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Overview
The most famous wildlife reserve perhaps in entire continent of Africa, the Serengeti national park is renowned worldwide for its incredible concentration of grazer and predator species. It is also the largest in the game-rich northern circuit covering an area of 14,750 sq km. The park is also among the most filmed and documented wildlife places in Africa.
It is part of the bigger Serengeti ecosystem which spans an area of 30,000 sq km. The term Serengeti comes from “Siringet” which was the name given to the plains by the indigenous Maasai herders who came here to graze their livestock. Siringet in their local language means “the place where the land runs on forever,” which signifies the vastness of this place.
Diverse and Concentrated Wildlife
A composite of grassland, savannah, forest, shrubs, rivers, swamps, kopjes, and hills, Serengeti is the ideal habitat for a wide range of wild animals. Approximately 70 large mammal species and upwards of 500 bird species can be found in the entire park. The Serengeti plains which is one of the three regions this park is divided into is the breeding place for the wildebeest and other hoofed animals like zebras, gazelles, buffalos, hartebeest, topi, impala, and waterbucks. The western corridor where the Grumeti River runs through is home to Nile crocodiles, hippopotamus, primates, and few predator species. The northern part of Serengeti National Park which borders with the Maasai Mara Game Reserve is the place to be if you’re searching for wild animals like elephants, giraffes, and dik-diks.
Serengeti National Park is also the best place to spot all the members of The Big Five of Africa, namely, the East African lion, African leopard, bush elephant, rhinoceros (both black and white), and African buffalo. Due to such ecological significance, Serengeti National Park is listed under the UNESCO World
Great Migration
Every year, Serengeti hosts a wildlife event which is termed as the biggest terrestrial mammal migration in the world. Somewhere close to 2 million wildebeest and thousands of Zebras along with impalas, gazelles, and other antelopes take part in it and traverse thousands of kilometres in pursuit of grazing land and drinkable water. This scene truly makes up for an epic spectacle and attracts millions of tourists to this park. Besides Serengeti, the herds migrate into the Kenyan part of Serengeti ecosystem in called Masai Mara Game Reserve before coming back into Tanzania. You can witness thousand-kilometre long trail of wildebeests traversing the plains, closely followed by the predator species like lions, leopards, and cheetahs. The river crossing and calving season are some of the highlights of the Great Migration.
Even if Serengeti is open for safari drives year round, the best time to visit the park is during the dry season in the months of June through October. Day game drives is the main activity enjoyed by tourists, while the night game drives give a different experience altogether from a different perspective. Greater number of lodges inside the park is another reason to visit the park. These lodges, some of which we work closely with, are strategically built in the most picturesque and game -rich regions of Serengeti. These will provide unparallel game experience without having you to leave the park. Cultural tours and walking safaris are also part of many Serengeti National Park tour packages.

Wildlife
The Serengeti is arguably Tanzania’s best park. Great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and many other ungulates (hooved animals) such as eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle are resident at any time of the year. All three big cats are easily seen. Lion are everywhere and are often found on a kill. Cheetah is very common on the south-eastern plains, while leopard can typically be found lazing in one of the big trees along the Seronera River.
Activities
The nearest international airport to the Serengeti is Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha. Kilimanjaro and Qatar Airways offer flights directly into Arusha (daily from Amsterdam and Doha). Other airlines such as Swissair [13] will fly into Nairobi, Kenya, (from Zurich) or Dar es Salaam, from where you can get a connecting flight to Arusha.
Best Time To Visit
Wildlife viewing in Serengeti National Park is good throughout the year, but certain areas are better at specific times. The Dry season (from late June to October) offers the best wildlife viewing in general – with the wildebeest migration as its absolute highlight. The timing of the migration varies every year (the best chance of seeing it is during June and July) while the wildebeest calving is from late January to February.
How To Go
The most suitable way to get from Arusha to the Serengeti is by taking a small plane to one of the various airstrips in the park. The drive from Arusha to the Serengeti is about 325km/202mi and will take about eight hours. It is a bumpy ride and, for a large part, over dirt roads – but the trip offers beautiful scenery. You’ll surely see some wildlife on the way or may even do a game drive en route.

Overview
For its varied and untouched geographical features coupled with vastness of the area, Ngorongoro Conservation Area can easily be mistaken for a heaven on earth. Located in the game rich northern circuit adjacent to the Serengeti National Park, this area filled with wildlife and is considered one of the best places to visit for a game drive.
What makes Ngorongoro different in a literal sense is that it is a conservation area and not a national park; that means the territory is also used by Maasai tribe people for grazing their livestock. It is among the world’s greatest natural wonders and now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Pristine Wilderness
The conservation area is vast in size stretching across an area of 8,300 sq km. Since its inception as a protected conservation area, it has enforced strict regulations on settlements, activities, and hunting inside of the park. In 2009, the regulations were reconstructed and any forms of human settlement were restricted only to the staff of the lodges present in the crater rim, but it was allowed for pastoralist to graze their livestock.
Absence of humans to such extent has resulted in the development of fairly tale like wilderness area which has to be seen to be believed. Hues of bright and light green can be seen running endlessly with swamps, lakes, and hills in between.
Insurmountable Wildlife
As it is part of the game rich Serengeti ecosystem and bordering the Serengeti National Park, there are wild animals in plentiful amount almost on par with that of Serengeti. Upwards of 25,000 large animals and 400 bird species call this place home.
The Ndutu Area which is present in the border of Serengeti and Ngorongoro is the gateway for wild animals to go back and forth between the two areas. There are soda lakes and it is an oasis lying in the middle of the grass plains. It is a year round wildlife concentrated place and this is where the wildebeest migration starts from every year.
Ngorongoro Crater
This crater covers roughly 3% of the conservation area and spans a total area of 260 sq km. The crater formed millions of years ago because of a volcanic eruption which collapsed on itself leaving behind this giant depression. The whole crater floor and area is teeming with wild animals including the Big Five of Africa and records itself among the world’s largest density of large carnivores. The walls of the crater are 610 meters high. Thus the crater has its own distinctive climate and atmosphere. There are various lodges present in the rim which are always in high demand because of their rewarding picturesque view of the crater floor and beyond.
Another highlight of Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the Olduvai Gorge, which is also referred to as the cradle of mankind since the earliest known human specimens were discovered from this place. It is a steep ravine part of the Great Rift Valley and stretches along eastern Africa into the Serengeti plains. Because of such profound nature of the gorge which has been helpful in uncovering a lot about human evolution, it is an important prehistoric site. A museum has been constructed next to it to house important excavated materials.
Wildlife
The star attraction of the Conservation Area is the Ngorongoro Crater: an extinct volcano teeming with wildlife often compared to the Garden of Eden. Wildlife viewing in the crater is out of this world. All major animals are easily seen. The only exception is giraffe, which is present in the Conservation Area, but not in the crater because of the steep descent. Elephant are common, including some very big tuskers. All big cats can be spotted, and the density of spotted hyena is quite extraordinary.
Activities
The nearest international airport to the Serengeti is Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha. Kilimanjaro and Qatar Airways offer flights directly into Arusha (daily from Amsterdam and Doha). Other airlines such as Swissair [13] will fly into Nairobi, Kenya, (from Zurich) or Dar es Salaam, from where you can get a connecting flight to Arusha
Best Time To Visit
Wildlife viewing inside the Ngorongoro Crater is superb at all times. However, grass on the crater floor is short in the Dry season (June through September) and this makes animal spotting easier. The scenery is lush and spectacular in the Wet season months (from November to May)
Most people will visit the Ngorongoro Conservation Area as part of a bigger package, including a visit to the Serengeti. Conveniently, the conservation area lies en route and is only a three-hour drive on tarred road from the town of Arusha, the starting point of all safaris in northern Tanzania.

Overview
Tarangire National Park is one of the national parks located in the game-rich northern safari circuit. Covering an area of 2,850 sq km which makes it the sixth largest national park in Tanzania, it lies between the plains of Maasai Steppe and lakes and plains of Great Rift Valley. Characterized by dry, open woodlands and acacia thickets for most of the park, it is the baobab trees which are the signature of Tarangire. Furthermore, there are a network of stream and swamps which accommodate its wildlife.
The rich flora and fauna and its easy accessibility makes Tarangire National Park worthy of a visit. If you’re coming to Tarangire, then you should spend at least a day in here to get the true offerings as opposed to a brief an hour-two hour game drive which most tourists undertake and miss the bigger picture.
Tarangire River
The river where this park got its name, Tarangire River dominates the northern part of the Tarangire National Park. It has its source in the highlands and escarpments of the Manyara and Dodoma Region. The river is the primary source of water for the wildlife and vegetation of this park. The game viewing around this river is excellent when there’s a shortage of water in the entire park and animals, both grazers and predators, congregate at the river bank to quench their thirst.
Elephants and other Wildlife
The park boasts of large herds of elephants. Some of the herds can be as big as 600 members at any point in time. In total, there are about 2500 elephants living within the boundary of Tarangire. What’s better is that the conservation efforts put into this park has resulted in 6% year over year growth of these elephants.
Along with that, there’s a fairly good concentration of big cats like lions, leopards, and other animal species like kudu, oryx, giraffes, gerenuk, dik dik, zebra, and the rare African Wild dog. Moreover, there are 550 species of bird, both native and migratory, that inhabit especially the river and the swamps. Despite its big size and relatively sparse wildlife concentration when compared with that of Serengeti or Ngorongoro, it has the highest mammal concentration of any of Tanzania’s national parks. Depending on the season, the herds migrate in and out of the park.
Unparallel Birdlife
With over 550 bird species, Tarangire is a birding paradise. As the perennial Tarangire River flows through it and remains watered all year round along with the accompanying swamps, bird viewing can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Some of the adorable birds that are native to this park are Northern white-crowned shrike, yellow-necked spurfowl, black-necked weaver, White-faced whistling duck, red-billed hornbill, and pygmy falcon. Near the Tarangire River, there are a number of lodges where guests are accommodated. The scenic views from the lodges are stunning and game animals of the Tarangire National Park can be easily spotted from the balcony or terrace.
It still remains secluded, overlooked by many. Thus walking safari tours in the remotest of the wilderness is another highlight of this place.

Wildlife
Tarangire is outstanding seasonally for wildlife. In the Dry season, the Tarangire River is a magnet for migratory animals such as wildebeest, zebra, common eland, hartebeest, gazelle, buffalo and elephant – of which there are more than you can imagine. Lion are quite easily spotted at this time, as well.
Activities
Guided walking safaris, Game drives ,Day trips to Maasai and Barabaig villages, as well as to the hundreds of ancient rock paintings in the vicinity of Kolo on the Dodoma Road.
Best Time To Visit
The best time for a Tarangire safari is from June to October during the dry season when migrant game from elephants to hoofed herbivores congregate around the swamps and the Tarangire River valley.
How To Go
There are regular flights from Arusha and the Serengeti to Tarangire, but it is a comfortable two-hour drive from Arusha to the entrance gate, of which only the last 7km is not tarred. Moving on, it is an easy drive to Lake Manyara (100km/60mi in about two hours) or the Ngorongoro Crater (180km/110mi in about four hours

Arusha National Park is among the smallest national parks in Tanzania with an area of 137 sq km. The park is often the gateway point for the 300-km long axis of Tanzania’s most famous safari circuit which has some of the most iconic protected areas like Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Even though it is small, it has myriad of things that tourists will like and adore which often leave them surprised.
The park is topographically varied with many landforms. Its three of the most significant features are the Mount Meru, Momela Lakes, and Ngurdoto Crater. The diverse and varied wildlife and birdlife is another highlight of Arusha National Park. But despite of this, the park receives way less tourists and visited mostly as a half-day drive or as a concluding stop.

Activities
Arusha National Park is a perfect trip for day safaris, as it is close to both Arusha and Moshi. With terrain that ranges from open savannah to tropical rainforest, the park is dominated by the shadow of Mt. Meru – whose summit offers an unparalleled view of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
The park’s highlights can easily be seen in a single day, with a morning or afternoon game drive accompanied by either a walking safari or canoeing in Small Momella Lake where the hippos are at play.
Arusha National Park is also home to Africa’s largest giraffe population, and its diverse landscapes are also home to antelopes, buffalo, monkeys (including the blue monkey and the black and white colobus monkey), hyenas, and even the ever elusive leopard

Mount Meru

The main tourist attraction of Arusha National Park is Mount Meru. It is the fifth-highest mountain in Africa and second-highest in Tanzania. With an height of 4,566 meters, it is visible from most of the park area and even from the town of Arusha.

It is often used a trekking destination by tourists before climbing Kilimanjaro to gain experience and get properly acclimatized. With low altitude and mesmerizing all round views from the top, the climb is often rewarding for most trekkers.

Momela Lakes
Momela Lakes is a collection of seven distinct lakes all of which are alkaline and shallow. The seven lakes are big Momela, small Momela, El Kekhotoito, Kusare, Rishateni, Lekandiro and Tulusia, and all the seven lakes are fed by different water sources. Due to difference in algae and mineral content, all the seven lakes are different in colour.
The alkaline nature of these lakes does not attract wildlife as it is not drinkable, but is a hub for birds. The lakes are home to many of the 400 bird species that inhabit Arusha. On any given day on a game drive, you’ll be able to spot.

Ngurdoto Crater
The 3.6 km wide crater is a volcanic crater which is surrounded by forests and shaped like a basin with very steep walls. From the rim, it is 400 meters deep and accommodates a variety of wildlife and plant life. Due to these features, it is often compared to the Ngorongoro Crater and referred to as “Mini Ngorongoro”. The crater rim is perfect for picnic and walking tours.
Diverse Wildlife
Even though the game viewing is not on par with that offered by Serengeti or Ngorongoro, the wildlife nevertheless is substantial to make it worthy of a visit. The small size of the park will compensate for the lesser animal concentration which will make the park feel even more densely packed. The savannah, forest ranges, and the mountain form an ideal habitat for the animals to live and prosper. On any normal game drive, you can expect to see animals like giraffe, cape buffalo, zebra, warthog, colobus monkey, and predators like cheetahs, leopards, and lions. Moreover, close to 400 bird species are recorded in Arusha which is quite an impressive count, making the park an excellent birding destination.
Inside of the park, there are a number of lodges and tented camps present to accommodate the tourists. We work closely with a few of them and can avail discounts or a lower charge on your behalf to make your stay in this splendid park even more special.

Common animals: Zebras, Giraffe, Buffalos
Ocassional animals: Hippopotamus

Best Time to Visit
Wildlife viewing in Arusha National Park is good throughout the year but is at its best in the Dry season, from late June to October. The beautiful scenery is most impressive in the Wet season, from November to May, although March and April can be very wet and grey. The clear skies from December through February give you the best views of Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro.

How To Go
Arusha NP is only a 45-minute drive away from the town of Arusha. In fact, some of the town’s accommodations lie on the road to the National Park. Since Arusha is the starting point of any safari in northern Tanzania, it is easy to include a visit to this little park. There are several ways to get to Arusha. The easiest is to get a direct flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), which is situated about 46km/29mi from Arusha. Alternatively, you can fly to Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR), near Dar es Salaam and get a connecting domestic flight to Arusha Airport (ARK) or Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
Less obvious, but often cheaper, is to fly to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO), just outside of Nairobi in Kenya, and take a shuttle bus to Arusha. In most cases, your tour operator will pick you up from the airports around Arusha and take care of further transportation.
Depending on your time of arrival and departure, you might be able to fit in a half-day visit at the beginning or the end of your safari in northern Tanzania or, time permitting, you can schedule a full day.

Health & Safety
Like most game reserves and parks in Tanzania, Arusha National Park is very safe in our opinion. Most of the people you’ll come across are fellow tourists or staff working for the park, camps or tour operators.