Each year more than six million hooves pound the
legendary Serengeti’s endless plains. Triggered by the
seasonal rains, more than a million wildebeest, 200,000
zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle gather to undertake
their long trek to new grazing lands. The wildebeest
rutting season is a frenzied three week long bout of
territorial conquests and mating, followed by survival
of the fittest as the 40 km long columns plunge through
crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north.
Replenishing the species is the brief population
explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves a day
before the 1,000 km pilgrimage begins again.
Tanzania’s first and most famous park, the Serengeti, is
renowned for its wealth of leopard and lion. The vast
reaches of the park are a hiding place for the
endangered black rhino and provide a protected breeding
ground for the vulnerable cheetah, alongside the
Serengeti’s thousands of other diverse species, from the
500 varieties of bird to 100 different types of dung
beetle.
After the rains, the Serengeti’s magical golden horizon
is transformed into an endless green carpet, flecked
with wildflowers. The famous plains are interspersed
with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, monumental
rocky kopjes, and rivers lined with elegant acacia
trees.
To search for the at-times elusive wildebeest migration,
visit the Serengeti from December to July. To see
predators, June to October are the best months. For the
best chance of finding the migration, allow a minimum of
three days, longer if possible.
Arusha National Park
Arusha National Park, often overlooked, is in fact a
treasure, a rich tapestry of habitats, teeming with
animals and birds. From the lush swamps of the Ngurdoto
Crater to the tranquil beauty of the Momela Lakes and
the rocky alpine heights of Mt Meru, the terrain of the
park is as varied as it is interesting. Zebras grazeon
the park’s red grasslands, and leopards lurk next to
waterfalls in the shadowy forest. More than 400 species
of bird, both migrant and resident, can be found in
Arusha National Park alongside rare primates such as the
black-and white colobus monkey.
The rewarding climb up Mt Meru passes through forests of
dripping Spanish moss and rises to open heath, spiked
with giant lobelia plants. Delicate klipspringer
antelope watch the progress of hikers from the top of
huge boulders, and everlasting flowers cling to the
alpine desert underfoot. Once astride the craggy summit,
the reward is a sight of Mt Kilimanjaro, breathtaking in
the sunrise.
The best time to visit Arusha National Park is during
the dry season from July to November, or after the short
rains from December to March. The best months to climb
Mt Meru are June to February, with the best views of Mt
Kilimanjaro seen from December to February. The park
lies just 25 km east of Arusha and is a rewarding day
trip from Arusha or Moshi.
Gombe Stream National Park
Gombe Stream is the smallest of Tanzania’s National
Parks, a thin strip of ancient forest set amidst
mountains and steep valleys on the shores of Lake
Tanganyika. Chimpanzees are Gombe Stream’s main
attraction; they are the stars of the world’s most
famous chimpanzee community, made famous by the
pioneering British researcher Jane Good all, whose years
of constant observation since 1960 have brought to light
startling new facts about mankind’s closest cousins.
Chimps are as individually unique as humans and no
scientifi c expertise is needed to distinguish the
different characters in the cast. The majority of the
park mammals are primates, most of them forest species
and in addition to the famous chimpanzees, visitors
could be lucky enough to see blue or red-tail monkeys.
Carnivores are rare in the forest, making Gombe the
ideal place for a walking safari, or a swim in one of
the streams.
Katavi National Park
Katavi National Park in western Tanzania is remote and
wild, a destination for the true safari aficionado. The
name of the park immortalises a legendary hunter,
Katabi, whose spirit is believed to possess a tamarind
tree ringed with offerings from locals begging his
blessings.
Despite being Tanzania’s third-largest park, Katavi sees
relatively few visitors, meaning that those guests who
arrive here can look forward to having this huge
untouched wilderness to themselves. The park’s main
features are the watery grass plains to the north, the
palmfringed Lake Chada in the south-east, and the Katuma
River. Katavi boasts Tanzania’s greatest populations of
both crocodile and hippopotamus. Lion and leopard fi nd
prey among the huge populations of herbivores at Katavi
– impala, eland, topi, zebra and herds of up to 1,600
buffalo wander the short grass plains. The rare, honey-
oloured puku antelope is one of the park’s richest
wildlife viewing rewards. A kaleidoscope of birds fl it
across the riverbanks, swamps and palm groves while
flotillas of pelican cruise the lakes and elephant graze
waist-deep in the marshlands.
Katavi is best visited in the dry season between May and
October, December and February.
Kilimanjaro National Park
The great mountain of Kilimanjaro is a metaphor for the
compelling beauty of East Africa. Rising in absolute
isolation, at 5,895 m (19,336 ft), Kilimanjaro is one of
the highest walkable summits on the planet, a beacon for
visitors from around the world. Just three degrees south
of the equator, Kilimanjaro’s great peaks of Kibo and
Mawenzi are nonetheless covered all year round with snow
and ice. Most reasonably fi t and properly guided
climbers can experience the triumph of reaching the
crater rim with little more than a walking stick, warm
clothing and determination. Those who reach Uhuru Point,
the actual summit, or Gillman’s point on the lip of the
crater (Kilimanjaro is a dormant, but not extinct,
volcano), will have earned their climbing certificates
and their memories.
There is, however, so much more to Kilimanjaro than the
summit. A journey up the slopes takes visitors on a
climatic world tour, from the tropics to the arctic. The
grassy and cultivated lower slopes turn into lush
rainforest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard,
buffalo and antelope. Higher still, heath and moorland,
covered with giant heather, becomes a surreal alpine
desert and, finally, there is ice, snow and the biggest
view on the continent.
December to February are the warmest and clearest months
to visit, with July to September being colder but also
dry. It is wet in the rainforest from April to June and
during November.
Kitulo National Park
Kitulo, which has recently become a fully protected
national park, is situated on the Kitulo Plateau, which
forms part of Tanzania’s southern highlands. The area,
which is known locally as the “Garden of God,” provides
a home for a wide variety of wildfl owers such as
balsams, bellfl owers, honey-peas, irises, lilies and
orchids.
Lake Manyara National Park
Tucked below the majesty of the Rift Valley wall, Lake
Manyara National Park consists of a thin green band of
forest, fl anked by the sheer 600 m high red and brown
cliff s of the escarpment on one side and by the
white-hot shores of an ancient soda lake on the other.
This wedge of surprisingly varied vegetation supports a
wealth of wildlife, nourished by the streams fl owing
out of the escarpment base and waterfalls spilling over
the cliff s. Acacia woodland shelters the park’s famous
tree-climbing lions, lying languidly among the branches
in the heat of the day. Feeding in the undergrowth or
dozing in the dry riverbeds are the country’s densest
populations of buff alo and elephant.
Deep in the south of the park, hot springs bubble to the
surface as hippo wallow near the lake’s sedge-lined
borders. The park’s dazzling variety of birds includes
thousands of redbilled quelea flitting over the water,
pelicans, cormorants and the pink streaks of thousands
of fl amingos. Manyara is the perfect location for an
active safari – canoeing on the lake or mountain biking
and abseiling outside the park’s borders.
The dry season (July to October) is best for large
mammals, while the wet season (November to June) is best
for bird watching, waterfalls and canoeing.
Mahale Mountains National Park
Like its northerly neighbour Gombe, Mahale Mountains
National Park is home to some of the last remaining wild
chimpanzees in Africa. Around 1,000 of these fascinating
animals roam the isolated rainforest of Mahale, a chain
of dramatic peaks draped in lush vegetation falling to
Lake Tanganyika’s beaches far below.
Visitors are led on guided walks in search of the
chimpanzees, following clues such as the previous
night’s nests, shadowy clumps high in the trees, or
scraps of half-eaten fruit and fresh dung. Once found,
the chimpanzees preen each other’s glossy coats in
concentrated huddles, squabble noisily or bound eff
ortlessly into the trees, swinging nonchalantly through
the vines.
In addition to a hike on the trail of the chimpanzees,
visitors can trace the Tongwe people’s ancient
pilgrimage to the mountain spirits, trekking through
enclaves of rainforest to grassy ridges chequered with
alpine bamboo. After a hot walk in the forest, the clear
waters of the lake, home to 250 species of fish, beckon
for a refreshing swim.
The best time for forest walks in Mahale is during the
dry season, from May to October. The light rains of
October and November present no real obstacle to
visitors.
Mikumi National Park
Forming the northern borders of Africa’s biggest game
reserve – the vast Selous – Mikumi is one of the most
popular of Tanzania’s national parks, the most
accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometre (47,000
square mile) - wilderness that stretches almost to the
shores of the Indian Ocean. The main feature of the park
is the Mikumi fl ood plain, along with the mountain
ranges that border the park on two sides. Open
grasslands dominate the flood plain, eventually merging
with the miombo woodland covering the lower hills. The
woodland is the favourite haunt of the lion, sometimes
perching high in the trees to keep their feet dry from
the sticky black mud of the wet season. Observation
towers above the treeline allow panoramic views of the
plain laid out below, home to formidable herds of
buffalo. Mikumi’s elephants are more compact than those
in the rest of the country, but still a formidable sight
when viewed close up. The rains swell the park’s
population of birds to more than 300w species as
European migrants seek refuge in Mikumi, joining
resident stars like the lilac-breasted roller.
Mikumi’s road network provides visitors with easy game
viewing drives and there are hippo, zebra, giraffe,
hartebeest and wildebeest in abundance. The park is
accessible all year round.
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha is a park where game viewing can begin the moment
the plane touches down. A pair of giraffe may race
beside the airstrip, with a line of zebra parading
across the runway in their wake as nearby protective
elephant mothers guard their young under the shade of a
baobab tree.
Wildlife in Ruaha is concentrated along the great Ruaha
River that is the park’s lifeblood. The river is a
flooded torrent after the rains, dwindling to a few
precious pools of water surrounded by a sweep of sand in
the dry season. Waterbuck, impala and the world’s most
southerly Grant’s gazelle risk their lives for a sip of
water –the shores of the Ruaha are a permanent hunting
ground for lion, leopard, jackal, hyena and the rare and
endangered African Wild Dog. Ruaha’s 8,000 elephants are
recovering strongly from ivory poaching during the 1980s
and remain the largest population in East Africa.
Ruaha is the only protected area in which the flora and
fauna of eastern and southern Africa overlap, leading to
fascinating combinations of wildlife – both greater and
lesser kudu live here, as do sable and roan antelopes.
Rubondo Island National Park
Rubondo Island is tucked into the corner of Lake
Victoria, the world’s second largest lake, an inland sea
sprawling between three countries. Rubondo provides
protection for fish breeding grounds, while tilapia and
the rapacious Nile perch, some weighing more than 100
kg, tempt recreational fishers with challenging sports
fishing and world record catches. But Rubondo is more
than a water wonderland. Deserted sandy beaches nestle
against a cloak of virgin forest. Papyrus swamps host
the secretive sitatunga, a shaggy aquatic antelope, and
the dappled bushbuck.
Rubondo is a birder’s paradise, with the malachite
kingfisher’s azure brilliance competing with the
paradise flycatcher’s glamorous fl owing tail. Rubondo
is home to fish eagles and is a global stopover for
hundreds of migratory birds, as well as a sanctuary for
sweet smelling wild jasmine and 40 different species of
orchid.
Ninety percent of the island is covered with humid
forest, the remainder ranges from coastal grassland to
lakeside papyrus beds. A number of indigenous mammal
species hippo, bushbuck, genet, and mongoose share their
protected habitat with introduced species such as
chimpanzee, elephant, and giraffe.
Rubondo’s wild flowers are at their best from November
to March. For migratory birds, visit December to
February. The island’s climate is at its most pleasant
from June to August.
Saadani National Park
Saadani National Park is the perfect union of beach and
bush. Located just 70 km north of Bagamoyo and
immediately accessible by paved road from Dar es Salaam,
Saadani has recently become a fully protected national
park and is a popular day-trip from beach resorts
scattered along Tanzania’s northern coast. The Wami
River, which passes through Saadani National Park and
empties into the Indian Ocean, hosts a large population
of hippos, crocodiles, fl amingos, and many large bird
species. Elephants have been rumoured to be seen bathing
and playing on Saadani’s beach, especially in the early
hours of the morning.
A good choice for visitors in Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar
who don’t have time for longer safaris to visit more
remote parks around the country, Saadani is easily
visited for a day trip or over a weekend.
Tarangire National Park
During Tarangire’s dry season, day after day of
cloudless skies seem to suck all moisture from the
landscape, turning the waving grasses to platinum
blonde, brittle as straw. The Tarangire River is a mere
shadow of itself, just a trickle of water choked with
wildlife; thirsty antelope and elephant have wandered
hundreds of parched kilometres to Tarangire’s permanent
water source.
Herds of elephant three hundred strong dig in the damp
earth of the riverbed in search of underground springs,
while wildebeest, zebra, buff alo, and gazelle mingle
with rare species such as eland and oryx around each
shrinking lagoon. Python climb into the shade of the
trees that line Tarangire’s massive southern swamps and
hang there like giant malignant fruit, coils neatly
arranged over the branches in a perfect sphere.
Tarangire in the dry season enjoys the greatest
concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti
ecosystem.
Tarangire’s huge herds of elephant rival the park’s
gigantic, squat baobab trees as its most celebrated
feature – ancient matriarchs, feisty young bulls and
tiny, stumbling calves are ever present to fascinate
visitors with their grace, intelligence and majesty.
The best time to visit Tarangire for wildlife viewing or
walking is the dry season, from June to October.
Udzungwa Mountains National Park
The Udzungwa Mountains are almost unearthly. An
enchanted forest of leafy glades, freckled with
sunshine, where fungus, lichen, moss and ferns
ingratiate themselves into every damp crevice, it is at
once both vivid detail and larger than life. A new
variety of African violet was discovered in the shelter
of a 30 m high tree. It is a hothouse, nurturing species
found nowhere else on earth, a secret bank account of
precious genetic stock. Of its six types of primate, two
are endemic – the Iringa red colobus monkey and the
sanje-crested Mangabey, not discovered until 1979. Four
previously unknown birds, including the rufous- winged
sunbird and a new species of the partridge-like
francolin, make this Tanzania’s richest forest bird
habitat and among the three most important bird
conservation areas on the continent. One of East
Africa’s great forests, this undisturbed habitat
undoubtedly has new treasures yet to reveal.
A link in the chain of Africa’s eastern arc mountains,
Udzungwa is made for hiking and climbing on trails
through the rainforests and along the escarpments. The
plateau is a natural tower top, with views of sugar
plantations against a patchwork of grassland and
mountain forest extending over 100 km. But the
centrepiece is the Sanje River, which reinvents itself
into a spectacular waterfall, plunging 170 m through the
forest to land in a mist in the valley below.
Visit Udzungwa year around, but be prepared for rain any
time.
