Tanzania

ANCIENT WONDER

Its name rolls off the tongue and it's simply stunning to behold... - Ngorongoro (pronounced "ungoro-goro") is the world's largest intact volcanic caldera (crater) - the remains of the 3-million year-old volcano that would have dwarfed Kilimanjaro had it not erupted and collapsed!

The countless millennia and erosion have reduced this incredible natural remnant of Earth's ancient history to a 1968-feet deep crater that's home to one of the most breathtaking wildlife destinations in the world.

The crater itself is part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its vegetation ranges from montane forest to grassland and is densely populated with wildlife.

This is where you'll find a rich diversity of life, from the vast flocks of lesser flamingo that make Lake Magadi on the crater bed their home to considerable herds of plains game, from wildebeest and buffalo to zebra and eland. 

You'll also find lion, leopard and hyena here in good numbers, as well as elephant and black rhino. There are no giraffe inside the crater as the sides are too steep for them to manage. But there are plenty around the crater's edges.



The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and is home to Olduvai Gorge where some of the earliest hominid remains yet found were discovered in the 1950s, shedding light on our understanding of evolution.

VIEWS OF FOREVER

Located in the north-west of Tanzania with its northern reaches forming the national border with neighbouring Kenya, the Serengeti is the country's oldest national park and without a doubt its most famous.

It covers a vast 14,750 square miles of grassy plains, open savannah, riparian forest and acacia woodland. In the south, the plains are virtually treeless. This is where the wildebeest breed, staying in the plains from December to May each year before moving slowly north on their annual migration, crossing the snaking Mara River several times as they move into the Masai Mara. 

January and February are the best time to see newborns. It's a great time of year for birding as well. From June to July each year the wildebeest are in the western corridor, moving north from August to September. 

During the rainy season the plains are also home to large numbers of zebra, impala, hartebeest, topi, buffalo and waterbuck. They are dotted with granite outcrops which are great outlook spots for predators like lion and cheetah, as well as providing shelter for rock hyraxes.

The Serengeti is good for game viewing all year-round and offers some of the most spectacular sightings in East Africa, making it an absolute "must" for your East African safari itinerary. 

SAFARI'S BEST KEPT SECRET

If you want to see more animals and fewer tourists, then Tanzania's Tarangire National Park is the place to go. This lesser-known game reserve rivals the Serengeti with its concentrations of wildlife and it's also an incredible birding destination with more than 500 species recorded.

Dissected by the perennial Tarangire River, during the dry season you will often see herds of hundreds of elephants here as the river provides the only source of permanent water in the area. 

Tarangire's geography is marked by high numbers of ancient baobab trees, as well as marshes which become grassy plains during the dry season, attracting high numbers of buffalo, antelope and other plains game. You frequently see lion, leopard and cheetah here too.

"Special" sightings include Bohor's reedbuck, Coke's hartebeest, gerenuk and Beisa oryx, as well as black rhino.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Nyerere National Park was formerly known as the Selous and this incredible reserve in the south of Tanzania is bigger than Switzerland! In spite of being so large, it offers some of the most intimate, exclusive and authentic safari opportunities in East Africa.

Remote, wild and fabulously untamed, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is without a doubt one of the best places to visit in Tanzania. It covers more than 19,300 square miles of sprawling miombo woodland, wetlands and the beautiful Rufiji River which runs through it like a glittering jewelled snake.

This national park has a higher density and diversity of species than any other miombo woodland area in Africa and is an important home for the critically endangered painted wolf (African wild dog), which shares the reserve with plenty of crocodile, lion, leopard, hippo, elephant, black rhino, buffalo and more than 400 bird species.

The perennial Rufiji River flows to Indian Ocean and is renowned for its hippo and crocodile populations. Visitors can enjoy cruising the river on boat-based safari activities, offering exceptional wildlife viewing along the way.

Nyerere National Park is rich in wildlife, from major predators such as lion and leopard, as well as big herds of buffalo and elephant roaming the woodlands. Among the rarer animals, you might spot black rhino, Nyasa wildebeest, sable antelope, eland and Lichtenstein’s hartebeest.