Tanzania's Serengeti Plains

When it comes to national parks, Serengeti is simply the best. So much space. So many animals. The park itself is enormous - at least as big as Holland - its oceans of grass rimmed by immense horizons that make for a heady sense of freedom.The skies are always full of raptors; eagles, vultures, hawks and harriers. But it is the animals that catch the eye - in particular the mass movement of wildebeest and zebras and the presence of the big cats that prey on them. The migration is the greatest wildlife show on earth and it happens every year. But to see it you need to be in the right place at the right time. In the Serengeti even a million wildebeest can vanish in a matter of days, leaving nothing but an emptiness of dust and stubble.Rain is the engine that drives the Serengeti ecosystems, nourishing the grass, replenishing the waterholes. For the wildebeest, life is an endless journey in search of grass and water. Their year begins in the south of the park where the calves are born between January and March. But in May when the rains end, the land dries fast and the herds move on. Away they march, a million strong, pouring into the Western Corridor or heading deeper into the park.Some are taken by the giant crocodiles of the Grumeti River. Others fall prey to the famous Serengeti lions. But by the end of July the survivors have passed through the northern woodlands and crossed into Kenya, where they remain in the Masai Mara reserve, their dry season refuge, until the onset of the rains lures them south again in October.Wherever the action is, the park is well served with comfortable camps and lodges. Ndutu lodge, in the south, is ideally placed for the calving season and game drives among the granite inselbergs of the Gol Kopjes. Kirawira and Grumeti River are luxury camps in the Western Corridor. Serengeti Serena and Sopa lodges lie in the heart of the park, and Kleins Camp and Migration Camp in the north.
Article writen by Brian Jackman