Tree Vachellia tortilis
The flat-topped tree of every safari photograph. Giraffes browse it and leopards sleep in it.
The umbrella thorn is the classic silhouette of the East African savanna. Its thorns are up to ten centimetres long, yet giraffes strip the leaves with a tongue that seems made of leather.
In the Serengeti the acacias mark the rivers and drainage lines where leopards and lions rest. Around the Lark Plains the thorn scrub is where we find the dry-country birds: barbets, hornbills and the beautiful Rosy-patched Bushshrike.
Across the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro highlands, and in the acacia belt around the Lark Plains.
Guide’s tipThe seed pods are a favourite of elephants and the flowers draw sunbirds. Stop under one for lunch and watch who visits.
Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.
Destinations
The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.
The Rift Valley soda lake where East Africa’s Lesser Flamingos breed.
Seasonal soda lake with flamingos, waterbirds and quiet dry bush.
The only place on earth to see the critically endangered Beesley’s Lark.
Huge elephant herds, ancient baobabs and Tanzania’s endemic birds.
A volcanic caldera with black rhino, lions and big grassland birds.
Vast plains, the Great Migration and big cats all year round.
Keep exploring
Loxodonta africana
Tarangire’s big herds are the classic sight: families drifting between baobabs to the river in the dry season.
Panthera leo
The Serengeti holds one of the largest lion populations left in Africa. Prides of twenty are not unusual.
Panthera pardus
Secretive and beautiful. The Seronera valley’s sausage trees are the best place in Africa to find one by day.
Acinonyx jubatus
Built for the short grass plains. Watch one scan from a termite mound in the southern Serengeti.
Diceros bicornis
Critically endangered and closely guarded. The Ngorongoro Crater is the most reliable place in Tanzania to see one.
Syncerus caffer
The Big Five’s heavyweight. Herds of several hundred are a daily sight in Arusha National Park and the crater.
Giraffa tippelskirchi
Tanzania’s national animal, with jagged star-shaped patches. Common almost everywhere except inside the crater.
Equus quagga
The migration’s other half. Hundreds of thousands of zebra move with the wildebeest across the Serengeti.
Tell us your dates and the birds or animals you most want to see. We’ll reply within 24 hours with a route and a full quote.
