The name Serengeti is synonymous with safaris over wide African plains and the imagery of the animals that inhabit them. The name is a European approximation of the Maasai name for it which means endless plain. The Maasai people grazed their cattle on this land for hundreds of years before the first Europeans set sight on these vast oceans of swaying grasses stocked with healthy populations of what hunters referred to as the ‘Big Five’ – lions, leopards, rhinos, buffalo and elephants. These days visitors hunt with viewfinders attached to cameras rather than rifles and can also expect to shoot some other trophy wildlife – giraffes, cheetahs and gazelles for starters.

The best time to experience the Serengeti is during the annual migration of over a million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra. An adored spectacle of nature photographers and documentary makers alike, this great movement of animals runs across a huge area. So though it is the busiest time to visit, there is still a chance to see the action from a relatively private vantage point.

The National Park is Tanzania’s oldest and was created in the 1920’s to protect the lions that live here who were being hunted out. On a practical note it includes country classified as savanna, woodlands and riverine forest, and when it crosses the border into Kenya, it becomes the Masai Mara National Reserve

Serengeti National Park Website.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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