Safari in the Serengeti

Safari in the Serengeti

Faaten

"We had a wonderful time and it was a real dream trip! We saw so much, but will definitely go back to Tanzania to experience even more"

Faaten
Jan 2022

Facts

Serengeti was founded in 1951. The word Serengeti means "endless plains" and it describes the park well as you can look 360 degrees and see savannah everywhere. It is Tanzania's second largest national park after Selous which is in the south of Tanzania. Serengeti National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Serengeti is one of the last ecosystems on earth where large herds of wild animals migrate with the seasons along paths they have walked since time immemorial. Plants and animals have evolved together over millions of years, making the Serengeti the area with the most mammals in the world. As the landscape is very beautiful and the area is extremely wildlife-rich, an abundace of nature films have been filmed here, helping to make the Serengeti world famous. The Serengeti is Tanzania's most visited park, but due to its size you won't see other safari jeeps all the time. From Arusha to Serengeti takes about 7 hours. The other national parks are basically along the way. Therefore the safari is almost always done in stages. In the last hours the road makes the drive very bumpy, which you should be prepared for. However, the road to the Serengeti is very nice as you pass various types of beautiful landscapes and there is a lot to look at from the jeep. There are also many small Maasai villages with waving children along the way. Many times you start to see animals before you reach the Serengeti. If you want to reduce the time in a jeep, you can choose to fly one or both ways.

Facts

Animal life

The Serengeti is the most wildlife-rich land area in the world and nowhere in Africa is there the same concentration of mammals. The Serengeti is in many ways the epitome of a safari and the diversity of animals makes it a perfect destination. Which animals you see, where and how many depends on the season. The guides have knowledge about this and will take you to the places with the most animals at the time. For much of the year, giant herds of animals wander around in search of water and food. The number of grazers alone can reach 2.5 million in number. Many people come here to see the many felines, which are relatively easy to spot due to the flat environment. Every animal you would expect to find on a savannah is here. The Serengeti is home to: lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, wildebeest, zebra, elephant, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, baboon, warthog and buffalo, among others. The park is also famous for its birdlife, with more than 400 species having been observed. The number of ostriches is probably the largest in Africa. In the middle of the Serengeti there are more trees and for this reason you will see more elephants, leopards, giraffes and other animals that depend on trees. Cheetahs like open landscapes and are therefore often seen in such areas. Hopefully you can tick off 4 of "The big 5 " which is the classic collective name for leopard, buffalo, elephant, lion and rhino. Lion, buffalo and elephant are common and often seen. The leopard is well camouflaged and often rests up in a tree during the day, but if you are lucky you will spot it. Rhinos, on the other hand, are very rare, but can be seen in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Animal life

Migration

The Serengeti is famous for the 'Great Migration', the world's largest mammal migration, with up to two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle migrating between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara in Kenya in search of better grazing grounds. The distance of this migration is almost 2000 km. This is one of the most astonishing wildlife spectacles in the world and has been featured in many nature documentaries. There is no fixed timetable for the migration, but it is controlled by the rainfall. The start can be caused by a sudden change in the weather. The animals are constantly migrating in search of rain and thus green pasture, and the wildebeest may even smell rain from far away. This means that their migration is not exactly the same from year to year. In the Serengeti, you can see the migration almost all year round but in different areas. The best chance of seeing the migration is between December and April in Ndutu in the southern Serengeti near the entrance to the national park. During this period there are large herds of animals in the area and as the landscape is open it is easy to see the animals. In May they are in the western Serengeti and in early June-July they come to the north to enter the Masai Mara. To get there, however, they need to cross the Grumeti River as well as the Mara River. If you are lucky, you can see the dramatic crossing of the rivers where the animals risk their lives as lots of crocodiles lie lurking in the water. They usually cross the Grumeti River around June-July and the Mara River around August-September. However, it is difficult to time exactly when they cross the river so as a tourist it is not something you can expect to see. The migration naturally attracts predators and the chances of seeing lions active in the middle of the day are high.

Migration

Nature and climate

The Serengeti is located in northern Tanzania and is situated west of the Ngorongoro Crater. To the north, the Serengeti is bordered by the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The Serengeti is close to the equator and has a climate that is warm all year round. The maximum temperature is 30 degrees, but during the coolest periods temperatures can drop to 14 degrees. The southern Serengeti consists of open savannah and grasslands with only a few trees. There are also streams, lakes and a wetland area, which provides the conditions for a very rich wildlife. The further north you travel, the more trees you will see and along the rivers, sparse forests grow. Seronera is in the central Serengeti and is usually called the heart of the Serengeti and you will almost always visit this area if you go here. It is considered by many to be the best area for game viewing. The area is a mix of grass savannah and tree savannah and also consists of hills, small mountains and rivers, which is suitable for many different types of animals. Throughout the Serengeti it is common to see granite hills, kopjes, sticking out of the grass and many times covered with thickets and bushes. This is a perfect place for felines to lie and peep from. The classic acacia tree is also very common and for many it symbolises the Serengeti.

Nature and climate

experience
"the big five"

lion

LION

The lion is the only feline that lives and hunts in packs. In the pride, it is mainly the female lions that hunt and the males that defend the pride and its territory. Their roar is powerful and can be heard from 5 miles away. Usually the pride consists of a majority of females. They raise their cubs together and the cubs can be fed breast milk by any of the females. A lion can eat up to 40-50 kg of meat at a time, the equivalent of about 400 hamburgers.

buffalo

Buffalo

The buffalo is one of Africa's most dangerous animals and is known by many as "the black death". They can sometimes even kill lions. They have poor eyesight, but an exceptionally good sense of smell. A buffalo can be unpredictable, especially when alone and injured. It is said that they never forget or forgive and on many occasions they have attacked hunters who have previously tried to kill them. This has made the buffalo the animal that kills the most hunters. This behaviour and the fact that they have sharp horns means that they have not been successfully tamed.

elephant

Elephant

The elephant is the world's largest land animal and also one of the world's most intelligent animals. It can weigh up to 6 tonnes, heavier than a car. Elephants are emotional and can both cry and laugh. They can talk to each other from a few miles away by stamping on the ground and can even smell water up to 2 miles away. With its trunk, an elephant can pick up a single blade of grass, but it can also lift an entire tree. An elephant is pregnant for almost 2 years.

rhinos

rhinos

The rhino has been around for an unlikely 60 million years. There used to be 30 species of rhinos, but there are only 5 left. You might not believe it, but the rhino is a fast animal. However, they are poor swimmers and they have small eyes and very poor eyesight. Fortunately, they have no natural enemies on the savannah. But many poachers want their horns. The horn is made of heavily twisted hair and is used for defence, but also for digging. If a horn breaks off, it grows back.

leopard

leopard

Leopards are agile and fast and are not social animals, usually living alone. During the day they often rest on a branch in a tree and at night or dawn they hunt. Their vision in the dark is seven times better than a human's. They kill their prey in lightning-fast attacks. Leopards are very strong and to prevent lions and hyenas from stealing their prey, they drag their prey up a tree. Their catch can be anything from a baboon to an antelope.

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