Serengeti. The simple word inspires images of the open plains and thundering hooves, and has formed the main scenic backdrop of everything from Stewart Granger’s King Solomon’s Mines to the Lion King, and is arguably the most recognizable name and symbol of wild Africa, if not nature conservation the world over.
Today Serengeti is a conservation success story in a country that places a unique emphasis on the preservation of its natural heritage. This effort has been in no small way assisted by an array of international conservation agencies and private foundations that apply enormous energy and resource to the study and protection of the Serengeti and its wildlife.
The region has also in recent years been a magnet for commercial tourism, and this is the life blood not only of the Serengeti, but of the surrounding parks and conservancies such as the famous Ngorongoro Crater Reserve, and of course the Kilimanjaro National Park that competes very closely with the Serengeti as the symbol of Tanzania. The entire Northern Circuit collection of parks, conservancies and areas of scenic beauty is peppered by private concessions, camps, hotels and lodges.
This indeed is something that Tanzania does very well. Even those among the lowliest tented camps belonging to one or other of the budget safari operators compete with very high standards, but those at the top end of the market, some charging nightly rates of upwards of US$500 per night, drip with such lavish appointments and luxury that those under canvas in particular can claim the word ‘tent’ only in the very loosest sense of the word.
This then is probably the main appeal of the Serengeti. It is a destination that thanks to its sheer size has maintained an aura of isolation and wilderness, and yet at the same time, usually tucked away again a hillside or kopje, can be found a number of luxurious retreats rendered with a light touch – usually – and designed to offer the last word in luxury to the weary modern day African traveler.
The downside of this for the mass market tourist is that Serengeti is an expensive destination. Certainly budget campsites are available, but they are not configured to make them attractive, and certainly there is no sense that mass tourism is encouraged. Part of the appeal of the Serengeti is that it is so relatively untrammeled, and much of the reason for this is the prohibitive pricing structure of the park itself, and the astronomical tariffs charged by the lodges and tented camps.
So if you have the money, and are looking for a trip of a lifetime the memory of which will glow at least as long as the dept incurred, then look no further than the Northern Circuit of Tanzania, and the fabulous lodges and tented camps that make up so much of its splendor.
