Serengeti National Park – Monarch Safari Guides

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

Overview

More than six million hooves pound the legendary Serengeti; name meaning ‘endless plains’. Every year, triggered by the 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 rutting season is a frenzied three week long bout of territorial conquests and mating, followed by survival of the fittest as the 40 kilometers long columns plunge through crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north. Replenishing the species is the brief population explosion that produces more than 8000 calves a day before the 1000 kilometers 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 help black rhino to fight extinction 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 sometimes 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.

9 Days

The Great Migration Experience

The Captivating Sights & Sounds Of The Great Migration

for a truly unforgettable and genuinely authentic Tanzanian experience!

The Great Migration

Waiting for you in the Serengeti is an extraordinary moment in time that you won’t forget – the captivating sights and sounds of the Great Migration.

In a massive cloud of dust from the far-reaching hills of the Northern Serengeti, a thunderous and overpowering stampede of wildebeest descends. An estimated 1.5 million wildebeest migrate annually throughout the Serengeti and Masai Mara. Both veterans of the migration and those that are making their inaugural trek are led by the eldest and most revered amongst them. Accompanying them is an impressive entourage of zebra and gazelle which bring the population of likeminded travellers crossing the endless plains to 2 million. At the height of the migration (middle of December to March and July to September) the plains are literally blanketed with wildebeest. You can barely see the floor of the Serengeti!

They are united in their mission to follow the rain clouds en route to an unknown destination that holds the sacred promise of bringing them a much deserved respite after miles of travelling. They charge onward, darting apprehensively across the roads. A few of them stop on the other side to graze on the lush vegetation, while others choose to proceed onward. It has been an arduous and agonizing journey. Along the way, they have navigated and endured the web of complexities in the Serengeti, whether it was the relentless pounding rainstorms that hindered their speed and depleted their energy, a pride of lions waiting on the periphery to pounce on the most fragile of the herd, or the ravenous crocodiles lurking just below the surface of every river that the wildebeest needed to cross.

Whatever waits for them, the wildebeest keep pressing on.

And you can be there experiencing the Great Migration first-hand and up close. To be in the presence of these awesome beasts is a treasured moment. Please check out the sample itinerary we offer, called the Great Migration Experience. We’ll take you to the epicenter of the migration, where the hum of activity is endless. You can look in any direction and see the wildebeest sprinting across the roads, lounging by the nearest puddle, zigzagging across the plains as they playfully tussle with each other, and then looking straight at you with the same curiosity that you have about them.

It is a memory-making event. Come share it with us.