| Lake Manyara:
Manyara National Park (330 square kilometres) is situated between the cliff of the Great Rift Valley and Lake Manyara (which takes up 230 square kilometres of the Park). One can find several different types of forests with a variety of fauna, hippopotami, Masai giraffes, elephant (highest density in Africa - 7 elephant per square kilometre), lion (including the famous tree-climbing lion), zebra, monkey (vervet and blue) and 380 species of birds (including Sacred ibis, Knob-billed ducks, African Jacanas, Greater cormorants, European wood storks, Yellow-billed storks, White pelicans, Pinbacked pelicans, flamingoes, Ashy starlings, Cliff chats, Rufous crowned rollers, Fantailed widow birds, Red and Yellow barbets and Giant Kingfisher).
The name "manyara" is derived from the Masai word for the plant Euphorbia tirucalii (common name - pencil plant). These plants are planted to form thick barricades which are used to keep livestock in.
One can also find in the southern half of the park two hot springs namely Maji Moto Ndogo ("little hot water") and in the extreme south, the hotter Maji Moto (the temperature can reach up to 60 degrees Celsius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit). The springs emerge from fractures in the rock originating very deep within the earth, caused by the faulting of the Rift Valley. At Maji Moto one might see the elusive klipspringer as well as blue and vervet monkeys.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
 Spanning roughly 8 300 square kilometres (3 192 square miles) - Ngorongoro is a microcosm of East Africa. The land of the Masai, of their cattle of the fauna, this protected area is located in the Great Rift Valley and combines beautiful mountains, forests, lakes, extinct volcanoes, magnificent wildlife and archeological sites. The area is managed by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) and they try to balance the needs of the wild animals, the local Masai people and their domestic stock and the general natural environment.
The Ngorongoro Crater was proclaimed a World Heritage Site in 1978 and is relatively small in relation to the whole conservation area. The Ngorongoro Conservation area is also home to the famous archaeological site of Olduvai Gorge where one can see traces of the people who walked this area in days gone by.
Ngorongoro Crater is a huge caldera or collapsed volcano, 250 square kilometres and 23 kilometres wide. The crater has an average depth of 600 metres. Its spectacular setting and abundance of wildlife combine to make it a wonder of the natural world. The crater alone has over 20 000 large animals including some of Tanzania's last remaining black rhino. Animals are free to leave and enter the crater but most of them stay because of the plentiful water and food available on the crater floor throughout the year. The four major habitat types on the crater floor are:
Grassland:
Open grassland covers most of the crater floor and feeds most of the 20 000 large grazing animals mainly wildebeest, zebra, buffalo and gazelles and many smaller ones such as mice and grasshoppers. These support the predators such as lion, hyena and smaller ones such as jackals and birds of prey.
Lake Makat:
This soda lake is filled by the Munge River and the great attraction is the thousands of flamingoes and other water birds which feed here.
Swamps:
Most of the large animals depend on swamps for fresh water and reserve food supplies. Elephants feed on the giant sedges and hippos wallow in the pools.
Lerai Forest:
"Lerai" is the Masai word for yellow barked acacia or fever tree. The small forest patches on the crater floor, are home to monkey, baboon, bushbuck, waterbuck, elephant and rhino.
Tarangire National park
Commissioned in 1970 with an area covering approximately 3 600 kilometres, Tarangire National Park is second, only to the Ngorongoro Crater, in the concentrations of wildlife to be seen in the dry season.
It lies south of the large open grass plains of southern Masai land, 115 kilometres from Arusha along the Arusha-Dodoma road. Tarangire is famous for its tree-climbing pythons, zebra, hartebeest, elephant, buffalo, waterbuck, gazelle, oryx and abundant bird-life.
Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park, the largest in Tanzania, is approximately 14 763 square kilometres big. "Serengeti" means "vast or endless plains" in Masai and it is here were one of the most breathtaking events in the animal kingdom takes place annually - the migration of thousands of wildebeest. The most famous feature of the Serengeti ecosystem is the spectacular concentration of plains animals found nowhere else in the world and the annual wildebeest migration. Survey estimates indicate an animal population of about 4 million including over 3 000 lions, 1 600 000 wildebeest, 500 000 zebras and over 400 birds.
Olduvai Gorge
The name Olduvai Gorge is derived from the mispronunciation of the Masai word "Oldupai" which is the word for Sanseviera ehrenbergiana (commonly known as wild sisal), which is commonly found in this area.
Olduvai Gorge is rich in history and the discovery of Laetoli here by Mary Leaky (world renowned archaeologist/palaeontologist) showed that at least three hominids wandered these plains. Australopithecus afarensis - more ape than man, had a height of 1.5 metres average with a very small brain.
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At the eastern edge of the Serengeti, the great buttressed slopes of the crater rise up through lichen-bearded forests to an altitude of 70 000 feet above sea level. Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera of the once-volcanic Ngorongoro shelters the most beautiful wildlife haven left on earth. Some of Africa's last black rhino are protected within its rim, black-maned lions stalk the grasslands, flamingos crowd the soda lakes and giant tusked elephants wander the forests. Towering euphorbia cling to the crater walls and on the floor, fever and gif-tree forests give shade to an awe-inspiring array of creatures and lone, lean Masai, resplendent in beads and furled in scarlet shuka robes.
Perched on the edge of the ancient crater rim above the cool, swirling mists, the architectural masterpiece of the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is a magnificent return to the noble elegance of the travelling colonials. Inspired in design by the Masai manyatta, three separate camps of 6 to 12 suites each remember a bygone era when characters such as Lord Delamere adorned the stilted, handcrafted structures with graceful antiques, grand chandeliers and treasures collected from travels through Africa.
Each sumptuous suite, steeped in centuries of romance, is discreetly tended by a personal butler, who will bring you tea in bed, stoke your fireplace and even draw your bath, scattering the water with rose petals, ready for your return from your safari and lavish picnic on the crater floor. All of this however, remains subordinate to the magnificence of the verdant crater ... as the cool breeze wafts the scent of the great bowls of Titian roses, it billows the raw silk curtains that frame one of the greatest views on Earth.
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