Travel like Jane Goodall - Top Destinations

Gombe Stream National Park

Jane Goodall is best known for her research on humans and chimpanzees, conducted in this small national park in western Tanzania. The park is accessible by boat and is a unique experience for any animal lover or adventurous traveler.

Lake Manyara National Park

The cleavage, known as the Great Rift Valley, can be identified from space as the most distinctive feature of the African continent. The seam of this cleavage has developed a series of fascinating and beautiful lakes. One of these lakes is called Manyara. Lake Manyara is also a national park. Manyara is a fantastic big game park. The variety of habitats parallels its exceptional scenery.

Every imaginable East African animal is found here in abundance. There are great herds of buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and several varieties of gazelle. Mahogany, sausage tree and croton are alive with blue monkeys and vervet monkeys. Some of the most amazingly large pods of hippos congregate at the rivers emerging into the lake, and the birdlife is plentiful. Lake Manyara is also known for its “treeclimbing” lions.

- By Solomon Okila
http://travel-tanzania-safari.blogspot.com/2009/01/wildlife-in-tanzania-main-national.html

Mikumi National Park

Mikumi National Park covers 3237 square kilometers and lies within the Mkata River plain bordered by the Uluguru Mountain range to the east and the Rubeho Mountains on the west, an area of lush vegetation which particularly attracts elephants and buffalos. Open grasslands dominate in the flood plain, eventually merging with the Miombo woodland covering the lower hills. Wildlife is abundant with giraffes, zebras, buffalos, hartebeests, wildebeests, elephants, wild dogs, and smaller mammals and reptiles. Mikumi’s vegetation includes woodland, swamp and grassland with two water holes, Mkata and Chamgore. Apart form the saddle-bill stork, hammer kop and malachite kingfisher, there are also monitor lizards and a deadly python inhabiting the pools.

- By Solomon Okila
http://travel-tanzania-safari.blogspot.com/2009/01/wildlife-in-tanzania-main-national.html

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro is quite unique as its physical protection from man natural beauty ranks it among the most pristine wildernesses on earth. It is regarded as a natural wonder of the world and has been declared a World Heritage Site. It is the largest intact crater in the world, being 610 meters deep, 16 kilometers across and covering an area of 540 square kilometers. On the crater floor, grassland blends into swamps, lakes, rivers, woodland and mountains – all a haven for wildlife, including the greatest predator population in Africa. The volcanic crater is packed with wildlife, including all the big game. Its pride and joy, however, is that it remains the last great wild refuge for the endangered black rhino.

- By Solomon Okila
http://travel-tanzania-safari.blogspot.com/2009/01/wildlife-in-tanzania-main-national.html

Ruaha National Park

The Ruaha National Park is Tanzania’s second largest park and the world’s largest elephant sanctuary. Although set in spectacular scenery with an abundance of wildlife, the park is one of the lesser visited in the country, keeping it an isolated and peaceful wilderness. Amongst the game found at the park are elephants, buffalos, giraffes, cheetahs, lions, leopards, a wide variety of antelope and over 465 recorded species of birdlife.

By Solomon Okila
http://travel-tanzania-safari.blogspot.com/2009/01/wildlife-in-tanzania-main-national.html