This vast area of land supports the
greatest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa on a scale
unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
The name of the area is derived from
the Maasai “Siringeti” meaning endless plains. Equal in size to Northern
Ireland, the park contains an estimated 3.5 million large animals, most of
which take part in seasonal migration that is one of nature’s wonders.
Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, also a world heritage site
and recently proclaimed a 7th worldwide wonder, the Serengeti is famed for its
annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more
than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for
fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers
arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo,
smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland,
topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.
The Serengeti stretches over 5.700 square miles of plains, riverine bush,
and acacia woodland, with savannah grassland as the dominant environment.
In the Serengeti, you will explore the Kopjes – home to lion, leopard, and
cheetah – as well as follow the trail of the migrating plains game. From
mid-January to mid-February the wildebeest migration is usually at its height
in the Serengeti, with the wildebeest giving birth to their foals during this
time.
The plains are crowded with the herds, and early morning finds many new
calves tottering by their mother’s sides. Perhaps you will witness this
spectacle of birth on the plains, as well as the dramas of predator and prey as
they unfold in this beautiful setting.
As a result of the biodiversity and ecological significance of the area, the
park has been listed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites.
The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest park.
Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary
leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density
of cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three African
jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive
small predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful
serval cat.
But there is more to Serengeti than large
mammals. Gaudy agama lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of
the park’s isolated granite koppies. A full 100 varieties of dung beetle have
been recorded, as have 500-plus bird species, ranging from the outsized ostrich
and bizarre secretary bird of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar
effortlessly above the Lobo Hills.
As enduring as the game-viewing is the liberating sense of space that
characterises the Serengeti Plains, stretching across sunburnt savannah to a
shimmering golden horizon at the end of the earth. Yet, after the rains, this
golden expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green carpet flecked
with wildflowers. And there are also wooded hills and towering termite mounds,
rivers lined with fig trees and acacia woodland stained orange by dust
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