Tanzania National Parks
|
|
| LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK |
 |
|
SIZE
LOCATION Cradled in the glory of its surroundings below the sheer majesty of the Rift Valley wall, Lake Manyara lies serene, spreading in a heat haze backed by a thin green band of forest and the sheer 600 meter red and brown cliffs of the escarpment. A wedge of surprisingly varied vegetation sustains a wealth of wildlife, nourished by chattering streams bubbling out of the escarpment base and waterfalls spilling over the cliff. Acacia woodland shelters the park's famous but elusive tree-climbing loins, along with squadrons of mongoose feasting on the trail of buffalo and elephant - the most pachyderms per square kilometer in Tanzania. Deep in the south of the park, hot springs bubble to the surface in the shadow of the escarpment. Hippos wallow near the lake's borders of sedge. The park host 400 varieties of birds, including thousands of red billed quelea flitting over the water like swarms of giant insects; pelicans, cormorants and pink streaks of thousands of flamingo on their perpetual migration.. Enter Manyara from the village of Mto wa Mbu, an eclectic market town where several tribes converge to form a linguistic mix that is the richest in Africa. |
| NGORONGORO CRATER |
|
The Ngorongoro Conservations Area boasts the finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeological sites in Africa. It is also a pioneering experiment in multiple land use. The Ngorongoro Crater, at 2,286m above sea level, is the largest unbroken, un-flooded caldera in the world. Surrounded by very steep walls rising 610m from the crater floor, this natural amphitheatre covers an area of about 260 sq. km that's 100 sq. miles and is home to up to 30,000 animals, almost half of them are Zebra and Wildebeest. There are also Gazelles, Buffalo, Eland, Hartebeest and Warthog. Such vast numbers attract predators a plenty, mainly Lion and Hyena but also Cheetah and Leopard. More than 100 species of birds not found in Serengeti have been spotted here. Countless flamingos form a pink blanket over the soda lakes. The Crater has been declared a World Heritage site. The Ngorongoro Crater lies within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which covers more than 8,000 sq. km. It is bounded by Lake Eyasi in the southwest and the Gol Mountains in the north. Roughly in the center are the Olbalal Swamp and the arid Olduvai Gorge. Olduvai gorge: The stone-age site of Olduvai Gorge is known as the "cradle of mankind", and is the place where Dr. Louis Leakey unearthed the famous skull of "Nutcracker Man" or "Handy Man" or "Homo Habilis" in 1959. At nearby Laetoli, Mary Leakey 20 years later discovered the footprints of hominids thought to be 3.5 million years old years later. This place is regarded as mankind's first step on the ladder of human evolution. But many more fossils have been discovered here including those of pre-historic elephants, giant horned sheep and enormous ostriches. |
|
|
|
TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK |
|
LOCATION Day after day of cloudless skies. The fierce sun sucks the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty red, the withered grass as brittle as straw. The Tarangire River has shriveled to a shadow of its wet season self. But it is choked with wildlife. Thirsty nomads have wandered hundreds of parched kilometers knowing that here, there is always water. Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the parched river bed for underground streams while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, gazelle, hartebeest, eland and oryx crowd the shrinking lagoons. It's a smorgasbord for predators - the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem. The rains scatter the seasonal visitors over a 20 000 square kilometer (12 500 sq miles) range until they exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire's mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world. On drier ground you find Kori bustards, the heaviest flying bird, and ground hornbills that bluster like turkeys. Tarangire's pythons climb trees, as do its loins and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail. |
| SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK |
 SIZE LOCATION Around 100 years ago, the Maasai arrived in the Serengeti, with the rich grasslands the plains was perfect for there cattle to graze on. Before the Maasai, the Serengeti was only visited by the Ndorobo and Ikoma hunter tribes. In 1913 the first Europeans arrived and saw the game hunting potential of the area. By 1921 the wildlife in the Serengeti was almost entirely decimated, necessitating the establishment of firstly a game reserve, and later in 1951 proclaiming the area as a National Park to preserve the natural recourses. With this human habitation is now prohibited. A million wildebeest, each driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling their instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life. A frenzied 3 week bout of territorial conquest and mating, survival of the fittest as 40 kilometer long columns plunge through crocodile infested water on the annual exodus north, replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8000 calves a day before the 1000 kilometer pilgrimage begins again. More than 6 million hooves pound the legendary plains of the Serengeti. Every year, triggered by the rains, more than a million wildebeest, 200 000 zebra and 300 000 Thomson's gazelle gather to undertake the long trek to new grazing lands. Tanzania's first and most famous park, the Serengeti, is renowned for its wealth of leopard and loin. The vast reaches of the park help the black rhino to fight extinction and provide a protected breeding ground for the vulnerable cheetah. Witness predator versus prey and the fundamental interdependence of the Serengeti's abundant species, from more than 500 varieties of bird to 100 types of dung beetle. The Serengeti is a sense of seeing to the ends of the earth, the sun burnt savannah shimmering to the horizon. Yet, after the rains this golden horizon is magically transformed into an endless green carpet termite mounds and rocky kopjes, rivers lined with elegant stands of fig trees, ebony and acacia, stained orange by dust. It is also vast you may be the only human audience when a pride of loins masterminds a siege, focused unswervingly on their next meal. |
DREAM WORLD ADVENTURES
TEL
: +27 12 331 6730 (South Africa)
FAX
: + 27 86 500 4293 (South
Africa)
E-MAIL :
webenquiry@dreamworldadventures.co.za
