SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

OVERVIEW

Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s second largest national park after Ruaha NP covering an area of 14,760 sq Km. It is located 320 Km northwest of Arusha and lying in between the plateau of Ngorongoro highlands and Kenya-Tanzania border. It almost extends out to Lake Victoria to the west. Declared a protected area in 1921 and declared as a National park in 1951, Serengeti is the oldest National Park in Tanzania and undoubtedly one of the most famous wildlife visited in the world. There is a variety of scenery, which includes the plains, lakes, hills and the rocky outcrops called kopjes. The Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and the northern Serengeti which is also called Lobo are the main game drive areas in Serengeti.

The Seronera Valley which is located in central Serengeti is equipped with year around surface water which attracts large concentration of wildlife. Lions, buffalos, impalas, elephants, waterbucks, hippos, cheetahs, and leopards are the animals commonly found here. From December, when the long rains start, to May, eastern Serengeti plains provide the best opportunities for game viewing as hundreds of thousands of the migratory animals are concentrated in this part attracted by the short palatable grass.

In the period of drought between May and June, the entire wildebeest population head southwest, west, or north looking out for grazing land and water, which is one of the most breathtaking events in terrestrial animal kingdom. During the dry period of August to November, the Lobo area remains rich in wildlife when most of the game has moved from the grass plains in the south.

This is also true of the Western Corridor towards Lake Victoria when the migration usually lingers in the area between June and July. Serengeti is the accommodating place for the highest concentration of plain animals in the world. Survey estimates of animal population of over 4 million including 3,000 lions, 1,600,000 wildebeest, 300,000 Thomson‘s and Grant‘s gazelle, 500,000 zebras. There are over 400 species of birds in the Serengeti.