Serengeti National Park

 

The Serengeti is one 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. The Serengeti extends over some 5,700 sq. miles supporting over four million mammals and birds and the greatest concentration of wildlife on the planet. Due to the size of the Serengeti, we will concentrate on different areas for the different times of the year. The short grass plains ( Dec-March), transform when the first rains start allowing the grass to grow from a dull brown to a bright green. The volcanic soil enables nutrient.

rich grasses to attract the pregnant wildebeest to feed and give birth. The Central Serengeti (April-June) Moru Kopjes and, the Seronera valley are the most popular areas of the Serengeti, this time of year and is an ideal time to visit. The wildebeest migration will be passing through the area heading out of the short grass plains towards the western corridor.

 

The Western Corridor provides a very exciting time, between June and August, as the wildebeest migration meets the Grumeti river where some of the largest Nile crocodiles can be found. Northern Serengeti (AugustNovember). The best kept secret of the Serengeti, is relatively devoid of tourists who will venture this far. It is perhaps our favourite area operating in this region for over 10 years, and knowing it intimately. The Migration will be crossing the Mara river, traversing some of the most photogenic areas, a patchwork quilt of colour and diversity.

 

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

 

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 haven for wildlife, including the most dense predator population in Africa.

 

The crater is home to up to 25,000 large mammals, mainly grazers - gazelle, buffalo, eland, hartebeest and warthog. 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.

 

Lake Manyara National Park

 

Manyara's 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 all make their home in the forest. Manyara is a 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 lake shores, including huge flocks of flamingoes.

 

Tarangire National Park

 

Located in the Rift Valley, Tarangire covers approximately 2600 square kilometers and contains nine different vegetation zones, each supporting distinct types of wildlife. Panoramic and wooded savannas stretch far and wide in every direction punctuated with majestic Baobab trees. The park's main source of water, the Tarangire River, attracts nearly as high a concentration of animal life as Ngorongoro Crater.

 

Large herds of elephant, zebra, wildebeest, eland and oryx congregate along the riverbank until the wet season allows them to migrate to lush new grazing land.

 

Arusha National Park

 

Arusha National Park is montaine forest habitat with three distinct zones: Mount Meru, Ngurdoto Crater, 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.

 

Mt.Kilimanjaro

 

Mount Kilimanjaro is the crown of Tanzania. Rising abruptly from the open plains, capped by snow and frequently fringed by clouds, it is one of Africa’s classic images. At elevation of 19,344 feet, it is the highest mountains in Africa and the highest summit in the world that can be reached by walking, without hand over hand climbing. It is also a free standing mountain in the world.

 

Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano mountain but not an extinct one. Ominous rumbles can sometimes be heard – and gases emerge from fume holes in the crater. Although just three degrees south of the Equator, the peaks of the mountain have caps of snow and ice all the year round.

Kilimanjaro climbers pass from a tropical to an artic environment in just a few days. There are several climbing trails; they pass through lush rainforest before reaching heather and open moorland where giant lobelia and huge, cactus – like plants grow. There is an almost-lunar landscape, the saddle that stretches between the two peaks KIBO and Mawenzi.

 

The highest point on Kibo, and indeed the whole of Africa, is Uhuru Peak, with spectacular glaciers and stupendous views of the plains, five kilometers below.

 

With the help of porters and a guide is possible to walk all the way to summit of Kibo without specialized mountaineering equipment – or experience – and Kilimanjaro can be conquered by any reasonably fit person. The whole climb normally takes five or six days and involves four or five overnights stays in mountain huts or tents. The pinnacle – shaped peak of Mawenzi  are for mountaineers only.

 

Mount Meru

 

Mount Meru is a conical volcanic mountain reaching a highest of 4,566 above sea level and is the fifth highest in Africa. The mountain is within Arusha National Park, which came into existence in 1960 when the wildlife area around the Momella Lakes and Ngurdoto Crater were officially declared a protected area. The park has had three names. First it was Ngurdoto Crater National Park, then Meru Crater National Park and finally Arusha National Park.

 

The park is only 30km from the tourist town of Arusha and Kilimanjaro International Airport. Tourists’ accommodation within the park includes a few lodges, some campsites and two huts for climbers. The park has an area of 137sqkm, but there are plans to increase its sizes by adding it to the surrounding buffer zone.

 

The attractions of the parks include craters, lakes, forest and wild animals, Giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, reedbucks, and other big mammals, are abundant in the park, which also contains many species of birds, including flamingoes, its forests are home to colobus monkeys.

 

Three to four days is the recommended time for climbing the mountain. The best time to climb Meru is from June to February, although it may rain in November. The best views of Kilimanjaro from Meru are between December and February.

 

Oldonyo Lengai

 

Oldoinyo Lengai is an active located in northern Tanzania and is part of the volcanic system of the Great Rift Valley in Eastern Africa. It is situated at the southern end of Lake Natron and rises to an elevation of 9,442 feet.

 

Unlike other volcanoes, which spew silica-rich basalts, Oldoinyo Lengai is the only active volcano on Earth that erupts with a carbonatites are instructed into other formation and rarely reach Earth’s surface as eruptions.

 

The record of eruptions on the mountain dates to 1883, and flows were also recorded between 1904 and 1910 and again between 1913 and 1915. A major eruption took place in June 1917, which resulted in volcanic ash being deposited about 48 km away. Its most recent eruption was in 2007 and 2008.

 

“Oldoinyo Lengai”means The Mountain of God” in the Maasai language of the native people.