Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Serengeti National Park Situated 208 miles (7 hours) from Arusha, the Serengeti National Park is reputed to be Africa’s most famous game reserve, known for its dense predator population and annual Wildebeest Migration. Created in 1951 and covering some 14,763 sq km, this National Park consists mainly of vast open plains occupied by the range of different species of animals that the plains support.

The Migration Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, the Serengeti (derived from the Maasai word meaning endless plain) is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing, caused by the fact that there is little permanent water to be found.

Animal migration is strongly linked to rainfall patterns. Even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers.

Solitary leopards haunt the sporadic acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the south eastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small predators.