The Mighty Serengeti

Day 2: Full-day game drive in Serengeti National Park, with picnic lunch provided. Have dinner and spend the night at camp or lodge.

The park covers 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi) of grassland plains, savannah, riverine forest, and woodlands. It lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem.

The park is usually described as divided into three regions:

Serengeti plains: the almost treeless grassland of the south is the most emblematic scenery of the park. This is where the wildebeest breed, as they remain in the plains from December to May. Other hoofed animals – zebra, gazelle, impala, hartebeest, topi, buffalo, waterbuck – also appear in huge numbers during the wet season. “Kopjes” are granite protrusions that are very common in the region, and they are great observation posts for predators, as well as a refuge for hyrax and pythons.

Western corridor: black clay soil covers the savannah of this region. The Grumeti River and its gallery forests is home to Nile crocodiles, patas monkeys, hippopotamus, and martial eagles. The migration passes through from May to July.

Northern Serengeti: the landscape is dominated by open woodlands (predominantly Commiphora) and hills, ranging from Seronera in the south to the Mara River on the Kenyan border. Apart from the migratory wildebeest and zebra (which occur from July to August, and in November), this is the best place to find elephants, giraffes, and dik dik.

Day 3: Enjoy a sunrise game drive, return to camp for breakfast, then drive back to Arusha. Final drop off at your accommodation or Kilimanjaro Airport to catch your flight back home or to your next destination.