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.