The Serengeti

Serengeti is the largest and most famous of Tanzania's National Parks and a must-visit on any safari holiday to Tanzania. It covers an area of over 14,760 square kilometres and is situated across the Kenyan border from the Masai Mara. Its landscape is the exact image of people's expectations of African safari; grassland stretching as far as the eye can see, occasional acacia trees jutting into the sky and large stone boulders or kopjes breaking the skyline. It is also home to a wonderful array of flora and fauna from large prides of lion, leopard and cheetah, to herds of elephant, giraffe and a whole world of grazing animals. On one of our private Tanzania safaris, you will get to see the African landscapes and animals at their most beautiful and evocative.

It is however one thing in particular that makes the Serengeti particularly famous. Every year it plays host, along with the neighbouring Masai Mara, to the wildebeest migration. This spectacle of over 1,000,000 wildebeest migrating in search of fresh grazing is the largest such animal movement on the planet. First they move northwards, returning south after the rains have started. As they go, their hooves throw up a huge cloud of red dust, something that has come to symbolise the park. Pursued by lions and attacked by hungry crocodiles as they attempt to cross the Mara River, it is nature at its most raw and most exciting; a unique safari experience.

Do not be fooled into thinking that the Serengeti is a one-trick destination. Far from it. Surrounded by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, as well as the Ikorongo and Maswa reserves, the Serengeti is part of a huge area of protected land through which animals can migrate and pass unmolested.

Also, because of its size, the Serengeti covers several different eco-systems, each with its own unique combination of animals and plant-types. For example, at the centre of the park is Seronera, to the west the Grumeti River, while the south offers more remote and untouched game-viewing.