Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park is a large National park located in
Northern Tanzania. It is the 2nd largest National Park in Tanzania after Selous. It is in the Eastern Mara region and North East portion of Simiyu.
Facts about Serengeti
The Serengeti was established in 1940. It is home to that largest number of lions in Africa and arguably in the whole world. Over 3000 African lions live here. They live alongside leopards whose population density is about 5.4 per 100 hectares.
The park covers about 14750 square kilometers of grassland plains that give
it a fantastic view. The landscape of the Serengeti plain is extremely diverse ranging from savannah to hilly woodlands to open grasslands.
In fact, the Mara river that flows through the park provides epic scenes for
the tourists and gives water to the animals.
On the Eastern portion of the park lies the Serengeti volcanic grasslands which is a Tropical
Grassland Ecozone. The grasslands grow on deposits of volcanic ash
from the Kerimasi Volcano that erupted 150000 years ago. This
grassland is surely a great attraction that gives tourists an awesome view of
the park.
Big Game of the park
It is also home to the African bush Elephant, the African Buffalo, the
Black Rhinoceros, and other big animals. Other mammals in the Serengeti National Park include, the Cheetah,
Spotted Hyena, Black backed jackal, African gold Wolf, Honey badger, Striped Hyena, the Banded mongoose and the African hunting dogs. Generally speaking, the Serengeti is the p[lace to be if you are truly looking for big game safaris. Other mammals are the Hippopotamus, common warthog, aardvark,
aardwolf, African wildcat, African stripped weasel, crested porcupine.
Reptiles in Serengeti National Park
In addition to the above, there are also several reptiles in the park. These include; Nile crocodile, the Leopard tortoise,
serrated hinged terrapin, rainbow agama, Nile monitor, Jackson’s
Chameleon, black mamba and the spitting cobra.
Birds of the Serengeti
The park is also home to over 500 bird species. Among them are; Masai ostrich, secretary bird, Kori bustards, blacksmith lapwing, Helmeted Guinea fowls, Buffalo weaver, Ground hornbill etc. With this in mind, its really a great destination for a birding safari in Tanzania.
Wildebeest migration
In conclusion, the Serengeti is popular especially because of the migration of the wildebeest. Every year 2.5 million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles migrate from Serengeti to Masai Mara. This is obviously the largest wildlife migration journey on earth. It specifically happens between early July and early September. It is for this reason that accommodation tends to be sold out during these moths. Therefore, you need to book your Serengeti safari months in advance to avoid inconveniences.
