Game drives in Serengeti national park : Game drive is one of the most important and amazing experience that is done in most of national parks not just the Serengeti national park. The game is the perfect activities as it gives the tourists the opportunity to view different species that are found in the national park. Not only that but also it gives you the opportunity to admire and enjoy nature and different landscape that make most of this national parks even more amazing.
The Serengeti national park is located in the northern-west part of Tanzania and covers up the total area of 15,000 square kilometers the name Serengeti means the endless plains in Maasai language as one of the worlds most celebrated wilderness. As the world’s heritage site with over 2 million ungulates, thousands of lions, leopards, cheetahs, and over 500 different species of birds. This kingdom is controlled by the lions, it’s the only national park in Tanzania and in the world with the huge concentration of lions about 2500 lions. Serengeti is the home of the big five as well as the great migration of the wildebeest is only experienced here.
Parts of the Serengeti national park which the game drive mostly take place in and what to see in the parts.
The park has mainly the 3 parts,
One being the Seronera valley which is located on the southern part of the park, this park of the Serengeti is highly covered by a lot of wildlife and has the vegetation cover is savannah with acacia trees this part is also called the Serengeti plains. Most of the wild animals found in this place are most hoofed animals like the wildebeest breed and feed from. Most of the predators are found here as the hide and wait for their prey. The acacia trees are perfect for the predators and for their hunting activities to occur easily. Predators such as lions, leopards, the cheetahs and the spotted hyenas can be easily spotted here.
The other part is the western part of the park which has the Grumeti River which is highly characterized with denser forests and bushes. In this part is where you will find most of the martial eagles, crocodiles, hippos and patas monkeys.
While the third part is the northern side that meets with the Maasai Mara reserve of Kenya this part of the national park normally has a little number of tourists that reaches here. The Serengeti national park is the oldest national park and that is being visited most by the tourists. This part is dominated by the hills as well as the open woodlands. The animals that are found in this area includes the giraffes, Dik Dik and the elephants. On this part is where the great migration movement normally occur as it is close to the Maasai Mara of Kenya hence this is their main route when moving away from Serengeti national park as well as towards it.
What time does game drives takes place.
The game drives in the Serengeti national park can take place throughout the day or half day except that the night drives are not allowed here. The full day game drive normally takes place early until in the afternoon where you will have the opportunity to have a lunch in the middle of the wilderness, after a short lunch break the game drive continues on this endless planes. The morning game drive are more specific for the searching the big five and its normally the perfect time for the animal viewing as most of the animals are out and wandering around searching for pasture, the big five can be easily spotted in the morning. The morning drive are also perfect for the watching the sunrise in the morning with the unforgettable memories you can capture with the lens of your camera.
The best moment for the game drive is during the dry season, this is because the land is clearer and the vegetation cover is low, hence animals can be easily viewed. The dye season in Tanzania normally begins from June all the way to November or late October.
Game drive during the wildebeest migration.
The game drive during the wildebeest migration normally takes place in different places of the park. This depends on the times of the year where the migration is particularly occurring hence the guides and the drives will take you to that particular place because they are well experienced.
The great migration is the grand annual movement of different animals, between the Serengeti national park and the Maasai Mara game reserve of Kenya. It normally occurs when the millions of the wildebeest followed by over 200,000 zebra and then later joined by the 300,000 Thompsons gazelles as they seek for green and fresh pastures, water and escaping from the predators. The game viewing is special as the land stretches across sunburnt savannah to give a spectacular view of the golden horizon at the end of the earth as the sunset and goes down the earth. The great golden scenery turns into the flawless green carpet that covers the whole landscape as soon as the rain drops lands on it and makes the major transformation.
What to see during the game drive.
Meet the big five, in Serengeti national park is the only place you are sure to meet the big five in one visit, lion are found in abundancy here at the park, the elephants, leopards, rhino and the buffalos. There are so many predators apart from just the big 5 to mention a few it includes the hyenas, cheetah, African wild dogs, jackals etc. the landscape of the park is so open that offers the most beautiful and eye catching view of different predators species. The Serengeti national park is the perfect place to sight the predators because it’s made of the acacia woodlands and the vast savannah plains, the rocks outcrops which are known as kopjes which are famously known for animal spotting.
Bird watching while on the game drive.
Serengeti national park is the paradise of birds, its termed that way because it has variety of bird species that are found here, there are about 400 different bird species that are found here. The perfect time for the bird watching activity is during the wet season, because both the migratory and native birds are also located here. The wet season is also great for the breeding of birds hence for the bird lovers this is the perfect place for you to watch birds while on the game drive. The birds found here includes the grey throated spur fowl, schalows wheater, red throat tit, schalows turaco, grey-crested helmet shrike and many those are just a few to mention.
Prices for the game drive in Serengeti national park.
While on the game drive there are variety of choices from the group game drive, self-drive and the private game drive. The group safari are normally very cheap because the cost is to be shared with everyone in the group. The private tailor made safari are normally more affordable and take a group of four people, they are also more ideal for the group that has a specific interests such as hiking, photography of birds watching
