NATIONAL PARKS
SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
A million wildebeest each driven by the same ancient rhythm,
fulfilling their instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a
frenzied 3 week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of
the fittest as 40 kilometre long columns plunge through crocodile
infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in
a brief population explosion that produces more than 8000 calves a day
before the 1000 kilometre pilgrimage beings again.
More than 6 million hooves pound the legendary plains of the Serengeti.
Every year, triggered by the rains, more than a million Wildebeest,
200,000 Zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s Gazelle gather to undertake the long
trek to new grazing lands. Tanzania’s first and most famous park, the
Serengeti, is renowned for its wealth of Leopard and Lion. The vast
reaches of the park help the Black Rhino to fight extinction and provide
a protected breeding ground for the vulnerable Cheetah. Witness predator
versus prey and the fundamental interdependence of the Serengeti’s
abundant species, from more than 500 varieties of bird to 100 types of
dung beetle.
The Serengeti is a sense of seeing to the ends of the earth, the
sunburnt savannah shimmering to the horizon. Yet, after the rains this
golden horizon is magically transformed into an endless green carpet
flecked with wildflowers. But there are also wooded hills towering
termite mounds and rocky kopjes, rivers lined with elegant stand of Fig
trees, Ebony and Acacia, stained orange by dust. It is so vast you may
be the only human audience when a pride of Lions masterminds a siege,
focussed unswervingly on their next meal.
Please Note Our recommendation spend minimum of 3 days in Serengeti for
best game viewing. Wildebeest migration is unpredictable and its up on
weather and rain to be assured of seeing them on your visit – stay
longer and if you want to see the main Big cats and Predators as well.
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Ngorongoro Crater
The famous Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact
caldera in an exceptional geographical position, forming a spectacular
bowl of about 265 square kilometres with sides up to 600m deep, the
stalking ground of around 20,000 to 30,000 wild animals at any one time.
The crater floor consists of a number of ecological environments that
include grassland, swamps, lerai forest (small patches of forest made up
of yellow barked acacia or ‘yellow fever tree’), and Lake Makat, a
central soda lake filled by the Munge river. All these various habitats
attract various wildlife to drink, wallow, graze, hide or climb, and
although animals are free to move in and out of this contained
environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring source
lakes on the crater floor tend to incline both grazers and predators to
remain. Ngorongoro Crater is also presently one of the most likely areas
in Tanzania to see the endangered Black Rhino, and a small population
are thriving in this idyllic and protected environment – which is one of
the only areas where they continue to breed in the wild. And so the
crater forms an astonishing microcosm of East African wildlife within
its boundaries, and is said to be the most densely packed wildlife
concentration in Africa.
As such, it has achieved world renown, and attracts a growing number of
visitors each year, who come to experience this ‘eighth wonder of the
world’. even if time is limited this natural but accessibly small
caldera ensures a rewarding safari.
Unique and diverse, inside the famous Ngorongoro Crater a tardis like
effect takes place as it is surprisingly small once inside and most
people find that one day is quite sufficient to drive around. It’s size
compared to the vast expanse of the Serengeti means that you may see
many other vehicles. The descent road into the crater is closed from
Its rim, over 2,200 metres high, touches swathes of clouds for most days
of the year, with cool high altitude vapours that seem to bring a clean
lightness to the air, and also a chill. These highlands wake up to a
misty fog in most months, other than the high dry season during December
and January.
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Lake Manyara Safaris
Manyara is a small but scenic park, excellent for
birdwatching and a good area to find elephant, and the potential
excitement of spotting a legendary Lake Manyara tree-climbing lion.
Manyara is often visited for an afternoon at the start of a safari
and/or a morning at the end, as it lies on route to and from Ngorongoro
and the Serengeti.
The park is awash with butterflies, particularly just after the long
rains, at the end of May and through June. Manyara is a good soft
introduction to the safari experience. It is a magical and pretty park
that wends its way around a mainly forested driving route between the
banks of soda water Lake Manyara and the impressive rise of the Great
Rift escarpment. Elephant, giraffe, buffalo and wildebeest can be found
grazing in unexpected clearings or heading towards the water to drink or
wash, and the rivers and riverbeds provide scenic vistas for possible
animal spottings. Warthog seem to thrive here, growing notably fat and
tuskered, and it is a natural playground for baboons and monkeys. The
legendary tree-climbing lion of Lake Manyara inspire extensive
theorising as to the wonders of evolution, and are also notoriously
rarely seen.
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Tarangire Safaris
To the south of the large open grass plains of southern
Maasailand, Tarangire National Park covers 2600 sq km of grassland and
floodplains, and a large proportion of tall acacia woodland. It is
beautifully unspoilt, and wide views to distant variously purpled
formations of volcanic mountain ranges along the drive are superb.
Tarangire also has regions of quite dense bush, but with high grasses
and huge old baobab trees instead of the green forests of Manyara. The
land is hilly and dominated by the impressive valley of the Tarangire
River, which attracts good numbers of migrant animals during the dry
months, especially between July and September. During these months the
concentration of animals around the Tarangire river is almost as diverse
and reliable as in the Ngorongoro crater, but again ecosystem here is
balanced by a localised migration pattern that is followed by most the
animals other than lion, who don’t tend to abandon their territory. The
animals mostly disperse during April and May, when there is widespread
greenery, vegetation and standing water to encourage all the grazers
further afield. In June the eland and oryxes begin to return, followed
by elephant towards the end of the month. Tarangire has quite a
reputation for elephant ‘pow-wows’, when different herds somehow agree
to congregate in one area around the end of the rainy season, and the
dominant males take advantage of the situation to sow seeds for future
generations. The following 22 month gestation period should then be well
timed to coincide with the rainy season two years later. Zebra and
wildebeest return together through July, and by mid-August all animals
are congregating around their last reliable water source, the Tarangire
River. The calving season falls in the early months of the year, through
January, February and March, and so makes the most of the fresh grass
during the rainy season.
But there are always a fantastic number of colourful birds swooping and
strutting along the rough paths in front of your vehicle in Tarangire,
with likely spots including the Paradise Whyder and endearing
Yellow-collared lovebirds. There are a few resident lion, which are
easier to find when the migration arrives to excite their taste buds. In
other months they look quite mean and lean and slip easily between the
grasses.
It is worth remembering that the park has become a wildlife concern
because of its resident tsetse fly population - domestic animals do not
build the same resistance to typanosoiasis - sleeping sickness - as wild
animals, who have become immune. They are a pest, with an irritating
stinging bite, but tend to hang out in swarms and a well-planned
‘windows up’ approach seems to be the way to survive. They do not seem
prevalent around any of the lodges...Recently the woodland habitat of
fever trees, umbrella acacias along the Tarangire river has been made
more open, primarily a result of fire and heavy utilisation by elephant.
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Kilimanjaro
Once dismissed in the Western world as an impossible myth,
the world’s highest free standing, snow-covered equatorial mountain has
now been charted and climbed, and stories of her resident man-eating
spirits are relegated to the realms of folklore. But Mount Kilimanjaro
continues to preserve a mysticism that defies all recent knowledge of
her slopes. Images of the towering snow-covered cone rising majestically
from fertile green foothills have become a powerful motif for this land
of extraordinary extremes. Few could deny a very distinct sense of awe
when the cloud clears to reveal a glimpse of the towering peaks, shining
bright in the equatorial sun. Kilimanjaro represents a powerful life
force for the local Chagga people and all those who have made their
lives around this mountain, providing rich volcanic soils for
agriculture and an endless source of pure spring waters. One of the most
amazing aspects of the mountain in the present day is the accessibility
of its peak to climbers with no mountain climbing equipment or real
previous experience of scaling such heights. The number of climbers has
escalated to over a thousand a year during the last century, quite a
development since Hans Meyer made history as the first European to scale
the highest point of Kilimanjaro in 1889.
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in the world that every day tourists
can climb, although it remains a considerable feat of human endurance.
The breathable oxygen at the top is less than half the amount than is
common at sea level, and climbers cover at least eighty kilometres on
nothing but their own two feet over the five days it takes to reach the
top and return. The increasing number of climbers each year has made it
necessary for the National Park to insist that all climbs are
pre-booked, and passes are no longer issued at the last minute at the
park gate.
Although it is possible to simply trek a route to the pinnacle of Kibo
without relying on professional climbing equipment, it remains a hard
and serious endeavour that requires a level of physical fitness, stamina
and a realistic awareness of the potentially damaging effects of high
altitudes. Many tour operators request that clients consult a doctor
before attempting to scale the mountain, and have a physical check-up
for overall fitness.
With most of the old lowland forest now
cultivated and settled, the first experience of the mountain environment
begins with the dense vegetation of tropical montane forest that
surrounds the mountain between 1850m and around 2800m. Cloud
condensation mainly gathers around the forest, so this area is regularly
damp or drenched with rainfall, creating an intriguing mass of plant
life and running rivers between endemic tree species such as the
formidably tall Olea Kilimandsharo, that grows up to 30 m.. The area of
heath just beyond the tree line also enjoys a relatively misty and damp
environment as cloud clings around the density of trees. This is covered
with heather and shrubs such as Erica Arborea and Stoebe Kilimandsharica,
and a number of dramatic looking Proteas. Then from around 3,200m a wide
expanse of moorland extends beyond the heath and the cloud line, so that
here the skies are generally clear, making the sunshine intense during
the days and the nights cool and clear. The climbing incline remains
gentle, but thinning oxygen provides less fuel to energise the muscles
and can dramatically slow the pace of walking. Hardy endemic species of
Giant Groundsels (Senecio) and Lobelia (Deckenii) towering up to 4m high
thrive in this moorland zone and give the landscape a strangely primeval
atmosphere. Even higher, beyond 4,000m, this sensation intensifies as
the landscape develops into a more bizarre ‘alpine desert’, with sandy
loose earth and intense weather conditions and temperature fluctuations
so dramatic that barely any plant species survive other than everlasting
flowers, mosses and lichens. Only the odd lichen survives beyond 5000m,
after Kibo Huts and beyond the Saddle, where the landscape is
predominantly rock and ice fields as climbers experience the final steep
push to the summit.
The easterly routes, Marangu, Mweka, Loitokitok and Rongai all converge
west of the saddle near Gillman’s Point, between the peaks of Mawenzi
and Kibo. Kibo’s crater is roughly circular with an inner cone extending
to 5,800m, (100m lower than the summit at Uhuru Peak). At the centre an
inner crater with walls between 12 and 20 m high contains another
concentric minor cone, the centre of which falls away into the 360m span
of the ash pit. This is the 120 metre deep central core of the volcano,
and casts sulphurous boiling smoke from its depths despite the frozen,
snowy outskirts.
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Gombe Stream National Park
Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks, but
thanks to Dr. Jane Good all, one of the best known. Since 1960, Good all
and colleagues have lived among the Gombe chimpanzees, making
significant contributions to the study of primates. Travel to the Park
is by water only from Ujiji or Kigoma. The forests are alive with the
famous chimpanzee, red colobus and red-tail and blue monkeys. You can
also spot bushbuck and bush pig and gray duiker. The lakeshore is home
to the pied and giant kingfishers, the crowned eagle, the African
broadbill, Ross's turaco and the trumpeter hornbill.
Katavi
National Park
Katavi National Park lies south of the Mahale Mountains on a
high flood plain surrounding Lake Katavi. It is one of the most
difficult Parks to reach and is strictly for those of an adventurous
spirit, but it has excellent game viewing with a real wilderness
atmosphere. July to October are the best months to visit the Park.
The water of the Park shelters crocodile, hippo and large flocks of
pelicans. The diverse woodland, acacia bush, lakes and swamps have
attracted over 400 species of birds. Leopard, lion, elephant, eland,
roan and sable antelopes, southern reedbuck and topi inhabit the short
grasses and thickets. Kitavi is also home to one of the largest herds of
buffalo, with as many as 1,600 animals.
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Mahale Mountains Park
Mahale Mountains, like Gombe, are home to some of the last
remaining wild chimpanzees in Africa. The Park is reached by boat or
plane, both of which are available for charter. May to October is the
best time to visit. There are no roads and all game viewing is done on
foot. Mahale is a unique ecological zone with lowland forest, moist and
dry savannah, miombo and open woodlands. Animals range from elephant,
buffalo, leopard and primates to roan and sable antelopes, giraffe,
kudu, eland, leopard and lion.
Mikumi National
Park
Mikumi, to the north of the Selous, is only 283 km away from
Dar-es-salaam. The Park was established to protect the environment and
resident animals and is also an important educational centre for
students of ecology and conservation. The Mikumi flood plain is the main
feature of the Park along with the bordering mountain ranges. Animals
commonly found here include lion, eland, hartebeest, buffalo,
wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, hippo and elephant. The Mikumi elephants are
mainly grazers and do not cause tree damage. Lions roam the Mikumi
plains and will take refuge in the branches of trees. Wild dogs can be
seen in packs here.
Mikumi's vegetation includes woodland, swamp and grassland with two
water holes, Mkata and Chamgore. Apart from the saddle-bill stork,
hammer kop and malachite kingfisher, you will also find monitor lizard
and a deadly python inhabiting the pools.
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Ruaha National
Park
The Kisigio and Rungwa River Game Reserves and Ruaha National
Park total a protected area of 25,600 sq. kilometers. Ruaha is
Tanzania's second largest national park and one of the wildest.
Crocodiles, hippos and clawless otters soak and play in the water and on
the banks of the great Ruaha River. Reedbuck, waterbuck and buffalo
drink, ever watchful for lion, leopard, jackal, spotted hyena and
hunting dog. The grassland borders of the River are home to greater and
lesser kudu, a large elephant population,eland, impala, Grant's gazelle,
dik-dik, zebra, warthog, mongoose, wild cat, porcupine and the shy
civet.
There are plenty of Eurasian migrant birds on their outward and return
journeys as well as resident kingfishers, plovers, hornbills, green wood
hoopoes, bee-eaters, sunbirds and egrets. The best months to go are
between July and November when the animals are concentrated around
shrinking water holes.
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The Selous
Game Reserve
Tanzania is home to one of the single largest remaining
elephant populations in the world. Most of these elephants are found in
the remote and wildly beautiful Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage
Site. The name derives from hunter-explorer Frederick Courtenay Selous,
a keen naturalist and conservationist as well as a hunter. He was killed
in the First World War in the Beho Beho region of the Reserve. Larger
than Switzerland in size, the Reserve is the largest
in Africa and is second only to the Serengeti in its concentration of
wildlife. The Reserve has a varied terrain of rolling savannah woodland,
grassland plains and rocky outcrops. Buffalo, crocodile, hippo and wild
dog can also be seen here.
The Reserve can be reached from Dar-es-Salaam by road, air charter, and
rail (Tazara) and the best time to go is in the cool season between the
end of June and the end of October. Walking safaris can be taken from
the camps in the Reserve, in the company of an armed guard.
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