Home » Safari and holiday destinations in Africa » Tanzania » Your safari of a lifetime to Serengeti National Park
Visit the Serengeti National Park on a thrilling tour, one of the world’s most illustrious wilderness areas, and start your Tanzania safari of a lifetime in this mesmerising source of inspiration for writers, filmmakers and photographers. An exhilarating tour to the Serengeti National Park includes fantastic accommodation in luxury camps and safaris to find wild animals that have only ever dreamed about. Picture the Out of Africa ambiance and scenic wonders that are impossible to describe in their miraculous perfection.
The Serengeti National Park stretches a mind boggling 15 000 square km in eastern Mara Region and north-eastern Simiyu Region, containing over 1,500,000 hectares of virgin savanna. Established in 1940 the park is today revered for the largest annual animal migration in the world of over 1.5 million blue wildebeest and 250,000 zebra, plus smaller herds of antelope. The largest lion population in Africa also survives here, but the region is currently threatened by deforestation, population growth and ranching.
The miracle of the great migration, the world’s longest overland migration, is hard to comprehend, the way the animals move some 800 km in a circular motion, part of this covering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where around half a million Wildebeest are born between January and March.
It all starts by March, at the beginning of the dry season, when roughly 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras start to migrate north towards Maasai Mara in Kenya. Common eland, plains zebra, and Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest and by April and May, the migrating herds pass through the Western Corridor.
To get to the Maasai Mara, the herds have to cross the Grumeti and Mara Rivers where around 3,000 crocodiles lie in wait – for every wildebeest captured by the crocodiles, 50 drown. Finally, when the dry season ends in late October, the migrating herds start to head back south and the reality is that about 250,000 wildebeests and 30,000 plains zebras die annually from drowning, predation, exhaustion, thirst, or disease.
The name “Serengeti” is derived from the word siringet used by the Maasai people for the area, which means “the place where the land runs on forever”.
Find this breath-taking park in Tanzania about 335km from Arusha, between the shores of Lake Victoria in the west, Lake Eyasi in the south, and the Great Rift Valley to the east. Hot air ballooning gives a unique bird’s eye view of the expanse of the Serengeti plains.
The park is bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is merges with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area.
Adventure is the diverse, dynamic landscape of the Serengeti Plain, changing from savannah and hilly woodlands to open grasslands. Extreme weather conditions haunt the land, especially the epic blend of heat and wind – the diverse habitats in the region may have originated from a series of volcanoes, whose activity shaped the basic geographic features of the plain by adding mountains and craters to the landscape.
Even when the famous migration is quiet, observe the Serengeti’s great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle. Look out for all 3 African jackal species, alongside the spotted hyena, the insectivorous aardwolf and the elegant serval cat.
Tick off if you can some of the 510 bird species in this magical bird watching destination – home to the brightly coloured Fisher’s lovebirds and large ground hornbills.The Serengeti National Park is brimming with biodiversity thanks to its wild stretches of savannah, wooded hills and towering termite mounds, interspersed with small rivers, lakes and swamps.
Pack up the entire family for a safari holiday to Tanzania that they will never forget. Intrepid journeys into Africa introduce your kids to the biggest classroom in the world, nature! Game viewing, nature walks, river cruises and camping under the stars are all part of a safari adventure your family will talk about for years down the line!
Bring your children into the true wilderness of Tanzania, our top African safari destination of all time – so check out the luxury lodge and bush camp accommodation where children are made to feel at home and book your special family package today.
Plan a Tanzania tour and safari with Voyage2Africa, the African travel experts, and enjoy signature experiences to the premier wildlife destination south of the equator. We bring you thrilling adventures in the Serengeti and Tarangire National Parks, the vast Selous Game Reserve and the spectacular Ruaha National Park. We offer you the best of the best safari accommodation in Tanzania, in lavish lodges, family resorts, modern hotels, eco villas and rustic wild campsites in nature. Bring your camera and you hat, your binoculars and your sense of spirit to an African land that is home to humankind.
