Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park is certainly Tanzania’s most famous park and one of the most famous in the world. The Serengeti ecosystem is home to over 1.5 million wildebeest, 300,000, 500,000 Thompson gazelles, more than 2,700 lions, 1000 leopards, 500 cheetahs, huge herds of elephants, elands, impalas, waterbucks, giraffes, ostriches, and genets. The rivers offer the perfect habitat for crocodiles and hippos; there are more than four hundred species of birds. The 15,000 square kilometres (9320 sq miles) of the Serengeti National Park are only the major portion of a larger ecosystem, which includes the Ngorongoro Plains (the flat region in the north east of the Ngorongoro Crater, which plays an important role in the famous migration and is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area) and the Maasai Mara (which is located further north, in Kenya). Here the orography, the soil composition and, consequently, the type of vegetation, allow unmatched animal sightings in Africa. The subsoil, made of volcanic rocks especially in the south, prevents the growth of tall trees and grasslands prevail, so the open environment fosters sightings.