Serengeti national park

Tanzania’s first and most famous park, the Serengeti is renowned for its abudance of leopard and lion. With wide open plains and huge herds of wildebeest, spectarcularly seen during the annual migration, the Serengeti is considered an African Eden and the eighth wonder of the natural world.

Wildlife

The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates greatest park during a Serengeti safari. 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 a safari in the Serengeti plain 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.

Size: 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles).

Location: 335km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching North to Kenya and bordering lake Victoria to the West.

The Wildebeest

The wildebeest rutting season is a frenzied three week long bout of territorial conquests and mating, followed by survival of the fittest as the 40 km long columns plunge through crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north.

World Heritage Site

The Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s oldest park, and one of the world’s last great wildlife refuges, hence its World Heritage Site status. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one million white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest and 200,000 zebra.

Vegetation

Tanzania’s first and most famous park, the Serengeti’s magical golden horizon is transformed into an endless green carpet, flecked with windflowers. The famous plains are interspersed with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, monumental rocky kopjes, and rivers lined with elegant acacia trees.

Best time to visit

To search for the at-times elusive wildebeest migration, visit the Serengeti from December to July. To see predators, June to October are the best months. For the best chance of finding the migration, allow a minimum of three days, longer if possible.