Serengeti Trips: Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequaled for its natural beauty and scientific value, it has the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa.

The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was established in 1952 and is Managed by TANAPA . It is home to the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth – the great migration of wildebeest and zebra. The resident population of lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, and birds is also impressive. There’s a wide variety of accommodation available, from luxury lodges to mobile camps. The park covers 5,700 sq miles, (14,763 sq km), it’s larger than Connecticut, with at most a couple hundred vehicles driving around.

The Park can be divided into 3 sections. The popular southern/central part (Seronera Valley), is what the Maasai called the “serengit”, the land of endless plains. It’s classic savannah, dotted with acacias and filled with wildlife. The western corridor is marked by the Grumeti River, and has more forests and dense bush. The north, Lobo area, meets up with Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve, is the least visited section.

Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere Reserves have been established within the 30,000 km² region. It’s unique ecosystem has inspired writers from Ernest Hemingway to Peter Mattheissen, filmakers like Hugo von Lawick and Alan Root as well as numerous photographers and scientists – many of which have put their works at our disposal to create this website.

The Serengeti ecosystem is one of the oldest on earth. The essential features of climate, vegetation and fauna have barely changed in the past million years. Early man himself made an appearance in Olduvai Gorge about two million years ago. Some patterns of life, death, adaptation and migration are as old as the hills themselves.

It is the migration for which Serengeti is perhaps most famous. Over a million wildebeest and about 200,000 zebras flow south from the northern hills to the southern plains for the short rains every October and November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June. So strong is the ancient instinct to move that no drought, gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back.

The Wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitat. Join us to explore the different forms of vegetation and landscapes of the Serengeti ecosystem and meet some of their most fascinating inhabitants.

Wildlife in Serengeti:

All the classic big game animals of Africa are found in the Serengeti. Of recent importance are re-introduction programs for black rhino and Cape hunting dogs. The black rhino is being introduced in the north and south of the Park while hunting dogs are beginning to spread
throughout.

Activities in Serengeti:

• #1. Game viewing by vehicle
• #2. Walking safaris
• #3. Ballooning is now possible in the north, south and center of the Park.

Accommodation

Accommodation options are many. The National Park has:

• #1. Public campsites. These are shared sites and have simple infrastructures of water supplies, toilets and kitchens.
• #2. Special campsites. These have no infrastructure and are booked for  groups only through TANAPA Headquarters in Arusha.
• #3. Seasonal campsites. These have no permanent infrastructure and are booked by a single operator for a specific period of time.
• #4. The National Park operates a self-catering hostel for student groups, and has a 2 roomed Rest House for individuals.

In addition there are accommodations provided by private companies, that range from hotels of the highest international standard to simple but comfortable lodges and permanent tented camps.

Serengeti Safari ideas:

The Serengeti is on almost everyone’s wish list for a safari to Tanzania, but one can only absorb the full extent of Tanzania’s extraordinary depth and character as a safari destination by including other places in one’s travels. The rugged wilderness of the southern and north western Parks, and the joys of Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika are a wonderful contrast. Indeed, one quickly reaches the conclusion that one safari is not enough. Welcome back one day!

When in Serengeti you may visit Fort Ikoma a German fort that was set up at the end of the 1890’s to spread the German influence in the  Northern part of German East Africa. The Fort is situated on top of the most easterly of a series of low hills about one mile north of the Grumeti River.

The first European to set foot in the area was the German explorer and naturalist Dr. Oscar Baumann, who passed by as an agent of the German Anti-Slavery Committee on his way to Burundi in 1892. Baumann was in fact the first European to visit both Ngorongoro and the Serengeti together with his compatriots who built the Fort. The Fort was used as an administrative centre and a military outpost until it fell to the British in 1917 as the Germans were forced to retreat from what is now Tanzania during the World War I.

Do you have any Questions about Safari or Kilimanjaro Climbs to Tanzania?  Feel free to ask any Questions about Tanzania, it’s easy  Click here and ask any Questions you may have about Tanzania and our Panel of Travel Experts will be happy to help you free of charge ~ The only Neutral Advice about your Safari!