Tanzania’s National Parks & Game Reserves
THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT
Arusha National Park
Arusha National Park is located just 32 kms from Arusha and is home to Black & White Colobus monkeys as well as containing within its boundaries the serene Momella Lakes, spectacular Ngurdoto Crater and lofty Mount Meru. Arusha Park is very popular for bird-watching, with 575 species recorded.
Lake Manyara National Park
This small gem of a safari destination is situated at the foot of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and is famous for its tree-climbing lions. Entry is through a groundwater forest, alive with monkeys and large troops of baboon. Buffalo, elephant, giraffe and warthog are easily seen in Manyara Park and the lakeshore boasts over 400 species of water bird such as flamingo, pelican, sacred ibis and Egyptian geese.
Serengeti National Park
One of the new Seven Wonders of the World, the seemingly endless plains of Serengeti National Park are dotted with kopjes, rivers and woodland. The huge herds of wildebeest and zebra can be viewed in special areas of Serengeti during different times of the year.
Witness the daily drama of life and death in Serengeti, where lion, cheetah, leopard and other predators hunt among enormous herds of gazelle, eland, buffalo and other beasts. Watch out for the smaller beauties – caracal, serval cat, genet and bat-eared foxes. Let the circling and descending vultures guide you to the site of a recent kill.
Ngorongoro Crater & Conservation Area
Ngorongoro Crater - the largest unbroken caldera in the world – contains an extraordinary number and variety of animals within its 610 m high walls and around its central soda lake. Countless flamingo, crowned cranes and secretary birds make their long-legged way among the grazing gazelle, rhino, elephant, wildebeest, zebra and other species too numerous to mention here.
Take a guided walk in the magnificent Ngorongoro Highlands through forests and around Olmoti and Empakaai Craters. Drive across to Olduvai Gorge and learn about the origins of mankind; marvel at the remains of prehistoric elephant, giant-horned sheep and enormous ostrich which inhabited the plains alongside our earliest ancestors.
Tarangire National Park
Famous for its huge herds of elephant, Tarangire Park also boasts the always-flowing Tarangire River, which attracts thousands of animals from the parched Masai steppe during the dry season months of August and September. Search for hunting lion in the grassland, examine tree branches for the hanging tail of a sleeping leopard, marvel at long-necked gerenuk and fringe-eared oryx among the ancient baobabs and strange sausage trees which spread their shade around this wonderland of a national park.
THE SOUTHERN CIRCUIT
Selous Game Reserve
Selous Game Reserve is another World Heritage Site and the largest protected wildlife area in Africa. Here you can search for rare Sable Antelope and packs of African Wild Dogs – lycaon pictus – the painted wolf. Here you can take a boat safari on the Rufiji River, amongst hippo, crocodile and numerous water birds.
Drive slowly through the grassland plains, savannah woodland and rocky outcrops, in the company of bushbuck, duikers, eland, hartebeest, hyena, klipspringer, impala, giraffe, oryx, reedbuck, waterbuck and zebra. Watch belligerent yellow baboons, gentle black and white colobus, vervet and blue monkeys, moving among the prolific birdlife of this vast stronghold of nature.
Ruaha National Park
Visit Ruaha park and and take a boat safari down the Great Ruaha River. Now bigger than Kruger park in South Africa and second only to Zambia’s Kafue park, Ruaha supports enormous concentrations of wildlife and a wide variety of birdlife.
Game viewing in Ruaha starts as your plane taxies in; long-legged giraffe race beside the airstrip, closely followed by cantering zebra while primordial pachyderms loiter in the shade of ancient baobab trees. At the last count, this park boasted of almost 10,000 elephants.
Mikumi National Park
Mikumi is the most easily accessible of Tanzania’s southern parks. Covering some 3,230 sq km of wilderness, Mikumi is yet another animal kingdom where wildlife has the right of way and nature alone holds sway.
Discover the abundant wildlife of Mkata Floodplain, where lion kings survey their domain from the flattened tops of termite mounds. Marvel at the sheer size and power of eland – the world’s largest antelope – and at the poetry-in-motion of greater kudu and sable antelope.
Katavi National Park
Best in the dry season months of June through October, when the Katuma River and floodplains form the only source of drinking water for miles around, this isolated wilderness area boasts 4,000 strong herds of elephant, 1,000-plus buffalo, numerous giraffe, zebra, impala and reedbuck.
Add to the above numerous prides of lion, clans of spotted hyena, up to 200 hippo in one small pool and a myriad colorful birds and you will have an idea of the spectacular tapestry of nature to be found in Katavi.
Kitulo National Park
One of the great floral spectacles of the world, Kitulo has been dubbed by botanists “the Serengeti of Flowers” and is called “God’s Garden by the local inhabitants. The breathtaking scale and diversity of Kitulo’s wildflowers include a multitude of orchids, stunning red-hot poker, aloes, proteas, lilies and aster daises.
Kitulo, perched at around 8,500 ft, is the first national park in tropical Africa to be gazetted largely for its floral significance, and is a riot of color during the rainy months of late November to April.
Udzungwa Mountains National Park
Often called the African Galapagos, for its treasure-trove of endemic plants and animals, Udzungwa is the largest (and most bio-diverse) of a chain of large forest-clad mountains which rise regally from the flat coastal scrub of Eastern Tanzania and which are known collectively as the Eastern Arc Mountains.
This brooding and primeval rainforest, which sustains rare plant species not found elsewhere in the world, hides waterfalls, exceptional forest birds and the newly-discovered Sanje crested mangabey.
Saadani National Park
Saadani is a coastal wildlife sanctuary where beach meets bush in an environment beyond compare. Relax on the palm-fringed white sands of the Indian Ocean where lion and elephant leave their footprints and observe one of the last major green turtle breeding sites on mainland Tanzania.
Take a game drive or a guided walk in the bush or visit Saadani fishing village, where a collection of ruins pays testament to its 19th century heyday as a major trading port.
Gombe National Park
A scheduled flight to Kigoma and a boat across Lake Tanganyika brings you to Gombe Stream – a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys of Lake Tanganikya’s sandy northern shores.
Made famous by the pioneering work of Dr Jane Goodall, the Gombe chimps are habituated to human visitors and thus are easy to follow and observe. Share the beach with a troop of friendly olive baboons to the harsh cry of Africa’s iconic fish eagle.
Mahale Mountains National Park
Deep in the heart of the African interior lie the Mahale Mountains, home to some of Africa’s last remaining wild chimpanzees. Trekking these chimps through montane rainforest and high grassy ridges chequered with alpine bamboo is an unparalleled experience.
After your trek, you can swim and snorkel in the impossibly clear waters of the world’s longest and second-deepest freshwater lake. Take a boat and try your luck with some of the estimated 1,000 fish species which inhabit the lake.
Rubondo Island National Park
Take a boat ride to Rubondo Island – a water wonderland, tucked into the southwest corner of Lake Victoria. Listen to the voice of Africa in the earsplitting, evocative duet of fish eagles, watch yellow-spotted otters frolicking in the island’s rocky coves.
Other activities which can be undertaken on Rubondo Island are chimp trekking, bird-watching excursions, sport fishing and tracking the aquatic sitatunga in the papyrus swamps.
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