| National
Parks |
SERENGETI
NATIONAL PARK
This is Tanzania's most famous Game Park,
covering 14763 sq. km, where wildebeest migrate across vast plains
and  landscape
in search of precious grassland. Nowhere else on earth will you see
wildebeest, zebra, and antelope in such enormous and mind boggling
numbers. The gently rolling Savannah (flat grassland), with bushes
and trees only in cluster along riverbanks makes spotting wildlife
easy. Other animals seen are lion, hyena, Thomson's gazelle, impala,
buffalo, topi, eland, giraffe, elephants, cheeter, rhino, and crocodiles
on riverbanks. The hoofed animals are constantly on the move in search
of grassland, and are watched and pursued by the predators, which
feed off them. This is one of the most incredible sights you will
see and the numbers are simply overwhelming. Also seen are the Masai
tribespeople grazing cattle in their age-old tradition. Serengeti
National Park is also the only Tanzanian Park where you can take HOT
AIR BALOON flight similar to those available in Masai Mara in Kenya.
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| LAKE
MANYARA NATIONAL PARK.
Lake Manyara is a fresh Water Lake in the
Rift valley part of Tanzania. This park is generally visited as the
first stop of safari, which covers among this park, Ngorongoro and
Serengeti. Animals seen are hippos, elephant, and birds such as the
greater and lesser flamingos, wildebeest, giraffe, baboon, and the
famous tree-climbing lions. A village market also exist selling mainly
fabrics and crafts.
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TARANGIRE
NATIONAL PARK.
 This
is a large park south east of Lake Manyara along the course of the
Tarangire River and the swamplands and floodplains which field it
from the east. The park fills with herds of zebra, Lions, wildebeest,
kongoni, eland, lesser kudu, buffalo, giraffe, waterbuck, elephant,
leopard and rhino.
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| ARUSHA
NATIONAL PARK.
Arusha National Park is one of the most beautiful
and spectacular parks in Tanzania and one of the few you're allowed
to walk in (accompanied by a ranger). It has all the features of Ngorongoro
crater, Serengeti and Mt. Kilimanjaro and supports a wide range of
flora and fauna. Main features are;Ngurdoto crater (inhabited by herds
of zebra). The Mamelo lakes- shallow and alkaline inhabited by a variety
of wader birds; particularly flamingos. Mt. Meru, is 4556m, snow capped
and rivals Kilimanjaro. It is a mixture of lush forest and bare rocks
and has a spectacular crater. On its eastern side is a sheer cliff
face, which rises over 1500m and is one of the tallest of its kind
in the world. Animals seen are zebra, waterbuck, Reedbuck, buffalo,
hippopotamus, elephants, rhinos, hyena, mangoose, dik-dik, warthog,
baboon, velvet colobus monkey and leopard.
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NGORONGORO
One of the world's largest craters containing prolific wildlife.
It is a 20-km wide volcanic crater with 600m walls, packed with
just about every species of wildlife to be found in East Africa.
The crater floor has been compared to Noah's Ark and the Garden
of Eden. Animals seen are: lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Wildebeest,
Thomson gazelle, Zebra, Reedbuck and Flamingos in Lake Magadi -
the Soda Lake on the floor of the crater. This is a favored spot
for wildlife and the local Masai tribespeople because there is permanent
water and grassland on the crater floor. You can visit Ngorongoro
crater any time of the year, though the months of April and May
are extremely wet.
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| RUAHA
At 13000 square kilometers, this massive and
relatively new park is one of Tanzania's largest elephant sanctuaries.
The wildlife is rich and varied but interestingly lacks in certain
plains game such as Thomson's gazelle. The Great Ruaha River flows
along the eastern part of the park and supports river wildlife such
as crocodile, hippo and fish.
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| MIKUMI
Mikumi National Park is located 300kms South
West of Dar-es-Salaam, and offers sighting of a wide variety of
game within it's 3200 square kilometers, including baboon, buffalo,
hunting dogs, leopard, lion and greater kudu. Excursions from Dar-es-Salaam
are routinely available to the park.
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| SELOUS
Selous is the largest game reserve in Africa,
with an enormous land area of 55,000 square kilometers. This park
is remote, undisturbed, untouched and crossed by the Rufiji River
and its tributaries which form a network of lakes ideal for boat
safaris. Selous remains largely undeveloped. However, the reserve
is home to vast numbers of game including the largest single population
of elephants. Selous is best visited between June to February.
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