Best 5 Tanzania Parks to Explore on a Self-drive
Tanzania is East African giant in a lot of considerations right from politics, economy, and trading and also well in the travel section. A self-drive likewise to the fully guided trip in Tanzania exposes you to that unique features that the country has only signified itself to offer. By size Tanzania is a bigger country, times 4 Uganda to get the real size of the country, so when opting for a self-drive drive trip here, it mean you must be ready to take on drives.
Tanzania has a list of over 50 national parks and game reserves which are scattered across the country. These parks has significantly positioned Tanzania as the best safari destination in African offering such great and unique wild encounters of which some can be even encountered elsewhere in the world.
However, among the many were making a selection five super national parks. These parks has unique and varying experience. So, when you going for a self-drive to Tanzania you can consider among these and make your own travel plan.
The Serengeti National Park
The Africa’s top safari destination, the Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s second largest park 5,700 square miles. The park was exclusively reserved for wildlife since 1951 and the heart of a vast ecosystem with much greater dimensions. Any safari to this majestic Serengeti is always comes combining the protected site of Ngorongoro, the Maswa Game Reserve, the controlled areas of Grumeti and Ikorongo, the Kenyan nature reserve of Masai Mara and the controlled area of Loliondo (up to Lake Natron).
The 11,583 square miles controlled in such a way as to ensure that human activities remain compatible with the welfare of the wildlife. The conservation effort in this immense territory is mainly to preserve the presence of migratory routes involving hundreds of thousands of zebras and wildebeest. The park is mainly known as visited for the famous dramatic wildebeest migration where about 2.5 million wildebeests, gazelles, zebras, and cross from the plain of Serengeti to the plain of Masai Mara.
The Serengeti National Park is Africa’s most rewarding park with varieties of wildlife encounters. And when opting for a self-drive here, you just need to have that safari customized land cruiser which can maneuver al road terrains of the Serengeti.
Ngorongoro Crater
One of the remarkable destinations to take a self-drive in East Africa. Ngorongoro Crater is the largest crater in the world, and is a safe haven for a remarkable self-drive assortment of wildlife. Because the Ngorongoro Crater is one of the worlds’ natural remnants site was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1980. A huge crater that acts like a vast natural zoo.
Three million years ago, a major eruption devastated the Ngorongoro volcano and the collapse of the cone left the largest caldera in the world – a staggering 12 miles in diameter. Surveying this site is a truly awe-inspiring feeling, one that grows with the discovery of more and more African species of flora and fauna as you approach the bottom of the crater.
The reserve contains other less impressive but equally admirable extinct volcanoes as well as two outstanding paleontological sites in Olduvai and Laetoli.
Kilimanjaro National Park
Nothing rewards than taking an adventure to Kilimanjaro National Park. The self-drive means taking such a great reward and hiking to the top of Africa. Also called ‘roof of Africa’, Kilimanjaro is the Africa’s highest peak. The large village of Moshi, located at the foot of Kilimanjaro and not far from Mount Meru, is often used as a starting point when climbing to the summit of Kili or exploring the splendor of Tanzania’s north. While its main charm lies in its African authenticity touched with Asian influences, it is also known for the quality of its coffee plantations Kilimanjaro being one of Tanzania’s main coffee growing regions. This is a must visit when taking this self-guided esteemed drive and one of the best national parks in Tanzania.
Lake Manyara National Park
This is an outsized lake accommodating exceptional wildlife, thousands of birds and primary forest. The Manyara National Park encompasses the northern half of the lake and its western shore, which ends a few miles from the escarpment. The detached eyesight of flocks of birds on the hazy horizon is unforgettable. Among these include; Herons, egrets, ospreys, ibis, pelicans, jacanas and plovers are just some among the 380 species recorded.
A drive through the deluxe shrubbery replies visitors as they enter the park. Consider this watch where towering trees take advantage of the rich volcanic soil and porous rocks help underground streams reach the roots. Those lucky enough might even see baboons gathered in troops of between 30 and 100.
A self-drive in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park rewards of awesome sights of impalas, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras. The park is as well famous for hosting the special tree climbing lions. The park rewards with a lot of programs among are the wild boat ride which is very unique in Tanzania parks, game drives etc.
Tarangire National Park
Experience the dry savannah landscapes, baobab forests, these have harbored elephant herds in the Tarangire National Park. Tarangire National Park is a quiet, wooded savannah, where a rich variety of thriving fauna including tree climbing lions can be spotted from open vehicles. Taking a self-guided drive through the park will expose you to these unique African bush elephants, plains zebras, Masai giraffes, impalas, blue wildebeest, buffaloes, bush pigs, common elands, common waterbucks.
For birder’s, when traveled along with your well lensed cameras, there are a lot of birds that can also be found on many of the wetter banks of the Tarangire River. Keep an eye out for brilliantly colored parakeets known as lovebirds. Termite mounds are very common in Africa and abandoned mounds are often used for shelter by dwarf mongooses. In the north of Tarangire National Park, the majestic baobab trees are among the finest examples of this species anywhere.
