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The
Serengeti ("big plains" in the maasai language) is certainly
the most famous park in Africa and spreads on a surface of 14.700 square
kilometres in the north of the country, west of Ngorongoro crater, south
of Maasai Mara park in Kenya. It was the first official park in Tanzania,
so declared in 1951, and World Heritage in 1981. Millions of animals
have their home in those plains and thousands of documentaries have
been filmed there, but its fame comes in the first place from the biggest
migration in the world, when millions of animals wander across the plains
and the Grumeti River looking for water and pasture. |
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It
is one and a half million wildebeests, zebras and gazelles that start
moving together for survival. They devour 4000 tons of grass every day
on the way! It is a most impressive show, for the eyes, the ears and
the nose, that you will never forget! The plains are crowded as far
as the eye can see. You will also assist incredible scenes of hunting
by the big predators, as well as the amazing crossing of the Grumeti
River where the crocodiles wait patiently for their food. Life and death
in their magnificence! |
The
landscape is a mix of the famous plains, scattered with "kopjes",
these granite blocs that serve as view point for the lion prides, and woodland.
The animal population is extremely rich, with around 2.500 lions (the biggest
concentration in a park), and you will have the possibility of spotting the
"big five", that is lions, leopards, elephants, buffalos and rhinos.
Just
before entering the Serengeti, you will pass the Olduvai valley, probable
cradle of human kind, with the discovery of skulls of Homo Habilis and Homo
Erectus in the sixties by the Leakey family. There you will also see the footprints
of our ancestors, dating 3, 75 million years back!
For
more information, we advise you the official website of the Tanzanian national
parks (TANAPA):
www.serengeti.org
