Even when the migration is not active, the Serengeti provides some of Africa’s most exciting game viewing: large herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and tens of thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala, and Grant’s gazelle.

Tanzania’s largest park is dominated by the spectacle of predator versus prey. Prides of golden-maned lions feast on the abundant plain grazers. Solitary leopards stalk the acacia trees that line the Seronera River, while cheetahs roam the southeastern plains in large numbers. All three African jackal species, as well as the spotted hyena and a slew of other secretive small predators ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf to the lovely serval cat, may be found here.

However, the Serengeti is home to more than just huge creatures. Agama lizards and rock hyraxes struggle throughout the park’s solitary granite koppies’ surfaces.

A million wildebeest… each and every one motivated by the same ancient rhythm, each and every one fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenetic three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile)

The Serengeti, Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, is also a world heritage site and was recently named the world’s seventh wonder. The Serengeti is famous for its annual migration, which sees more than six million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing.

There are about 500 bird species, ranging from the outsized ostrich and strange secretary bird of the wide grassland to the black eagles that glide easily over the Lobo Hills, with over 100 dung beetle species identified.

The freeing sensation of space that characterizes the Serengeti Plains, stretching over sunburned savannah to a sparkling golden horizon at the end of the world, is as lasting as the game-viewing. This golden stretch of grass, however, is changed into an infinite green carpet flecked with wildflowers following the rains. There are also forested slopes and colossal termite mounds, fig-lined rivers, and acacia woods tinted orange by dust.

The Serengeti may be well-known, but it is still so vast that you may be the sole human witness when a pride of lions plans a siege, its gaze fixed on its next meal.

Serengeti National Park is located in Tanzania.

Size: 14,763 square kilometers (5,700 sq miles)

335 kilometers (208 miles) from Arusha, spanning north to Kenya and west to Lake Victoria.