Serengeti National Park is one of the famous National Park in Africa which lies in the northern part of Tanzania; 14, 765 square kilometers bordering Masai Mara National Reserve on the other side of Kenya. The park is a UNESCO world heritage site. Serengeti National Park offers best wildlife viewing in Africa and all the big five are found there and also over 1.5 million wildebeest migration whereby they migrate from Serengeti to Masai Mara each year. This migration happens because they follow rain whereby green pasture grow faster.
Ndutu Region.
Ndutu region is found in Southern Serengeti National Park. At December, wildebeest arrive Ndutu region in time for green pasture. The Ndutu area is famed for its short grass plains which grow grass which is particularly rich in nutrients and sustains the migratory animals whilst they have their babies. Traditionally the wildebeest and zebra tend to calve on these plains with a peak around February which makes for a beautiful natural spectacle and some exciting predator hunting behaviors. Young babies continue to mature until March-April whereby after that they start migrating to northern part of Serengeti and Mara region following rain and green pasture.
Wildlife in the Serengeti National Park
All the big five including; Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo are found there. Inside the park there is also Lion Conservation whereby over 3,000 live are protected in the ecosystem. Other carnivores in the park include; jackals, African golden wolf, honey badger, striped hyena, caracal, and wild dogs. Other animal species include; aardvark, aardwolf, african wildcat, african civet, common genet, african striped weasel, bat-eared fox, ground pangolin, crested porcupine, three species of hyraxes and cape hare. Primates such as yellow and olive baboons, patas monkeys, and vervet monkey, black-and-white colobus are also seen in the gallery forests of the Grumeti River. Over 500 species of birds can be seen inside the park; Masai ostrich, secretary bird, kori bustards, helmeted Guinea fowls, Grey-breasted spur fowl, blacksmith lapwing, african collared dove, red-billed buffalo weaver, southern ground hornbill, crowned cranes, sacred ibis, cattle egrets, black herons, knob-billed ducks, saddle-billed storks, white stork, goliath herons, marabou storks, yellow-billed stork, spotted thick-knees, lesser flamingo, shoebills, abdim’s stork, hamerkops, hadada ibis, african fish eagles, pink-backed pelicans, Tanzanian red-billed hornbill, martial eagles, egyptian geese, lovebirds, spur-winged geese, woodpeckers, and many species of vultures.
Accessibility
Serengeti National Park is located 385km from Arusha; 7-hour drive from Nairobi. The favored route for a Serengeti fly-in safari is by flying from Kilimanjaro International Airport or Arusha Airport. From here it will take approximately 1 to 5 hours to fly to one of seven airstrips within the Serengeti National Park; Seronera Airstrip, Lobo Airstrip, Serengeti Kusini Airstrip, Fort Ikoma Airstrip, Kirawira Airstrip, and Kogatende Airstrip.
