ABOUT TANZANIA With internationally famous game parks like Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Manyara, where wildlife roam in teeming numbers, a safari here is an unbelievable experience.
Lake Manyara’s tree-climbing lions are perhaps the most celebrated spectacle of Lake Manyara Park, along with the pink flamingos, which decorate the shallow soda lake, one of more than 400 species of bird found here.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO protected World Heritage Site, is a huge sunken crater, with 2 000 foot sheer walls, which create a spectacular natural amphitheatre. It houses a diverse range of eco-systems and visitors have a very good chance of spotting all of the ‘Big Five’ on any given day. Situated between Lake Manyara and the Serengeti National Park, the area comprises the Ngorongoro Crater itself and Olduvai Gorge, the cradle of mankind.
The famous Serengeti National Park is known to the Masai as the ‘endless plains’ for good reason. The park is the wildebeest’s chosen location for their epic annual migration, hailed as the world’s most incredible natural spectacle.
The Migration At the heart of the Serengeti eco-system is an ancient natural phenomenon, the largest movement of wildlife on earth. In pursuit of food and water, over 3 million wildebeest, zebra and antelope migrate north from the Serengeti to the adjoining Masai Mara reserve every year.
Around June, the grasses are exhausted and the wildebeest head to permanent water, forming columns which stretch for miles where they are joined by zebra and other animals. Predators follow and crocodiles wait hungrily in the rivers. Come November, when the grazing is finished in the north and the rains resume in the southern Serengeti, the migration of animals surges back to the renewed pastures to mate and calve.
Remember: The migration is controlled by nature and weather patterns, so timings can vary month by month and year by year.
HIGHLIGHTS • See the Ngorongoro Crater, the greatest extinct volcano crater on earth, home of the Masai tribe • See the remarkable tree-climbing lions at Lake Manyara • Experience the annual wildebeest migration between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. This takes place during August and September and is one of the most spectacular sights in Africa
CLIMATE There are two wet seasons known as long and short rains. The long rains (heavy downpours with storms) run from late March until June, and the short rains (less severe) from November to January.
HOW TO GET THERE The best way to access Tanzania is to fly into Kilimanjaro Airport.
