Serengeti National Park

A million wildebeest… each one driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating, and survival of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns of these animals plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north, and replenishing these species in a brief population explosion that, incredibly, produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again. This is Serengeti's sensational Annual Migration.

Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, Serengeti is also a World Heritage site and was recently proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder. It is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek, described above, for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is absent, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: with the intriguing possibility of seeing great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.

The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful serval cat.

But there is more to Serengeti than large mammals. Gaudy agama lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of the park’s isolated granite kopjes. A full 100 varieties of dung beetle have been recorded, as have 500-plus bird species, ranging from the outsized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar effortlessly above the Lobo Hills.

As enduring as the game-viewing is, the liberating sense of space that characterises the Serengeti Plains, stretch across sunburnt savannah to a shimmering golden horizon, seemingly at the end of the earth. And after the rains, this golden expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green carpet, flecked with wildflowers. There are also wooded hills and towering termite mounds, rivers lined with fig trees, and acacia woodland-stained orange by dust. Popular though Serengeti might be, it remains so vast that you may be the only human audience when a pride of lion masterminds a siege, focussed unswervingly on its next meal.

About Serengeti:

Size: 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles).

Location: 335km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west.

Getting there:

Scheduled and charter flights from Arusha or drive from there - perhaps the most rewarding way of travel, enabling you to see and experience the 'real Africa' en route.

What to do:

We can arrange hot air balloon safaris, walking safaris, picnicking, game drives, bush lunches/dinners – just ask for details.

When to go:  To follow the wildebeest migration, December-July. To see predators, June-October.