National Parks

Serengeti National Park

The Serengeti region is enormous, including the Serengeti National Park itself, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas and the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

The Serengeti plain is enourmous, possessing the largest concentration of wildlife in the world and famous for the annual wildlife migration of over one million wildebeest and about 200,000 zebras which 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.

Selous Game Reserve

Selous Game Reserveis located in the South of Tanzania and is one of the largest wildlife preservation areas anywhere in the world, covering 54,600 km² (larger than Switzerland!). It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its wildlife and undisturbed nature. Many of the typical animals of the savanna (e.g. elephants, hippopotami, crocodiles to name a few) arefound in this park in a larger numbers than in any other African park.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area lies180 km west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. Ngorongoro was separated from the Serengeti National park in 1959. Furthermore it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. It is the only conservation area in Tanzania that provides protection status for wildlife whilst also allowing human habitation.

The main feature of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the Ngorongoro Crater, which is the world’s largest unbroken volcanic cauldron. The steep sides of the crater mean that it has become a natural enclosure for a very wide variety of wildlife, including herds of zebra, gazelle, giraffe, wildebeest, rhinoceros, lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo (The Big 5) infact most of the species found in East Africa!

Tarangire National Park

Tarangire is 120km from Arusha and is the sixth largest park in Tanzania. It has fewer visitors than that of the Serengeti and this gives you a feeling of being a remote wilderness, especially as you the further you drive south to parts which are rarely visited by anyone. With baobab and acacia trees, much like the Serengeti, Tarangire National Park is home to a legions of elephants and you will also find rhino, buffalo, eland, warthog, the fringe-eared oryx, lesser and greater kudu, gerenuk and a large number of impala.

Tarangire National Park is one of the most underrated parks and you could spend a great deal of time exploring this park. It’s usually a stop over day between the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater.

Arusha National Park

On the foothills of Volcanic Mount Meru, Arusha National Park is a small national park 25 kilometers east of Arush, in north eastern Tanzania. It has three distinct areas:

• Momela lies to the east, and has shallow alkaline Momella Lakes in varying algal colours and known for their wading birds.

• Ngurdoto, to the south, is grassland, featuring the Ngurdoto Crater.

• West is the Meru Crater and the Jekukumia River and Mount Meru ( the second highest peak in Tanzania at 4566m)