This safari tour will take you from Arusha to Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
Tarangire National Park
Tarangire National Park is located 118 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Arusha Town. The dry season is a spectacular time to visit Tarangire, the day after day of cloudless skies seem to suck all the moisture from the landscape, turning the waving grasses to platinum blonde, brittle as straw and it is at this time of the year when the thirsty elephants and antelopes marching hundreds of kilometers to Tarangire river, a mere permanent water source that flows across the length of the park chocked with wildlife..
In search of underground springs, herds of three hundred African elephants dig in the damp earth of the riverbed while wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, and gazelle mingle with a rare species such as eland and Oryx around each shrinking lagoon.
Pythons climb into shade of the trees that line Tarangire’s massive southern swamps and hang there like giant malignant fruit coils neatly arranged over the branches in a perfect sphere. it is during the dry season when Tarangire enjoys the greatest concentration of wildlife ever present to fascinate visitors with their grace, intelligence and majesty.
Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park is a Tanzanian national park in the Serengeti ecosystem in the Mara and Simiyu regions. It is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest hooves pound its endless plains and 250,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing and renowned for its wealth of leopard, lions, African wild cats and for its numerous Nile crocodile.
Not only is it Tanzania’s oldest and popular national park but the mighty Serengeti is one of the best wildlife sanctuaries in the world. This park has been declared a World Heritage Site.
The vast reaches of the park are a hiding place for the endangered black rhino and provide a protected breeding ground for the vulnerable cheetah, alongside the Serengeti’s thousands of other diverse species, from the 500 varieties of bird to 100 different types of dung beetle.
Serengeti offers sensational game viewing in Africa with great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of African elephant and giraffe, and thousands and thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala, and Grant’s gazelle. Overall, Serengeti has about 35 species of plains animal including big five and has 500-plus bird species ranging from the outsized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird of the open of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar effortlessly above the Lobo Hills.
After the rains, the Serengeti’s magical golden horizon is transformed into an endless green carpet, flecked with wildflowers. The famous plains are interspersed with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, monumental rocky kopjes, and rivers with elegant acacia trees.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area / Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Conservation Area boasts a blend of landscape, wildlife, people and archaeology that is unsurpassed in Africa. Often referred to as the African Eden and the Eighth Wonder of the World, it is also a pioneering experiment in multiple land use means to allow humans and wildlife to coexist in a natural setting.
The Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s most famous sites. Once a volcano supposedly taller than Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater is 20 kilometers across with 600 meter high walls.
It covers an area 8,292 square kilometers of which the crater covers an area of 260 square kilometers, the Ngorongoro Crater is the largest and most perfect volcanic crater on earth. The first view of Ngorongoro Crater takes ones breath away.
Africa’s Big Five are found on the crater floor as well as large herds of buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, and many big cats. The crater alone has over 20,000 large animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhinos.
Volcanoes, grasslands, and mountain forests are home to an abundance of wild animals and to the Maasai people .Open grasslands cover most of the crater floor, turning yellow with wild flowers in June.
The Makat Soda Lake is great attraction for flamingos and other water birds, while predators hide in the marsh to ambush animals that come to drink from the river that feeds the lake. Swamps on the crater provide water and habitat for the elephants and hippo as well as the many smaller creatures such as frogs, snakes, and several cats.
