The Serengeti: why it’s the best-known National Park in Tanzania for a safari
The best-known National Park in Tanzania is, without a doubt, the Serengeti. Serengeti National Park is one of the most revered safari destinations on the planet, hosting the spectacle of the Great Migration and year-round, incredible wildlife. The Serengeti is very large and the regions in the north, south, centre, east and west all offer up habitat-specific wildlife and unique landscapes. Some safari-goers limit their safari to the Serengeti alone, spending time in three or four camps in its different regions, and we recommend this focused approach. From seeing a pride of lions sunning themselves on top of a massive boulder (koppie), to giraffe and elephant both reaching for acacia leaves within a dense woodland forest, to cheetah peering over the vast grassland plains from an elevated termite mound, to riverscapes inhabited by huge crocodiles, you can partake in a an endless variety of awe-inspiring scenes in the Serengeti.
Although the Serengeti is very widely known, lodges and tented camps have been carefully built into the landscape over the past decades to preserve the overall sense of wilderness and avoid a “commercial” feel. The populations of classic safari animals are absolutely what dominate the park, not a sense of being overrun by tourists. Depending on the area of the park and the time of year, travelers may encounter a number of other game drive vehicles, but there are also times and areas where you can gaze upon a leopard alone for as long as you might want to sit with him.
See it or skip it? The Serengeti is a must-must-must see!
The Serengeti offers up fantastic wildlife year-round and is particularly famous for the Great Migration experience. If the wildebeest migration is at the top of your bucket list, then the best time to go is in January to March, or in July to September. Aside from those peak periods, however, a safari that explores the incredible resident game and territorial predators can be just as rewarding, and likely offer up greater solitude.
