Serengeti National Park - Wikivoyage, the free collaborative travel and tourism guide - Parc national du Serengeti — Wikivoyage, le guide de voyage et de tourisme collaboratif gratuit

Serengeti National Park ​((sw)Hifadhi ya Serengeti (in)Serengeti National Park)
Typical savannah landscape
Information
Country	Tanzania
Region	North East Tanzania
IUCN Category	II (National Park)
Administration	Tanzania National Parks Authority
Watercourse	Mara, Ruwana
Area	14 750 km²
Location
2 ° 24 ′ 54 ″ S 34 ° 33 ′ 40 ″ E
Official site
edit

the serengeti national park is a huge national park located north of the Tanzania and which extends over an area of ​​almost 15,000 km².

Understand

The Serengeti, borrowing from the Maasai Serengeti, literally "endless plains", listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is a huge national park that covers an area of ​​nearly 14,750 km². Established in 1951, the Serengeti is part of one of the most developed and richest ecosystems on the planet, stretching towards the Masai Mara National Reserve to the north and to theNgorongoro conservation area at the South West. The whole is close to 25,000 km² on which animals live freely. It is the second animal park in Africa; about four million animals including more than 400 species of birds are present there.

To go

From Arusha: By plane from Arusha Airport (one to five hours, the plane lands on one of the seven runways in the Serengeti) or by car (4 hours). Relatively easy access.

Considering the immensity of the park, it is strongly recommended that you hire a tour guide through a safari company.

Circulate

To appreciate the landscapes and the beauty of the park, travel by 4x4.

Note: There are four main entrances and exits to access the park.

To see

All the large animals of Africa are present in the Serengeti including the famous Big 5 (lion, leopard, black rhino, elephant and buffalo) but it is indeed the great annual migration of nearly 2 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of gazelles and zebras as well as their predators which makes the Serengeti unique. These species migrate naturally between Tanzania and Kenya each year. You will indeed be the witnesses of the most astonishing and grandiose spectacle of the animal world. The animals move from south to north then from north to south to continue to perpetuate the cycle of life: search for green pastures, births, protection against predators, in an almost intact nature.

Recommended period: from November to June

Here is an estimate of the number of animals:

• Wildebeest: 1,600,000 to 2,000,000
• Thomson Gazelles: 300,000 to 900,000
• Zebras: 250,000 to 300,000
• 

  Lioness and her cubs in the northern Serengeti
  Impalas: 120,000
• Buffaloes: 70,000 to 100,000
• Grant's Gazelles: 30,000
• Topis: 27,000 to 30,000
• Bubales: 18,000 to 20,000
• Elands: 7,000 to 13,000
• Giraffes: 4,000 to 12,000
• Elephants: 2,100 to 2,700
• Hippos: 500
• Black rhinoceros: 200
• Hyenas: 3,500 to 7,500
• Lions: 3,000 to 4,000
• Cheetahs: 225 to 350
• Leopards: 1000
• Wild dogs: 300

Do

Get up very early to hope to see the active animals! From sunrise, at random on the tracks, you will observe astonishing scenes of animal life.

Take a few hours of safari, then return to your lodge or hotel and relax in the middle of the savannah.

The ideal duration of a safari in the Serengeti is one week, in order to fully enjoy the spectacle of nature.

Housing

It all depends on your budget! For limited budgets, choose lodges or campsites outside the national park.

Around

• -1.46435.1011 Masai Mara National Reserve (North) –  (last updated Oct 2020)
• -2.416667362 Lake Natron (to the East) (last updated Oct 2020)
• -3.0435.43 Ngorongoro Conservation Area (At the South-East) –  (last updated Oct 2020)
• -2.520132.9014 Mwanza (West) – The largest Tanzanian city on the lake victoria. (last updated Oct 2020)
• -0.89115534.3253045 Thimlich Ohinga (to the northwest) – . Archaeological site managed by National Museums of Kenya and located on a gently sloping hill about 10 km north-northeast of the Macalder gold mines. To rejoin Sirari at the Kenyan border and follow the international route A1 up to Suna, from where the route is signposted, via regional roads C13 and C19. Literally in luo language, Thimlich means "the great frightening forest" and Ohinga a "large enclosure". It is a series of more or less circular stone enclosures measuring from 1 to 10 foot thick and from 1 to 4.2 meters of height built without primer or mortar occupying an area of ​​more than 21 Ha which were used by the Luo to defend themselves from the Nandi looters. The oldest remains of this fortress, which was occupied until 1981, have more than 500 years. Although this is the best-preserved site, it is far from the only example of a defensive wall in the eastern region of lake victoria. There were 521 in 139 different localities, either built by Bantu or by Nilotes. (last updated Sep 2020)