335km (about 208 miles) from Arusha Stretching north to Kenya and bordering
Lake Victoria to the west.
Getting there
Charter flights from Arusha, Lake Manyara,and Mwanza. Drive from Arusha,
Lake Manyara, Tarangire or Ngorongoro Crater.
To Do
Hot air balloon safaris, Maasai rock paintings and musical rocks. Visit
Neighbouring Ngorongoro crater, Olduvai Gorge, Doinyo Lengai volcano and
Lake Natron’s flamingos.
Best Time
For wildebeest migration, December-July. To see predators, June-October.
A million wildebeest … each driven by the same ancient rhythm,
fulfilling their instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life:
a frenzied 3 week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival
of the fittest as 40 kilometer long columns plunge
through crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north,
replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that
produces more than 8000 calves a day before the 1000
kilometer pilgrimage begins again.
More than 6 million hooves pound the legendary plains of the Serengeti.
Every year, triggered by the rains, more than a million wildebeest,
200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle gather to undertake the
long trek to new grazing lands. Tanzania’s first and most famous
park, the Serengeti is renowned for its wealth of leopard and lion.
The vast reaches of the park help the black rhino to fight
extinction and provide a protected breeding ground for the
vulnerable cheetah. Witness predator versus pry and the fundamental
independence of the Serengeti’s abundant species, from more than 500
varieties of bird to 100 types of dung beetle.
The Serengeti is a sense of seeing to the ends of the earth, the
sun burnt savannah shimmering to the horizon. Yet, after
the rains this golden horizon is magically transformed into an
endless green carpet flecked with wildflowers. But there are also
wooded hill, towering termite mound and rocky kopjes, rivers, lined
with elegant stands of fig trees, ebony and acacia, stained orange
by dust. It is so vast you may be the only human audience when a
pride of lions masterminds a siege, focused unswervingly on their
next meal.
NOTE: The route and timing of the wildebeest Migration is unpredictable.
Allow at least 3 days to be assured of seeing them
on your visit, longer if you want to see the main predators as well.
