The rich wildlife and stunningly beautiful scenery makes East Africa the ultimate in African safari travel. To top it up quality safari lodges ensure intimate ambience and privacy making East African safaris a great travel experience.

First on this list of top safari destinations is certainly Kenya’s Masai Mara. The Mara is considered to be an extension of Tanzania’s serengeti plains, before there were ever borders dividing this region into two countries, this was one big region. Perhaps most famous for the snorting, bellowing, thundering spectacle of over a million wildebeest on the move – closely attended by all the big predators. The migration is a seasonal event, rotating through the Mara in Kenya and Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.

Amboseli also known as elephant country, is a top destination for a Kenya Safari. This park is 39,206 hectares (392km2; 151sq miles) in size at the core of an 8,000 square kilometres (3,100 sq miles) ecosystem that spreads across the two countries Kenya and Tanzania. Here the locals are mainly Maasai, but people from other parts of the country have settled there attracted by the successful tourist-driven economy and intensive agriculture along the system of swamps that makes this low-rainfall area (average 350 mm (14 in)) one of the best wildlife-viewing experiences in East Africa if not Africa as a whole. Indeed, one of the classic images of East Africa, let alone Kenya is that of herds of elephants strolling across the plains with the snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro in the background. It is to catch this sight on memory and perhaps to experience it, that people flood to Amboseli National Park.

Tanzania’s Northern Circuit. This is not a destination but several that revolves around the iconic Serengeti National park to include the Ngorongoro Crater Reserve and other smaller parks perhaps not that well know but each having something unique to offer like Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Lake Eyasi, Arusha National Park and Kilimanjaro National Park.

Queen Elizabeth National Park Uganda. This park is situated at the base of the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda and covers an area of 2090km2. Perhaps more affectionately known as the QEII, the Queen Elizabeth National Park offers a unique safari experience with crater-dotted hills and open grassland. It supports an abundance of wildlife, including elephant, lion, leopard and the rare Ugandan antelope, the kob.

Bwindi National Park. The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a magnificent green swathe of dense rainforest, so ancient its thought to have survived the last ice age. The National Park covers 330 km2 of this rainforest and spans altitudes of 1,100 metres to 2,400 metres – a dramatic landscape of steep hills, narrow gorges and streams tumbling down waterfalls. You are in gorilla country.

A proclaimed World Heritage site, Bwindi is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. Its unique, precious flora sustains roughly half of the world’s known population of mountain gorillas – believed to number just 600, most having been destroyed by war and human activities through out Africa. There’s also a substantial chimpanzee population and Bwindi is perhaps the only forest in Africa in which these two apes live together.

Author Bio: Becky Jean is editor of http://www.naadytravel.com an online website on Kenya Tanzania safaris which also covers kenya safaris and travel information as well as masai mara safaris in general. You can view more info on the website.

Category: Travel
Keywords: travel, Africa, Safaris, vacations