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Tanzania
has about 15 National
Parks and several
protected areas.
The most famous
of them all is Serengeti
National Park where
the annual wildebeest
migration takes
place when more
than a million wildebeest
are joined by over
200,000 zebra and
300,000 Gazelle
takes place every
year from late December
to June. Then there
is the famed Ngorongoro
Crater, also called
the eighth wonder
of the world and
the remote and exotic
Selous national
Reserve. Tanzania
is a great wildlife
country in addition
to being the home
of Mount Kilimanjaro,
the world’s tallest
and easiest to climb
mountain. And of
course, there are
the spice islands
of Zanzibar and
Pemba.
ARUSHA
NATIONAL PARK
Arusha
National Park is
a multi-faceted
jewel. In the midst
of the forest is
the spectacular
Ngurdoto Crater
with steep, rocky
cliffs enclosing
a marshy floor dotted
with herds of buffalo
and warthog.
To
the north, rolling
hills enclose the
beauty of the Momela
Lakes, each a different
hue of green or
blue. Giraffes glide
across the hills
between grazing
zebra herds, while
dik-dik dart into
scrubby bush like
overgrown hares
on spindly legs.
Elephants are uncommon
and lions absent
but leopards and
spotted hyenas may
be seen slinking
around in the early
morning and late
afternoon.
At
dusk and dawn when
the veil of cloud
may clears revealing
the majestic snow-capped
peaks of Kilimanjaro.
Mount Meru -
the 5th highest
in Africa at 4,566
metres (14,990 feet)
dominates the park’s
horizon. Protected
within the national
park, Mt. Meru is
a hiking destination
in its own right.
The ascent of Meru
leads into forests
aflame with red-hot
pokers and dripping
with Spanish moss,
before reaching
high open heath
spiked with giant
lobelias. Buffalos
and giraffes are
frequently encountered.
Astride the craggy
summit, Kilimanjaro
stands unveiled,
blushing in the
sunrise.
LAKE
MANYARA NATIONAL
PARK
The
330 sq. km Lake
Manyara National
Park stretches for
50km along the base
of the rusty-gold
600-metre high Rift
Valley escarpment,
a scenic gem, with
a setting extolled
by Ernest Hemingway
as “the loveliest
I had seen in Africa”.
From
the entrance, the
road winds through
an lush jungle-like
groundwater forest
where hundred-strong
baboon troops lounge,
blue monkeys scamper
between ancient
mahogany trees,
bushbuck tread warily
through the shadows,
and outsized forest
hornbills honk in
the high canopy.
The grassy floodplain
with its expansive
views across the
alkaline lake to
the volcanic peaks
that rise from the
endless Maasai Steppes
contrasts sharply
with the forest.
Large buffalo, wildebeest
and zebra herds,
giraffes and other
mammals congregate
on these grassy
plains.
A narrow
belt of acacia woodland
is the haunt of
Lake Manyara’s famous
tree-climbing lions
and elephants.
Lake
Manyara is the perfect
introduction to
Tanzania’s birdlife
with more than 400
species recorded.
Other highlights
include thousands
of pink flamingos
on their perpetual
migration, as well
as other large waterbirds
such as pelicans,
cormorants and storks.
NGORONGORO
CONSERVATION AREA
Called
the eighth wonder
of the world and
stretching across
some 8,300 sq km,
the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area in northern
Tanzania boasts
a blend of landscapes,
wildlife, people
and archaeology
that is unsurpassed
in Africa. The volcanoes,
grasslands, waterfalls
and mountain forests
are home to an abundance
of animals and to
the Maasai. Ngorongoro
Crater is one of
the world's greatest
natural spectacles.
SERENGETI
NATIONAL PARK
The
14,763 sq km Serengeti
National Park is
Tanzania's oldest
and most famous
national park. Here,
from late December
to June each year,
the annual wildebeest
migration takes
place when more
than a million wildebeest
are joined by over
200,000 zebra and
300,000 Gazelle
in wildebeests’
trek for fresh grazing
from southern Serengeti
to Kenya’s Maasai
Mara in the north.
But even when the
migration is not
on, Serengeti offers
scintillating game-viewing
with its resident
game with great
herds of buffalo,
groups of elephant
and giraffe, thousands
of eland, topi,
kongoni, impala
and Grant’s gazelle.
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.
TARANGIRE
NATIONAL PARK
The
2600 sq. km Tarangire
National Park, named
after the Tarangire
River, which rises
from the central
Tanzania highlands,
is most famous for
its gigantic elephants
and towering baobab
trees. The park
boasts over 500
birds species including
Kori bastard and
ostriches and the
park’s pythons climb
trees, just like
the leopards
During
the dry season months
from August to October,
when the grass dries
up in most of the
park, herds of up
to 300 elephants
congregate along
the Tarangire River
scratching its dry
river bed for underground
streams, while migratory
wildebeest, zebra,
buffalo, impala,
gazelle, hartebeest
and eland crowd
the shrinking lagoons.
It's the greatest
concentration of
wildlife outside
the Serengeti ecosystem
- a feast for the
predators – and
the only place in
Tanzania where dry-country
antelope such as
the stately fringe-eared
oryx and the long-necked
gerenuk are regularly
seen. These thirsty
nomads have wandered
hundreds of kilometers
for this water.
MOUNT
KILIMANJARO
Mount
Kilimanjaro is the
tallest mountain
in Africa, the second
highest in the world
and the highest
free-standing mountain
in the world at
a height of 5,895
metres (19,336 feet)
above sea level.
It is one of the
most accessible
summits in the world
with most climbers
able to reaching
the crater rim.
Many others are
able to reach Uhuru
Point, the summit
mountain summit.
The ascent is a
virtual climatic
world tour, from
the tropics to the
Arctic. As you start
the climb or even
before you enter
the national park
boundary (at the
2,700m contour),
cultivated footslopes
give way to lush
montane forest,
inhabited by elusive
elephant, leopard,
buffalo, the endangered
Abbot’s duiker,
and other small
antelope and primates.
Higher on lies the
moorland zone. Above
4,000m, a surreal
alpine desert supports
little life other
than a few hardy
mosses and lichen.
Then, finally, the
last vestigial vegetation
gives way to a winter
wonderland of ice
and snow – and the
magnificent beauty
of the roof of the
continent.
SELOUS
NATIONAL RESERVE
The
55,000 sq. km Selous
National Reserve
in southern Tanzania
is largest game
reserve in Africa.
It is four times
the size of the
Serengeti and boasts
a landscape from
hot volcanic springs,
sporadic lakes,
channels from the
Great Ruaha and
Rufiji rivers. There
are over 350 species
of bird and 2,000
species of plants
to see makes this
the most heavenly
sanctuary to explore.
Selous National
Reserve is famed
for its elephant
and hippos population
and a few rhino
remain. The Selous
is also host to
the largest population
buffalo in Africa,
eland, zebras, waterbuck,
giraffe, gnus, reedbuck,
warthog, hartebeest,
Greater Kudu, sable
antelope, bushbuck
and wildebeest,
lion, leopard, spotted
hyenas, wild dog,
crocodiles and snakes.
There are 350+ species
of bird.
RUAHA
NATIONAL PARK
In
the 10,300 sq. km
Ruaha National Park,
game viewing starts
the moment the plane
touches. Ruaha has
10,000 elephants
- the largest population
in any East African
national park.
Ruaha
National Park’s
lifeblood, the Ruaha
River, flows along
the eastern boundary
in a torrent during
the rains, but dwindles
thereafter to a
scattering of precious
pools surrounded
by a blinding sweep
of sand and rock.
During
the dry season,
impala, waterbuck
and other antelopes
risk their life
when they visit
the Ruaha for a
sip of life-sustaining
water not only from
the prides of 20+
lion that lord over
the savannah but
also from the cheetahs
that stalk the grassland
and the leopards
that lurk in the
riverine thickets.
Both striped and
spotted hyena, as
well as several
conspicuous packs
of the highly endangered
African wild dog
are present.
Because
of its transitional
location to the
acacia savannah
of East Africa and
the miombo woodland
belt of Southern
Africa, Ruaha has
a large number of
antelope species
of . Grant's gazelle
and lesser kudu
live to the south
together with sable
and roan antelope
and East Africa’s
largest population
of greater kudu,
distinguished by
the male's magnificent
horns.
Ruaha
also boasts over
450 birds including
crested barbet,
the yellow-collared
lovebird and ashy
starling.
For
more information
on Tanzania National
Parks, visit http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/
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