The name “Serengeti”
has come to represent the safari experience itself, evoking images
of sweeping savannahs swarming with lion, wildebeest, and gazelle. In the
language of the Maasai the word means “endless plain,” and the
5700 sq. miles (14,763 sq. km) of parkland in Northern Tanzania do indeed
seem infinite. Upon these grasslands roam more game animals than anywhere
in the world. There are over a million wildebeest alone.
Throughout the winter months of December to March (the best time to come),
many of the animals are concentrated in the park’s southern regions,
near Ngorongoro. During the spring months of May or June, the vast herds of
wildebeest and zebra start to head west in search of water, beginning a circuitous
migration that takes some of them to shores of Lake Victoria, and others to
northern areas and to Kenya’s Maasai Mara park just across the border.
Virtually every African game animal can be seen in the Serengeti; however,
because the animals are more dispersed between July and November visitors
should give themselves sufficient time to track them down. (Source: Tanzania
High Commission, London. Map: Tanzania Tourist Board)
Size: 14.763 sq km
Distance from Mwanza: 141 km (Western gate at Serengeti Stop Over)
Things to do: The world’s number one safari destination.
