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Into the wild: Epic pictures of magnificent beasts in their natural environment

<ul class="summary-list"><li>At the edge of Serengeti National Park sits TAASA, a luxury safari lodge.</li><li>A night in one of the 540-square-foot canvas tents costs $985 a person.</li></ul><p>As the Toyota Land Cruiser begins its trek up to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.go2africa.com/accommodation/taasa-lodge#reviews">TAASA Lodge</a> in the northern part of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, the sound of voices grows louder and louder.</p><p>Moments earlier, rattling glass soda bottles and creaky car noises drowned out surrounding bird calls and the rumbles from passing African bush elephants.</p><p>Now, all ears are on sing-songy voices and the distant beat of the drum.</p><p>As the faces of the singers come into view, their lyrics become clear: "Jambo. Jambo bwana. Habari gani? Mzuri sana."</p><p>While words like jambo — a Swahili greeting — were familiar, others were new to me.</p><p>Later, TAASA's lodge manager, May Simon, translated the song and shared why the lodge staff greets all visitors with the popular melody.</p><p>The beginning of the "Jambo Bwana" song translates to, "Hi, sir. How are you? Very fine. Visitors are welcome in our country. No worries."</p><p>But Simon said its meaning extends far beyond words.</p><p>"It's about the love," Simon said. "It brings joy and makes you smile."</p><p>Ultimately, she said, it's the lodge staff's way of welcoming you home.</p><p>And after spending just two nights at the luxury lodge, TAASA quickly felt like home.</p><div type="image" title="The interior of the main lodge at TAASA." height="1365" width="1820" msid="115309555" hostid="261" sizebytes="227090"></div><h2 id="216730d2-7f43-4450-aa1a-3bdc3cf91775">The luxury lodge sits at the edge of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park</h2><p>TAASA sits in a game reserve near the northern edge of the Serengeti, overlooking Tanzania's Lobo Valley.</p><p>The lodge itself has 12 canvas tents, each 540 square feet.</p><p>The small space is simple yet luxurious. At the front of the tent is a living area with a desk and an L-shaped couch. Two steps lead to an elevated bedroom area with a king-sized mattress sandwiched by nightstands. Behind the bed is the tent's bathroom with a two-sink vanity, shower, and toilet. </p><p>Throughout the space, natural elements like a wooden chandelier and stone shower remind guests of the natural world.</p><div type="image" title="The interior and exterior of the author's tent at TAASA Lodge." height="900" width="1200" msid="115309549" hostid="261" sizebytes="76432"></div><p>Guests are paired with a butler who coordinates schedules, serves meals, cleans laundry, and tidies rooms. Mikindo woke me up each morning with a cappuccino and left a hot water bottle in my bed each night.</p><p>At their core, the accommodations are still tents, which was a positive in my mind. It meant I still felt in tune with nature every moment I spent in the room. I fell asleep to the roars of nearby lions, and one afternoon, I watched a family of baboons use my patio like a playground and my tent supports like a fireman's pole.</p><div type="image" title="The tent had 180-degree views of the surrounding nature." height="1289" width="1935" msid="115309550" hostid="261" sizebytes="130224"></div><p>In addition to the 12 identical tents, there is a main lodge where meals are served and unlimited drinks are poured.</p><p>Here, the space oozes warmth. Comfy couches are the ideal places to sip gin and tonics and share game drive photos. Outside sits a small infinity pool overlooking the valley and a shared bonfire that provides warmth during chilly evenings.</p><div type="image" title="Side-by-side images of TAASA Lodge." height="900" width="1200" msid="115309563" hostid="261" sizebytes="133900"></div><p>During this year's high season, which is from June through October and the end of December, a night at TAASA Lodge in a shared tent costs $985 per person. This includes three meals a day, house beverages, laundry services, game drives, a visit to a nearby Maasai village, and transfers to and from the nearby airstrip. For 2025, nightly rates are $1,060 per person.</p><p>Additionally, guests pay a TAASA concession fee, a 1% tourism development levy, government taxes, and Serengeti National Park fees, which total around $150 per person a night. Business Insider received a media rate for the two-night stay.</p><div type="image" title="My guide and tracker in the morning light." height="1365" width="1820" msid="115309560" hostid="261" sizebytes="99674"></div><h2 id="817c3b7c-8376-480e-9671-d8130d884953">I spent two days spotting Tanzania's wildlife</h2><p id="817c3b7c-8376-480e-9671-d8130d884953">While it was tempting to spend mornings sipping coffee on my tent's veranda or afternoons lounging near the pool, the true highlight of TAASA is its game drives.</p><p id="817c3b7c-8376-480e-9671-d8130d884953">The lodge sits near three ecosystems: the Serengeti National Park, the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.</p><p>For two full days, Logolie Milya guided me on game drives alongside tracker Sam.</p><p>This was my first lodge during my seven-night trip in the Serengeti, and I failed to realize how spoiled I was at TAASA.</p><p>Since it sits in a game reserve, not a national park, we could off-road and see animals up close and personal in our open-sided vehicles. One morning, we approached a male and female lion lounging in the sun; that afternoon, we watched a leopard carry its kill into the branches of a kigelia tree.</p><div type="image" title="A pair of zebras and a lion in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania." height="900" width="1200" msid="115309548" hostid="261" sizebytes="153358"></div><p>What I didn't see were many other game vehicles. For major sightings — like a black rhino or our leopard spotting — Milya would call in the location to other guides, which meant two or three vehicles might pull up for the viewing. Beyond that, we were solo for the vast majority of the trip.</p><p>Later, when I stayed at a lodge in central Serengeti, I learned how intimate my TAASA viewings were. In the more populated parts of the national park, my guide and I would join crowds of 12-plus vehicles for a cheetah spotting or sit in a line of Range Rovers waiting for a chance to see a leopard.</p><p>The advantages of staying at TAASA continued as the sun set. In Serengeti National Park, night game drives aren't permitted. But since TAASA isn't in the park, you can track animals into the evening.</p><p>Night game drives are an entirely different experience. Sam sat at the front of the vehicle with a large light, scanning the distance for eyes and animals. We spotted two lions on the move — a drastic change from the lazy, lounging lions we had watched earlier in the afternoon. Beyond that, nighttime offered a completely different view of the bush with unfamiliar sounds and shapes.</p><div type="image" title="TAASA Lodge borders the northern section of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania." height="1365" width="2048" msid="115309557" hostid="261" sizebytes="381690"></div><h2 id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">After two nights, TAASA felt like home</h2><p id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">At the end of each game drive, I was welcomed back to the lodge with the same melody and familiar faces.</p><p id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">Mikindo was always there to greet me with a cool towel and a refreshing drink. But beyond that, Mikindo became a smiling face eager to hear about the giraffe I spotted crossing the Mara River and dive into stories about his family and childhood.</p><p id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">I spent days with Milya and Sam, sharing anecdotes, laughing, and asking endless questions. Milya shared insight into how his childhood growing up in a Maasai village equipped him with the instincts and knowledge to be a guide. Sam told stories about his brothers and sisters who live in the nearby Ololosokwan village.</p><p id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">Simon said her goal as the lodge manager is to "always try to make sure guests leave with a memory. Try to capture their hearts."</p><p id="e8f9e8ad-f867-4393-afba-9be55eeccf6c">As I left TAASA, I found myself stuck singing "Jambo Bwana" throughout the rest of my Tanzania trip. I whispered the words to myself on game drives and woke up to the lyrics in my mind some mornings.</p><p>With those words came images of TAASA — the welcoming staff, the adrenaline-inducing game drives, and the serene landscapes.</p>

I stayed in a 540-square-foot luxury tent at the edge of Africa's Serengeti National Park. The lodge was stunning, but the safari perks were the real highlight.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Elephants are easy to spot -&#xa0;if you're in the right area.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>On a recent five-day <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/safari" target="_blank" rel="noopener">safari</a> in Tanzania, I witnessed the Great Wildebeest Migration as well as numerous lions, elephants, and giraffes.</strong></li><li><strong>I was incredibly lucky: My guide, Charles Nnko of Tanzania Experience, told me that many safari-goers don't see half as much on safaris that are twice as long.</strong></li><li>My "luck" was helped considerably because we visited three different parks, each with different climates and habitats supporting different animals.</li><li>By visiting all three, <span>my guide put me in the places where animals are likely to be so that we'd have a high probability of seeing them.</span> </li></ul><p>Like most people who go on safari, I wanted to see <em>everything</em>. I'm talking lions, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, leopards, and the Great Migration, where<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYM6LqDJLiM">1.5 million wildebeest migrate annually on a nearly 2,000-mile cycle</a><span> </span>in search of new grass, fresh water, and a place to birth their calves.</p><p>That is difficult to accomplish. No matter how much money you spend on a safari, seeing everything comes down to probability and luck. The best way to improve the probability that you'll see everything you want to see is by going on a longer safari or by visiting more places. As I didn't have the option of taking longer than a five-day safari, I opted to visit more places.</p><p>Over five days, I visited the Serengeti, 12,000 miles of grasslands, forests, swamps, and woodlands teeming with wildlife; Ngorongoro, a 3,202-square-mile conservation area with a volcanic crater filled with wildlife; and Tarangire, a national park typically filled with thousands of migrating elephants.</p><p>Each of those destinations was picked by my guide,<span> </span><a href="https://www.tanzania-experience.com/company/meet-the-team/">Tanzania Experience's Charles Nnko</a>, for a specific reason.</p><h2>Visiting more parks will increase your chances of seeing different species</h2><p>Tarangire, for example, is known as the best place to observe elephants, as thousands of them live there. It's easy to get close to them; the elephant in the photo at the top of this article was grazing a few feet from our truck.</p><p>Meanwhile, the volcanic crater of Ngorongoro, <span>a </span>100-square-mile basin filled with 25,000 large animals, is one of the only places to spot the critically endangered black rhino in the world. Because the rhino is frequently targeted by poachers, the number of rhinos in the crater is kept a secret.</p><p>Nnko <span>spotted a pair of rhinos a mile or so in the distance when we visited. Through binoculars, I watched them munch grass.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A pair of rhinos are visible in the distance on the center right of the frame, below the shadow.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>While no giraffes can be found inside the volcanic crater, the highlands surrounding the crater are one of the best habitats to spot them: They love to eat the species of trees in the area.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Giraffes in the highlands of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Further north, we reached the Ndutu area of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Though the Great Migration happens year-round, when I visited in February, the wildebeests and zebra were in the midst of calving season. During calving season, the animals migrate from Kenya south into Tanzania towards Ndutu in order to find a suitable place to give birth.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/serengeti-travel-tip-packed-during-peak-safari-season-reality-check-2019-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I took 2,000 photos during a 5-day safari in Tanzania, and 1 of those photos is an important reality check for anyone thinking about going on a safari</a></em></p><p>On the days I was visiting, much of the 2 million-strong herd had already passed out of the Serengeti and into Ndutu, where we were able to watch thousands of wildebeest stampede by. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Great Migration of wildebeest in the Ndutu area of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Lastly, we visited the Serengeti, the most famous of Tanzania's parks and a bucket-list destination in itself. The Serengeti is likely as famous for its landscape as for the animals that live there. The name comes from the Maasai word "serenget," which means endless plains.</p><p>While the Serengeti is a poor place to see elephants or giraffes, who have little to eat in the habitat, it is the best place to see large predators like lions, leopards, cheetahs, or hyenas. Such predators love hiding in the grasses and stalking the zebra or antelopes that walk unknowingly on the flat ground.</p><p>In the course of a single day in the Serengeti, I saw a lion lunching on a wildebeest, a pack of hyenas tracking prey in the distance, a leopard napping in a tree, and a pair of mating cheetahs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A pride of lions in the Serengeti.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Nnko told me throughout the safari how lucky I was. Most people who go on safaris for twice as long see half as much, he said.  </span></p><p><span>By the end, I knew that my "luck" was really about my guide putting us in the places where animals are likely to be so that we'd have a high probability of seeing them.</span></p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> tips from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burj-al-arab-dubai-worlds-most-luxurious-hotel-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I didn't think the $1 billion hotel considered 'the most luxurious in the world' could possibly live up to the hype. I was very wrong.</a></li><li><div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Couchsurfing has a hidden feature that helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise</a></div></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/multicity-flights-expedia-skyscanner-mistake-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I found out the hard way that one of the best strategies to save money on flights can end up costing you big time</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-travel-advice-skip-attractions-that-dont-interest-you-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">The single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-advice-biggest-travel-mistakes-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doomsday-prepper-million-dollar-condo-converted-missile-silo-2019-3">Take a look inside a $3 million doomsday condo that can sustain 75 people for 5 years</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

On my 5-day safari, my guide said we saw more animals than most people do on 10-day trips. It's all because of a simple planning strategy all safari-goers should follow.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A safari is only as good as its guides.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Located in East Africa, Tanzania is home to some of the greatest conservation areas and parks in the world, including the Serengeti, an area spanning <strong>12,000 miles of grasslands, forests, swamps, and woodlands teeming with wildlife.</strong></li><li><strong>On a recent five-day safari in Tanzania, I visited the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, a 3,202-square mile volcanic crater filled with wildlife, and Tarangire, a national park typically filled with thousands of migrating elephants.</strong></li><li><strong>In five days, I witnessed the Great Migration - 1.5 million wildebeest traveling across Tanzania's grasslands to give birth - as well as countless lions, elephants, and giraffes.</strong></li><li><strong>What the trip drove home for me was how important doing your research on the guide and the company is: A safari is only as good as its guides.</strong></li></ul><p>"Safaris are different in every country. But there is no safari like a safari in Tanzania."</p><p>That's what my guide, Charles Nnko, told me, after I touched down in Arusha, Tanzania last month. We were in a Franken-Land Rover, rumbling down a highway that inadvertently turns into a windy dirt road every few miles.</p><div data-piano-inline-content-wrapper=""><p>Nnko is a guide for <a href="https://www.tanzania-experience.com/company/meet-the-team/">Tanzania Experience</a>, a company that organizes safaris, camping trips, mountaineering expeditions and beach holidays throughout Tanzania. Located in East Africa, Tanzania is home to one of the greatest conservation efforts on Earth. A full 28% of the country <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/tanzania/environment">lies in sixteen protected national parks</a>, as well as game and forest reserves, and other protected areas. Not even that is enough land to fully protect or accommodate the migration patterns of its unique mass of wildlife, from lions and leopards to cheetahs, zebra, wildebeest, and everything in between.</p><p>Those parks include Ngorongoro, a 3,202-square mile volcanic crater filled with wildlife; Tarangire, a national park typically filled with thousands of migrating elephants; and the Serengeti, where<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYM6LqDJLiM"> 1.5 million wildebeest migrate annually along a nearly 2,000-mile cycle</a> in search of new grass, fresh water, and a place to birth their calves.</p><p>Nnko and Tanzania Experience had arranged for me to see a greatest-hits collection of a Tanzanian safari, including all three of the aforementioned parks. By the end of it, I was convinced it was the greatest experience I had had in a year of <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword>.</p><p>Here's what it was like.</p></div>

I spent 5 days on a Tanzanian safari and saw wild lions, elephants, and rhinos -  but it made me realize there are 2 factors that can make or break your trip

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Seeing wildebeests is, in my opinion, the best part of going on safari.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tanzania" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tanzania</a>, in East Africa, is home to some of the greatest conservation areas and parks in the world.</li><li><strong>On a recent five-day <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/safari" target="_blank" rel="noopener">safari</a>, I visited three areas: the Serengeti,</strong> <strong>Ngorongoro, and Tarangire.</strong></li><li><strong>The most breathtaking sight of the whole trip was the Great Wildebeest Migration, when 1.5 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra and other animals <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> across Kenya and Tanzania to give birth or find new grass or fresh water.</strong></li><li><strong>Nothing else I saw on safari compared to watching a natural event of such magnitude.</strong></li></ul><p>If you had asked me before going on safari what I was most excited to see, my answer would have been lions.</p><p>But after having gone on a five-day safari in Tanzania last month, I'm convinced I had it all wrong. The most fascinating animals to watch are the wildebeest.</p><p>All year round, just about the entire population of wildebeests in northern Tanzania embarks on a migration of epic proportions. In it, 1.5 million wildebeest <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYM6LqDJLiM">migrate on a nearly 1,200-mile cycle</a><span> </span>in search of new grass, fresh water, and a place to birth their calves. Nearly 500,000 zebras, antelopes, and other animals travel with them. </p><p>It's called the Great Wildebeest Migration.</p><p>Depending on the time of year, the animals are in a different part of their migration. Visit the Serengeti from April to June and you'll find wildebeest spread across the Serengeti to take advantage of the new grass produced by the rainy season. Visit from July to October and you can catch the herds moving north to cross the Mara River into Kenya as crocodiles and other predators try to pick them off one by one. </p><p>Visit in February, as I did, and you can see perhaps an even greater sight: calving season. During calving season, the animals migrate from Kenya, south into Tanzania towards Ndutu in order to find a suitable place to give birth.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Wildebeests with new calves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>I showed up somewhere in between, with a few wildebeest and zebra dropping their babies, but most holding on for better grasses. My guide, Charles Nnko, explained that wildebeest can hold their calves inside for weeks until they find grass they intuitively know is safe for raising their young. Ideally, they drop them in a place where it has just rained so their babies can eat the new grass.</p><p>The real thrill of catching the migration is watching the mass movements of thousands of animals and the reactions of animals along the way. When we passed through this plain on the edge of the Serengeti, we watched as the herds leaped over this crack in the earth.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Wildebeests crossing a crack in the ground.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>They then gathered together in a long line, heading south, that zig-zagged back and forth. I could hear them whoosh by as they stampeded through the grasslands at full speed.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A herd of wildebeests stampeding through the grasslands.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Though all the wildebeest eventually meet in the same approximate area, the herds move at different speeds and in different directions. Some even go in circles before continuing to head south.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Zebra and wildebeests cross Ndutu Lake.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Zebras and wildebeest alike crossed straight through the water, swimming and then running their way to the other side. Nnko said that zebras and wildebeest migrate together because of their complementary habits. Zebras enjoy long grass, while wildebeest prefer short grass. Zebras have better sight and memory, while wildebeest have better hearing.</p><p>Much of being on safari is luck. If we had gone to the lake 10 or 15 minutes earlier, we would've seen this massive herd of wildebeest (pictured below) crossing. Instead, we found them gathering a half a mile farther into the bush.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs/">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>It's hard to convey just how awesome it is to see thousands of animals moving together at once, and the most thrilling part of it is that anything could happen.</p><section data-track-content="" data-post-type="post"><div><div data-piano-inline-content-wrapper=""><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More travel tips from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burj-al-arab-dubai-worlds-most-luxurious-hotel-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I didn't think the $1 billion hotel considered 'the most luxurious in the world' could possibly live up to the hype. I was very wrong.</a></li><li><div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Couchsurfing has a hidden feature that helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise</a></div></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/multicity-flights-expedia-skyscanner-mistake-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I found out the hard way that one of the best strategies to save money on flights can end up costing you big time</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-travel-advice-skip-attractions-that-dont-interest-you-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">The single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-advice-biggest-travel-mistakes-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again</a></li></ul></div></div></section>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doomsday-prepper-million-dollar-condo-converted-missile-silo-2019-3">Take a look inside a $3 million doomsday condo that can sustain 75 people for 5 years</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

I went on safari in the Serengeti and the most unforgettable sight of the whole trip had nothing to do with lions, cheetahs, or leopards

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Julie Zeveloff/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Condé Nast Traveler <a href="http://www.cntraveler.com/readers-choice-awards/2015/top-100-hotels-and-resorts-in-the-world-readers-choice-awards">just released</a> its list of the top 100 hotels and resorts in the world, as voted upon by its readers. </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Singita Grumeti, located on the western corridor of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, <a href="http://www.cntraveler.com/hotels/united-republic-of-tanzania/serengeti-national-park/singita-grumeti--tanzania">earned</a> the top spot. </span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Singita Grumeti is a 340,000-acre concession in the Grumeti Reserve that's controlled by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. Jones partnered with Singita, a luxury safari brand with resorts around Africa, to build an oasis in the wild in 2006. There's a big emphasis on conservation - Singita Grumeti established an anti-poaching unit and effectively stopped poaching in the area, resulting in a resurgence of big game.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Singita Grumeti has three main lodges spread across the property, as well as some smaller locales, including a mobile tent camp.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">When the Tanzania Tourist Board </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-reporter-goes-to-tanzania-2012-10">invited me to visit</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> in 2012</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, I had to see what all the fuss was about.</span></p><p>I stayed at Sabora Tented Camp, the most rustic of the three main lodges. My room may have been made of canvas, but it wasn't an ordinary tent. It was ultra-luxurious, with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, an outdoor shower, and a canopied bed. The food was five-star, with a menu of locally grown produce and fresh meat and fish.</p><p>Singita Grumeti isn't cheap. Sabora Tented camp costs $1,425 per person per night in the high season and $1,150 in the low season; rates at Sasakwa, the flagship lodge, go up to $1,950 per person per night in a cottage. If you want to stay in a villa, it will cost you up to $7,900 per night during the high season.</p><p><em>Disclosure: Our 2012 trip to Tanzania, including <keyword id="6354692" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> and lodging expenses, was sponsored by <span class="il">the Tanzania</span> Tourist Board, Africa Adventure Company, Singita Grumeti Group, Coastal Aviation, Qatar Airways, Tanzania National Parks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Wildlife Division.</em><span><br /></span></p>

What it's like to stay at the best hotel in the world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Shutterstock</span></p><p class="caption">A boat in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tanzania">Tanzania</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/africa">Africa's</a>, best-known <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/safari">safari</a> destination is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/serengeti">Serengeti</a>, 12,000 miles of grasslands, forests, swamps, and woodlands teeming with wildlife.</strong></li><li><strong>On a recent trip to Tanzania, I was told by my guide that many repeat safari tourists end up preferring Tanzania's far larger, Southern Circuit, which includes the 21,000-square mile Selous Game Reserve.</strong></li><li><strong>Eighty percent of tourists to Tanzania visit the Northern Circuit, where the Serengeti is located. During peak season the parks are flooded with safari jeeps. </strong></li><li><strong>Tanzania's southern parks are far more remote and far more wild. With far fewer tourists, they are often cheaper due to the lack of developed tourist facilities. </strong></li></ul><p>Most people only go on safari once in their lives.</p><p>It's far from the cheapest vacation you can take - costing a few thousand dollars at minimum - and, outside the lucky few who live in places like South Africa or Kenya, it's a long flight away.</p><p>For many, the safari they dream of is the Serengeti. Spanning 12,000 square miles in northern Tanzania, the Serengeti looks like the plains of Africa you see in the movies. The setting of The Lion King is supposedly modeled after the Serengeti. </p><p>It's by far one of the most popular safari destination, too. Out of the 1.4 million visitors to Tanzania, <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201806260651.html">80% visit either the Serengeti</a>, the adjacent Ngorongoro Crater, or Mount Kilimanjaro - the three destinations that make up Tanzania's Northern Circuit.</p><p>Naturally, when I made my plan to go on safari this winter, my heart was set on the Serengeti. I booked a trip with <a href="https://www.africanbudgetsafaris.com/">African Budget Safaris</a> and <a href="https://www.tanzania-experience.com/">Tanzania Experience</a>, who fashioned a packed five-day itinerary through the north. Both companies arrange safaris throughout Tanzania.</p><p>The morning that I left, I went over the itinerary with my guide Charles, a Tanzanian who has spent the last decade leading safari tours through just about every route the country has to offer.</p><p>As he talked over the map, my eyes kept darting to a Google Map on my phone of Tanzania. There were giant green splotches in southern Tanzania that looked far bigger than the Serengeti. I asked him what they were.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A map of Tanzania's Northern Circuit.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"People's first time on safari, they go to the Serengeti. Then they come back and visit the south. After that, they go to the south every year," he said. "It's something else."</p><p>When I asked him which park was his favorite, he smiled sheepishly and dodged the question by explaining what is in the south.</p><p>Tanzania's more-remote Southern Circuit consists of the Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha, Mahale, and Gombe national parks. At 21,000 square miles, the Selous alone trails only Greenland National Park for the world's biggest conservation area and is the only park in which you can find wild African hunting dogs. Meanwhile, Ruaha is home to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabel/2018/03/19/your-next-luxury-safari-asilias-jabali-ridge-in-southern-tanzania/">10% of the world's lion population</a> and a considerable percentage of the elephant population.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">An elephant in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Most people visit the Northern Circuit for a few reasons, Charles explained. It has a developed tourist infrastructure, is only a few hours from the airport in Arusha (where I flew in), the roads are easy, there are hundreds of safari companies, and there are plenty of luxury lodges, camping sites, and mid-range tented lodges to choose from. The landscape of the Serengeti is breathtaking - it is a Masaai word for "<span>"endless plains.</span><span>"</span></p><p>The downside is that during peak season (January through February, and July through August) in the north, there are always other safari jeeps around you as you scout for wildlife. Anytime something spectacular is happening - like someone spots a pride of lions - you can bet that half a dozen jeeps are close behind. </p><p>The south is a different beast all together.</p><p>The southern parks are about as off the grid as you can get, requiring a day's drive or an extra flight on heart-stopping Cessna plane. There is little in the way of development, with most people staying at camping sites or a few high-end lodges. If you want to do a walking or boat safari, the southern parks are usually where its done. It's not a safari for those afraid of a few bugs.</p><p>Those that do make the trek south, Charles added, are rewarded. Because so few tourists visit, it's unlikely you'll ever see another jeep during your jaunt through the wilderness. It's practically untouched by tourism, a near impossibility in 2019.</p><p>That could soon change.</p><p>Last year, the Tanzanian National Parks service <a href="https://www.eturbonews.com/226181/new-parks-planned-to-raise-tanzania-wildlife-tourism">announced that it is targeting parks outside the Northern Circuit for development and promotion</a> to attract more tourists. In 2017, the World Bank approved $150 million to finance tourism development in the Southern Circuit.</p><p>I guess I'll be doing a second safari after all.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>More tips from Business Insider's international correspondent:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/diehard-iphone-ios-user-switches-to-android-oneplus-6t-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I switched to Android after more than a decade with the iPhone, and I'm not going back. Here's why.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-tip-find-healthy-good-cheap-food-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I use the same trick in any city I visit to make sure I find amazing food</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-couchsurfing-app-to-meet-locals-traveling-2018-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Couchsurfing has a hidden feature that helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/multicity-flights-expedia-skyscanner-mistake-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I found out the hard way that one of the best strategies to save money on flights can end up costing you big time</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-travel-advice-skip-attractions-that-dont-interest-you-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">The single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-advice-biggest-travel-mistakes-2018-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-airline-shuttle-transportation-pan-am-eastern-new-york-2019-1">The rise and fall of Donald Trump's $365 million airline</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

You Searched For "ngorongoro conservation area" and got 7 results

Into the wild: Epic pictures of magnificent beasts in their natural environment

Kavita Majumdar

I stayed in a 540-square-foot luxury tent at the edge of Africa's Serengeti National Park. The lodge was stunning, but the safari perks were the real highlight.

Monica Humphries

On my 5-day safari, my guide said we saw more animals than most people do on 10-day trips. It's all because of a simple planning strategy all safari-goers should follow.

Harrison Jacobs

I spent 5 days on a Tanzanian safari and saw wild lions, elephants, and rhinos - but it made me realize there are 2 factors that can make or break your trip

Harrison Jacobs,Annie Zheng,A…

I went on safari in the Serengeti and the most unforgettable sight of the whole trip had nothing to do with lions, cheetahs, or leopards

Harrison Jacobs

What it's like to stay at the best hotel in the world

Julie Zeveloff

A local guide in Tanzania gave me a tip for going on safari, and it's the opposite of anything you've ever been told

Harrison Jacobs

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