The park has three distinct zones: Ngurdoto Crater (often
discribed as a mini Ngorongoro), the Momella Lakes, a
group of shallow alkaline lakes fed by underground streams,
and Mount Meru, one of the most rewarding mountains to
climb in Africa.
Animals here include buffalo, elephant, hippo, giraffe,
zebra and a variety of antelope, blue monkey and black
and white colobus monkey, leopard and hyena.
Hemingway describes Lake Manyara National Park's magnificent
hunting country in "The Green Hills of Africa".
Mahogany, sausage tree and croton are alive with blue
monkeys and vervets. Elephants feed off fallen fruit while
bushbuck, waterbuck, baboons, aardvark, civet, the shy
pangolin and leopard as well as the black rhino; all make
their home in the forest.
Manyara is sanctuary to elusive buffalo and hippo, giraffe,
impala, zebra and the famous residents - tree-climbing
lions. Lake Manyara itself is a magnet for birdlife and
a kaleidoscope of different species can be found around
its shores, including huge flocks of flamingoes. The park
is ideal for a day trip. A four-wheel drive is recommended
during the rains. The dry season is from June to September
and January to February.
Mikumi, to the north of the Selous, is only 283 km away
from dar-Es-Salaam. The Park was established to protect
the environment and resident animals and is also an important
educational centre for students of ecology and conservation.
The Mikumi flood plain is the main feature of the Park
along with the bordering mountain ranges. Animals commonly
found here include lion, eland, hartebeest, buffalo, wildebeest,
giraffe, zebra, hippo and elephant. The Mikumi elephants
are mainly grazers and do not cause tree damage. Lions
roam the Mikumi plains and will take refuge in the branches
of trees. Wild dogs can be seen in packs here.
Mikumi's vegetation includes woodland, swamp and grassland
with two water holes, Mkata and Chamgore. Apart from the
saddle-bill stork, hammerkop and malachite kingfisher,
you will also find monitor lizard and a deadly python
inhabiting the pools.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a huge area containing
active volcanoes, mountains, archeological sites, rolling
plains, forests, lakes, dunes and of course, Ngorongoro
Crater and Olduvai Gorge.
The views at the rim of Ngorongoro Crater are sensational.
On the crater floor, grassland blends into swamps, lakes,
rivers, woodland and mountains - all a heaven for wildlife,
including the densest predator population in Africa. The
crater is home to up to 25,000 large mammals, mainly grazers
- gazelle, buffalo, eland, hartebeest and warthog. You
will not find giraffe, as there is not much to eat at
tree level, or topi, because the competition with wildebeest
is too fierce, nor will you find impala. The crater elephants
are strangely, mainly bulls. There are a small number
of black rhinos here too. The birdlife is largely seasonal
and is also affected by the ratio of soda to fresh water
in Lake Magadi on the crater floor.
In the northern, remote part of the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, you will find Olmoti and Empakaai Craters, Lake
Natron and Oldoinyo Lengai, Mountain of God, as named
by the Maasai. Lake Natron is the only known breeding
ground for East Africa's flamingoes.
The ruins of a terraced stone city and complex irrigation
system lie on the eastern side of Empakaai - the Engakura
Ruins. Their origins are a mystery as there is no tradition
of stone building in this part of Africa.
Olduvai, more accurately called Oldupai after the wild
sisal in the area, is the site of some of the most important
fossil hominid finds of all time - "Nutcracker Man"
or Australopithecus boisei who lived 1.75 million years
ago - by Leaky
There is a small informative museum located at the visitor
center. The gorge is a treasure trove of archeological
sites filled with fossils, settlement remains and stone
artifacts. Lecture tours are offered. The best months
to go are between July and November when the animals are
concentrated around shrinking water holes.
Tanzania is home to one of the single largest remaining
elephant populations in the world. Most of these elephants
are found in the remote and wildly beautiful Selous Game
Reserve, a World Heritage Site. The name derives from
hunter-explorer Frederick Courtenay Selous, a keen naturalist
and conservationist as well as a hunter. He was killed
in the First World War in the Beho Beho region of the
Reserve. Larger than Switzerland in size, the Reserve
is the largest in Africa and is second only to the Serengeti
in its concentration of wildlife. The Reserve has a varied
terrain of rolling savannah woodland, grassland plains
and rocky outcrops. Buffalo, crocodile, hippo and wild
dog can also be seen here.
The Reserve can be reached from Dar-Es-Salam by road,
air charter, and rail (Tazara) and the best time to go
is in the cool season between the end of June and the
end of October. Walking safaris can be taken from the
camps in the Reserve, in the company of an armed guard.
The Serengeti is on of the world's last great wildlife
refuges. This vast area of land supports the greatest
remaining concentration of plain game in Africa, on a
scale unparalleled anywhere else in the world. The name
comes from the Maasai 'Siringet', meaning endless plains.
Equal in size to Northern Ireland, the Park contains an
estimated three million large animals, most of which take
part in a seasonal migration that is one of nature's wonders.
The annual migration of more than 1.5 million wildebeests
as well as hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles
is triggered by the rains. The wet season starts in November
and lasts until about May. Generally the herds congregate
and move out at the end of May. Their movement is a continual
search for grass and water - the moving mass of animals
requiring over 4,000 tons of grass each day. The exodus
coincides with the breeding season, which causes fights
among the males. As the dry season sets in the herds drift
out of the West, one group to the North, the other north-east
heading for the permanent waters of the northern rivers
and the Mara. The immigration instinct is so strong that
animals die in the rivers as they dive from the banks
into the raging waters, to be dispatched by crocodiles.
The survivors concentrate in Kenya's Maasai Mara National
reserve until the grazing there is exhausted, when they
turn south along the eastern and final stage of the migration
route. Before the main exodus, the herds are a spectacular
sight, massed in huge numbers with the weak and crippled
at the tail end of the procession, followed by the patient,
vigilant predators.
The vegetation in the Serengeti ranges from the short
and long grass plains in the south, to the acacia savannah
in the centre and the wooded grassland concentrated around
tributaries of the Grumeti and Mara rivers. The western
corridor is a region of wooded highland and extensive
plains reaching to the edge of Lake Victoria.
The Seronera Valley in the Serengeti is famous for the
abundance lion and leopard that can usually be seen quite
easily. The adult male lions of the Serengeti have characteristic
black manes.
The permanent water supply of the Park means that during
the summer, the animal population here rivals that of
the Serengeti with wildebeest, zebra, eland, elephant,
hartebeest, buffalo, gerenuk, fringe eared oryx and flocks
of birds of many different species. Prime game viewing
months are between September and December.
Africa
Sights & Sounds
