SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

Legend has it that the word Serengeti emanates from the people who have occupied this pristine land for aeons–the Maasai.  Roughly translated, it means the endless plains, or  “the place where the land runs on forever”.

Proclaimed in 1952, and covering 14,763 km2 (5,700 sq mi) – an area larger than Connecticut or Montenegro – in the eastern Mara Region of northern Tanzania, the Serengeti National Park is revered by nature-lovers worldwide as one of the most populous wildlife destinations.  

Stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the West, the diverse habitats within make it the perfect home for creatures great and small.  It is also cherished as a World Heritage Site, both for the wildlife it is home to and the abundant relics of prehistoric mankind.

As its name suggests, the overwhelming impression given by the Serengeti is of vast, open spaces dotted with granite kopjes (rock outcrops), flat-topped acacia trees, and undulating grasslands.  

Only two permanent rivers pass through the park, although numerous gullies rise in spate when good rains fall.