,000 zebra, and hundreds of thousands of various antelope species) head south from the northern hills in Kenya to the Serengeti’s southern plains in pursuit of the rains.
The 1000 km return journey begins in April, leading to the name the ‘Circular Migration’.
SERENGETI WILDLIFE
- Serengeti boasts Africa’s big five; lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.
- In addition to the wildebeest and zebra of the migrations, eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle are common.
- Most of the African large mammals are represented in the Serengeti; giraffe, hippo, warthog and bushbuck.
- Carnivores are also well accounted for with hyena, jackal, cheetah and hunting dogs amongst others.
- Interestingly, 100 varieties of dung beetle have been recorded in the park.
- The Serengeti’s 500 bird species range from open grassland species such as ostrich and secretary bird to black eagles and hornbills.
Activities
An alternative to game drives is a hot air balloon safari over the plains.
On the cultural side, visit a Maasai community and the ancient Olduvai Gorge; one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world.
When
Most visitors come to see the migrations and so we recommend October/ November or April/ May. However, wildlife is spectacular all year round. Predators are abundant from June – October.
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