The Animals of Serengeti National Park : Serengeti National park is located North of Tanzania, it is covered under the Serengeti ecosystem. This region is very rich in wildlife is covering an area of 30,000km²which includes Serengeti National park and several other game reserves is one of the most visited parks of Tanzania. Serengeti National park is best to visit any time of the year because of its first class Tanzania wildlife safari experience including exclusive world’s largest terrestrial mammals migration of millions of wildebeest ,thousands of zebras and Antelopes. This great wildlife natural phenomenon happening every year in which the animals seem to move in a certain routine pattern clockwise into Masai mara National Reserve in Kenya and back to Tanzania taking a clockwise direction.
The unexplained and unpredictable wildlife behaviour is the most popular highlight of any safari tour in the park, making it to ranked among the seven wonders of Africa and one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world making Serengeti National park one of the amazing places to visit for a wonderful safari tour to remember.
The Serengeti National park is located in Tanzania and it is adjacent to Masai Mara National Reserve to Kenya. Serengeti National park is well known and popular because it is the only place in Africa where vast plain animals still migrate. It is known for its large migration of gnu the wildebeest gazelles and Antelopes. The park is 14,763km² by its size with its name derived from Masai word Siringet which means a place where the land runs forever.
In 1930 the government of Tanganyika designated 2286 kilometres square of land in the Southern and Eastern Serengeti as a Game reserve. This area later became a National Park in 1940 ,the park was granted strict protection in 1948 when the Serengeti National park Board of Trustees was formed. The park boundaries were finalised in 1951 and they restricted the movement of Maasai people from entering into this protected area. In 1959 an addition of 8300km² was established in Eastern Serengeti forming the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The Serengeti National park attracted the world attention when Bernard Grzimek and his Michael produce a book and Documentary titled Serengeti shall not die in 1959.
Wildlife
Serengeti National Park together with Masai Mara National Reserve forms the largest conservation area in East Africa with very rich wildlife species and is the most visited safari tour destination. This is the region with the highest number of lion population with over 3000 lions living in this ecosystem. There is also a good number of African leopard with a population density of 5.41 per 100km² during the dry season increasing the probability of spotting on during your Tanzania safari tour .
There are also more than 5000 African Elephants, a population that is steadily rising of being threatened by poaching activities. African Buffalo which had declined too in the 70s due to poaching has increased to a population of over 28000 currently in the conservancy area. Rhinoceros is the least in number among the Big Five animals with a population of less than 70 surviving in the park today.
Other animals found in the park include; cheetahs which are the fastest land animal in the world with the population of over 3500, spotted hyena, Black backed jackal ,African golden wolf, honey badger, stripped hyenas, Caracals, serval, banded Mongoose, African wild dogs, Hippopotamus, Common warthog, aardvark, African civet, African wild cat, common Genet, African stripped weasel ,bat eared fox, Zorilla, Ground pangolin, Crested porcupine ,Cape hare, three species of hyraxes, vervet monkeys, Yellow and olive baboons, paths and vervet monkeys, mantled guereza, Nile crocodiles, leopard Tortoise, serrated hinged terrapin, rainbow agama, African python , black mamba, Jackson’s Chameleon ,Black neck spitting cobra, puff adder and Nile Monitor.
Birds
There are over 500 species of birds to be seen in Serengeti National park .They include Ostriches, Secretary birds, helmeted guinea fowl, kori Bustard, Black herons ,sacred ibis, African collared dove ,blacksmith lapwing, Marabou storks, African fish Eagle, goliath herons, lovebirds, Southern ground Hornbill, Red billed buffalo weaver, crowned cranes, cattle Egret, knob-billed ducks, saddle billed storks, yellow billed storks, White storks, spotted thick-knees, lesser flamingos ,shoebills, abdim’s storks, Hamerkops, Hadada ibis, Tanzania red-billed hornbills, Martial Eagles, Egyptian Geese, Spur -winged geese,Oxpeckers ,pink backed pelicans and Grey-breasted spurfowl among other birds.
Climate
This beautiful wildlife haven is cool and dry season is cool and dry season from May to August .During this period the park experiences no rain. The vegetation is small and therefore the need of greener pastures. There is the warm and dry months from September and October with the raining season the wet and hot season from November to April.
The best time to visit Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park can best be visited during the dry months for optimum game viewing experience. This is because during this period the grasses and bushes are short therefore ,easy visibility of animals. The other advantage is that the roads are not muddy like in the rainy season .The season being dry the passage of the roads inside the park are easy. The best time to visit is January, February, June all through to September are the best time for a wonderful memorable safari tour to Serengeti National park. The park is predominantly a semi desert grasslands in a arid and semi arid region necessitating the animals to be in constant move following the short rains and greener pastures, The Animals of Serengeti National Park
How to get there
There are several Airports in Tanzania to choose from depending on your entry point or your journey starting location. Some of the international entry points are Arusha Airport, Dar es salaam ,and Zanzibar but Kilimanjaro international Airport is the closet to Serengeti National park. The most easy and convenient way is to take a flight from the named airports to one of the seven available airstrips inside Serengeti National park.
The most popular means is by road, taking a 4×4tour van from Arusha a journey that takes approximately Eight hours drive. A stay overnight in one of the wildlife sites is always recommended when en route to Serengeti National park.
Serengeti National Park Entry points
There are four main entry points into Serengeti National park. They are: Ndabaka gate,Naabi Hill gate, Klein’s gate and Ikoma gate.
Naabi Hills Gate
Nabbing Hills gate is the Main gate and is located South of Serengeti National park. It is approximately 45 kilometres from Seronera fuel station, it is the busiest entry and exit point of Serengeti National park.
Klein’s gate
The Klein’s gate is located in the North Eastern part of Serengeti National park. It is open daily from 0600hrs to 1800hrs.
Ndabaka gate
It is the main entry point fro the western area of the Serengeti National park. It is 136 kilometres from Mwanza Town and a journey of 2 hours 30 minutes by road and it is open from 0600hrs to 1800hrs daily.
Ikoma gate
One of the entry and exit point into Serengeti national park. The gate has Ikoma camp , and a curious shop like all the other parks entry and exit gates is open from 0600hrs to 1800hrs.
