If you crave getting out into untamed nature, there likely isn't a better place to do it than Tanzania.
A full 28% of the East African country lies in 16 protected national parks, 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 wildlife, from lions and leopards to cheetahs, zebra, and wildebeest.
For most, myself included, the easiest way to experience this gargantuan conservation effort is to take a safari through Tanzania's northern circuit, a collection of parks close to Arusha, a small city in the mountains near Kenya.
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Those parks include Ngorongoro, a 3,202-square-mile conservation area with a volcanic crater filled with wildlife; Tarangire, a national park typically filled with thousands of migrating elephants; and the Serengeti, where 1.5 million wildebeest migrate annually on a nearly 2,000-mile cycle in search of new grass, fresh water, and a place to birth their calves.
After spending five days exploring the circuit, I saw the Great Wildebeest Migration — 1.5 million wildebeest traveling across Tanzania's grasslands to give birth — as well as numerous lions, elephants, and giraffes. It was unforgettable.