Everlast tours & safaris

Travel to the Serengeti is a once in a lifetime opportunity where countless wildlife stories can be told. You've seen all the documentaries on TV, so come and experience it for yourself!

The Serengeti ecosystem is defined by the dominant migration route of the wildebeest and extends into the game reserves and conservation areas that surround the park's boundaries. Over 4 million mammals and birds live in what many consider to be the greatest concentration of wildlife in the world.

The Serengeti National Park, the largest in Tanzania, is about 5,700 sq miles in area. The park's name, Serengeti, means endless plains and is derived from the Maasai language. The park lies in a high plateau between the Ngorongoro highlands and the Kenya/Tanzania border, and extends almost to Lake Victoria. The park encompasses the main part of the Serengeti ecosystem.

The short grass plains of the Seronera area in the south of the park are well-known to the visitor. Here we find kopjes, the rocky outcroppings from the sea of grass surrounding them. These form habitats for several species and viewpoints for larger predators, especially the big cats. Equally scenic and with its own distinct ecosystem is the acacia Savannah and wooded grasslands in the north of the park in the Lobo/Grummet area where the Serengeti meets the Kenyan Maasai Mara. It is in this region that the Great Migration begins to congregate for the push to the birthing plains of the South. The Great Migration is a sight that has to be experienced first-hand in order to be believed. Anyone who sees the huge numbers of wildebeest gathering before trekking north will witness a marvelous sight. Throughout the world it is rare for animal migrations to be completely undisturbed and it is an important conservation achievement that the Tanzanian government has protected this wilderness area and where wildebeest are allowed to migrate freely.

One of the most unique and remarkable wildlife experiences in the world is the annual migration of plains game such as the wildebeest, zebra and gazelle from the central plains of the Serengeti. The animals migrate westward or northward toward the Massai Mara, in search of water and pasture, and then back again; this same pattern is repeated year after year. They are followed by predators such as lions, hyenas, jackal, and hunting dogs awaiting for weak prey while vultures soar overhead waiting for their share of the kill. According to some estimates, the migration can involve over one million assorted wildlife, which represents approximately one quarter of the population found in the Serengeti. The annual migration into Kenya of more than 1.5 million wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle, is usually triggered by the rains that start in May. At the end of the wet season, the Great Migration constitutes the most breathtaking animal kingdom event known to mankind.

As the dry season intensifies, the herds drift out toward the west, crossing the Grummet River, and to the north toward Lake Victoria, in search of the permanent waters of the northern rivers and the Mara. The migration is instinct permanent waters of the northern rivers and the Mara. The migration instinct is so strong that animals die in the rivers as they dive from the banks into the raging waters only to be dispatched by crocodiles. The survivors concentrate in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve until the grazing there is exhausted. Then, they turn south along the eastern and final route of the migration.

Before the main exodus, the herds are a spectacular sight, massed in huge numbers with the weak and crippled at the tail end of the procession. The migration coincides with the breeding season, which also causes dominance fights among the males of the herd.