Here is why the Serengeti should be on your travel bucket list

Of all the unforgettable places you can visit in Africa, the Serengeti National Park has that certain something. It’s impossible to forget the Serengeti.

The Serengeti is so vast that you could never even think of seeing it all on one trip. It is a safari destination to visit time and time again. When on a Serengeti safari, you might think that there is no end to the sea of grass that sways before you. The grass is hypnotizing, memorable and is part of what makes the Serengeti the iconic park that it is. The Great Migration is the most dramatic wildlife spectacle on the planet and there are only two places in the world where it takes place: the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Every year millions of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle make their way from the Ndutu region in the south of the Serengeti, across perilous river crossings and huge expanses of grassy plains, to reach fresh green grass that comes with seasonal rains as they move northwards. For many months of the year, the vast herds can be seen in different parts of the Serengeti: calving at the start of the year, river crossings in the middle of the year, and the return journey from the Masai Mara at year’s end.

The sheer vastness of the Serengeti makes it stand out from other wilderness areas. The park also hosts one of the largest and most diverse large predator-prey interactions worldwide, providing a particularly impressive aesthetic experience. The Serengeti is famous for its lion population, some 3,000 that offer exciting lion kills. Visitors can expect excellent cheetah sightings and leopards are also regularly spotted. Other predators include serval cats, golden and black-backed jackals, African golden wolves, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, and many others. Crocodiles inhabit the marshes near the Mara River.

Apart from thrilling game drives, there are plenty of other activities to enjoy during your safari in the Serengeti, including sunrise hot air balloon rides over the plains, newly-introduced walking safaris in some sections of the park, visits to Olduvai Gorge – the most important paleoanthropological site in the world – Maasai cultural experiences, birdwatching, and making a film pilgrimage to see the rocky outcrop that inspired Pride Rock in The Lion King.