Slowing Down the Ticking of Biological Clocks in Women

Women are obsessed with the fear of aging. They dread to lose their youth and try their utmost to preserve the freshness in their skin texture. Another fear women have is about marrying late in life and giving birth at that age. Obesity is of special concern as it can increase complications for the mother and child. There are considerable risks, as per the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, related with obesity and pregnancy. The chances of requiring a caesarian delivery are high when a woman is obese. The fear of giving birth late could possibly be overcome by the use of stem cells technologies. It has been learnt through studies from the Biology Department of Harvard University that a woman could carry the egg stem cells in her ovaries right up to late adulthood. This brings out possibilities of the age being extended at which a woman can give birth. Stem cell technologies could now be used to rejuvenate an older woman’s eggs. The embryonic stem cells can give hope for regenerative medicine in which tissues can be repaired or even replaced. New fertility treatments from stem cell technologies will erase the biological clock fear in women and also slow down the ticking of that clock. Couples can even start thinking in terms of select babies then. In perhaps four decades from now, couples can go through tube fertilization to select the characteristics of their new born. Experts in the field of fertility feel that many women who do not have regenerative eggs of their own on account of their age, a medical condition or due to treatment of cancerous cells can now be helped by such technology. This can be a very big step that can be taken in the study of reproductive technologies in the generations to come.

Ngorongoro Crater Safaris

Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) has been declared as a UNESCO site of world heritage thirty nine years ago. The Northern Safari Circuit in Tanzania includes a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater. It is hailed as a beautiful and natural safari site for experiencing wildlife. It is also marked as a unique place for tourists to interact with the Masai tribe. The Ngorongoro Crater came into being when there was a giant volcano explosion thousands of years ago. The volcanic caldera’s cone collapsed inwards and brought about this exceptional safari park in Tanzania. Many visitors to this place consider it as one of the best safari destinations that are on offer in Africa. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a park which allows habitation of humans within the protected area perimeter of wildlife present here. This Crater Park shares its boundary with the Serengeti National Park and visitors to that park have to drive through this Conservation Area to reach Serengeti. Tourists on safari to the Ngorongoro Crater prefer to stay in hotels on the rim of the park in order to gain access to stunning views of the Park. Some tourists like to stay in Karatu which is a little away from this crater. The reason why they go here is to avoid crowds and accommodation is cheaper as a result of intimate and smaller lodges that provide safari activities like mountain biking and walking tours. Another famous place is the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge but its rates are very expensive, stretching to almost $3,000 per night. It is the best safari for visitors who want to experience the Big Five. You will come across a large population of black rhinoceros and will also see some of the largest tusker elephants in the world at this place. They are the prize attraction in the wildlife on offer here. The crater is home also to leopards, lions, wildebeest, hyenas, buffaloes and zebras. Other wildlife that can be seen here includes sighting of cheetahs, serval cats, jackals, Grant’s gazelles, flamingos and foxes with ears like bats. There are about four hundred species of birds that could be spotted in this Conservation Area. As the wildlife tends to stay all the year round in this crater area, any time of the year is a good time for visiting the place. Lake Magadi helps in making the water levels high in the Crater’s centre and this allows for a big concentration of flamingos. Safari Facts The Ngorongoro Crater offers a breathtaking setting for viewing the Big Five in Africa. This Crater is considered as an amazing natural wonder by the visitors. People like to come here for an overnight stay and some of them stay for a couple of nights. They move on to the Serengeti National Park from here. Depending upon the size of the touring party, it is better to drive to this place from Arusha. It is cheaper to share a four-wheel drive along with a guide and you can be picked up from Kilimanjaro Airport as soon as you land there. It is better to arrive at the gates early enough so that you can avoid the crowds. Safari activities here are restricted to game driving. There are many picnic spots in this area. You can alight from your vehicles only in these limited areas. In the vast Ngorongoro Conservation Area, visitors who have taken the safari tours can expect trekking, walking, excursions to the Olduvai Gorge and visit to the Masai tribal villages. During the game drives, you can expect to see elephants, lions, giraffes, black rhinos and wildebeest against a stunning backdrop of the Crater wall that reaches up to six hundred metres. You can see the Big Five in one day alone. People love to come to the Ngorongoro Crater to experience the dense wildlife concentration in Tanzania with a unique volcanic landscape on offer. Budget safaris to the Ngorongoro Crater allow tourists to reduce their expenses. These safaris offer affordability and ease of access to the national parks. Accommodation, meals and entrance fees to the parks are included in the safari package rates.

Le Parc National du Serengeti Safaris

The Serengeti National Park covers the Simiyu and the Mara ecosystem regions in Tanzania. The Park has become famous for the sights it offers involving the migration of over a million wildebeest and about a quarter of a million zebras. The park is also well known for its honey badgers and Nile crocodiles. It was given its name by the Masai tribe to describe the place in their tribal language idiom, meaning “a place where the land runs on, forever.” This is the oldest national park in Tanzania and has remained an icon of the tourism industry in this country. It has always provided a major attraction to the tourists taking the Northern Safari Circuit which encompasses Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Arusha National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Serengeti National Park covers more than fourteen thousand square kilometres of savanna, woodlands, grassland plains and riverside forest. It is located in the northwestern part of Tanzania. It has the Kenyan border to its north and it is continuous here with the Masai Mara National Reserve. To its southeast, you will find the Ngorongoro Conservation Area; to its southwest, you will find the Maswa Game Reserve; to its west are the Grumeti and the Ikorongo Game Reserves; in the northeast, you will find the Loliondo Game Control Area. These places are all part of the larger ecosystem of Serengeti. Fauna and Wildlife The Serengeti Park is divided into three separate regions - • Serengeti Plains – This area includes grassland with almost no trees and this is the defining topographical characteristic of this division. This is where you will find gigantic herds of wildebeest breeding from December for a period of six months. • The Western Corridor - This region is defined by black clay soil which covers the savannah. Grumeti River and its forests have become home to the patas monkeys, hippopotamus, Nile crocodiles and martial eagles. Huge herds of wildebeest can also be found on its main highway. • Northern Serengeti – This landscape offers hills and open woodlands, ranging from the Mara River on its Kenyan border to Seronera in its south. The prominent wildlife at Serengeti National Park offers • You will find the largest population of lions in the entire continent of Africa in this Park. This is because of the abundance of prey species in this region. More than three thousand lions could be found, living in this ecosystem. • Leopards – These are considered reclusive predators and are distributed densely in the Seronera region. You will find over a thousand leopards in this region. • Bush Elephants – Despite the dangers of poaching, visitors can come across more than five thousand bush elephants in this region and they are densely distributed in the park’s northern region. • Visitors taking the safaris will also come across Eastern Black Rhinoceros and the African Buffalo that make up the Big Five in Africa. • Serengeti National Park is also of great interest to safari seekers who maintain an ornithological interest. This park is home to more than five hundred species of birds and that includes Secretary birds, Masai ostriches, helmeted guinea fowls, kori bustards, and crowned cranes; storks with yellow bills, lesser flamingos, lovebirds and several kinds of vultures. Safari Facts Safari packages to Serengeti National Park feature game drive for experiencing wildlife, walking safaris, hot air balloon safaris, picnicking, lodging, camping, cultural tourism through visiting neighbouring villages; Ngorongoro Crater, Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano, Olduvai Gorge and those famous flamingos at Lake Natron. Game drive seekers will come across over two hundred thousand zebras in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem plains along with Grant’s gazelles, Coke’s hartebeest, waterbucks, Masai giraffes, warthogs, impalas and hippos. You will also come across rare species of antelopes in this park and they include klipspringers, elands, bushbucks, roan antelopes, fringe-eared oryx, lesser kudus and dik-diks. Game driving is still the main safari activity in Serengeti National Park. Night safaris are not allowed inside this park but there are various lodges in the reserve, adjacent to Serengeti where night driving is permitted for safari seekers. The notable among such alternatives are Grumeti and Loliondo Reserves. You will not come across boating or canoeing safaris here as in Lake Manyara National Park. Walking tours are very much possible outside this park and some camps in the northern side of this park permit walking tours within their boundaries. Majority of areas in the park do not allow guided walk tours because of the prevalence of wildlife. Package rates include game drives, fees for guide and driver, four-wheel drive vehicle, guided walking tours, meals, soft drinks and mineral water bottles.

Le Parc National du Tarangire Du Nord de la Tanzanie

Tarangire National Park is in the Manyara region and is the sixth largest among all parks in Tanzania. It got its name from Tarangire River because this river crosses through the park. It is the main source, for all the wild animals in this park, of fresh water. The whole Tarangire ecosystem thrives on account of this river during the dry season of the year. This park and its ecosystem are well known for the migration of zebras and wildebeest into it from long distances. Hundreds of other animals also concentrate in this park from all surrounding calving and wet season dispersal areas. It is situated between the Great Rift Valley Lakes to its west and north and the Masai Steppe meadows to its southeast. Tarangire National Park occupies the region, covering two thousand six hundred square kilometres. The Tarangire River takes up most of its northern part. The river flows upwards through all cut ditches, leaving the park corner in the northwest region and falling into Lake Burungi. There are several wide swamps, as a result and they dry up into greener plains in the south when the dry season approaches. Flora and Fauna found in Tarangire National Park The park has gained its recognition because of the high density of baobab trees and its elephant population. Visitors that take safaris to this park prefer the dry season between June and November for the reason of spotting huge herds of elephants, zebras, cape buffaloes and wildebeest. Other animals that can be found in this park are giraffes, impalas, waterbucks, dik-diks, Grant’s gazelles, elands, banded mongooses, Vervet monkeys and olive baboons. You can also see a fair number of leopards, lions, caracals, cheetahs, African wild dogs and honey badgers. The oldest known elephant that has given birth to twins in Africa is found in this park. The park has become famous for its elephants and during dry season, you can view herds of over three hundred elephants as they love to dig in the Tarangire River’s dry bed. They are keen on exploring underground streams. The landscape here is made up mostly of granite ridges, swamps and river valleys. You will find a mix of Acacia woodland in its vegetation along with Baobab trees and grassland which is seasonally flooded. Tarangire National Park is home to over five hundred species of birds and has become a haven for keen bird watchers. The park is also known for huge termite mounds which dot its landscape. Abandoned mounds have become homes for dwarf mongooses. Visitors have also been able to spot white giraffes here and their complexion is a result of leucism. The Park management has started many wildlife research projects such as the Tarangire Elephant Project, the Tarangire Lion Project and Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography Project. For more than thirteen years now, this protected region has been recognised as a lion conservation unit. Safari Facts Safari packages usually combine itineraries including Tarangire National Park tours with that of Lake Manyara, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. This is also known as the Northern Circuit Package. This is because these three reserves are in close proximity to each other. It allows the tourists and visitors to drive to all parts of this circuit. These safari packages allow tourists to get an excellent chance to see the large herds of elephants in these reserves along with the unique Baobab trees. The vegetation and landscapes on offer here are amazingly diverse with a blend that cannot be found anywhere else in Africa. During these safaris, walking tours are provided at various camps and this allows visitors to experience something unique in comparison with other game drives in this continent. These game drives and guided walking tours offer cultural visits to all neighbouring villages in order to get a taste of Tanzanian village life. The Tarangire National Park also houses two very rare game species. They are the greater Kudu and the Oryx with fringe ears. Another sight unique to this park is pythons, lions and leopards climbing trees. The game available here is not used to safari vehicles and this allows tourists to get a unique experience to see the animals in a real wild habitat. Safari seekers on Full Game Package to Tarangire National Park get to enjoy game viewing drives in four wheel drive open-topped vehicles. They will relish the experience of watching big herds of antelopes of all types such as lesser Kudu, elands, impalas and Kongoni along with zebras, gazelles, buffaloes, wildebeest, elephants and leopards. The safari packages include these game drives, fees for guides and drivers, guided walking tours, lunch, soft drinks and mineral water bottles.