The Serengeti National Park is one of Africa’s best national parks. Located in the northern part of Tanzania, the Serengeti ecosystem lies in the Mara and Simiyu regions. If you are looking to a wildlife safari in Africa, Serengeti is the park that will not disappoint you. The wilderness is filled with large numbers of animal and the plains make big game viewing easier.
The park is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded (or brindled) wildebeests and 250,000 zebras that cross the Mara River that is filled with numerous Nile crocodiles. The spectacle of the migration is one of the world’s seven wonders and you can witness this every year. The Serengeti National Park of Tanzania is a continuation of the Masai Mara National Park of Kenya and you can easily combine an African through both national parks.
As well as the migration of ungulates, the park is well known for its healthy stock of other resident wildlife, particularly the “big five”, named for the five most prized trophies taken by hunters:
Lion:
The Serengeti is believed to hold the largest population of lions in Africa due in part to the abundance of prey species. More than 3,000 lions live in this ecosystem. The park offers better chances of meeting the “King of the Jungles” than any other national park in Africa.
African Leopard:
These reclusive predators are commonly seen in the Seronera region but are present throughout the national park with the population at around 1,000.
African Elephant:
The herds are recovering from population lows in the 1980s caused by poaching and are largely located in the northern regions of the park.
Black Rhinoceros: mainly found around the kopjes in the centre of the park, very few individuals remain due to rampant poaching. Individuals from the Masai Mara Reserve cross the park border and enter Serengeti from the northern section at times.
African Buffalo: still abundant and present in healthy numbers.
