Famous Wildlife Preserves
Travel Guide > General guides > Famous Places and Things > Famous Wildlife Preserves
Introduction
One of the great travelling experiences is to come eye to eye with animals and other creatures which you haven't seen before or are likely to see during your every day life, well except for the nearby zoo of course. Travelling across the world and seeing those wild animals roaming freely across the African plains or swimming in the oceans is high on most traveller's lists and is a must to understand how special this planet actually is. A trip to certain wildlife preserves can show travellers the blending of wildlife and the every day life for certain groups, thus making a combined trip with culture and nature a possibility.
Africa
Serengeti/Masai Mara
- Where: North of Tanzania, sout of Kenya
- Claim to fame: annual migration
Serengeti National Park is Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park and equals South Africa's Kruger NP as one of the best and famous parks in the world to see huge numbers of wildlife. The Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some millions of Thomson's gazelles, antelopes, zebras and wildebeests migrate across the open plains searching for fresh food and water. The Serengeti is as you'd expected and African safari to be, with savanne landscapes as far as the eye can see. Across the border in Kenya is the Masai Mara national park, probably just as familiar and because in fact together they form one ecosystem, both are mentioned here. The migration of animals does not take any notice of national borders and when the rains hit Kenya, so do the wildebeest, antelopes and zebras. As a consequence, predators are better spotted as there is more prey in certain places at certain times. It is very difficult though to predict the pattern exactly as it all depends on when and where the rain falls. Timing your trip therefore is no garanty, but that doesn't matter, as there is enough wildlife anywhere anytime in these magnificent East African parks.
Okavango Delta
- Where: northwest of Botswana
- Claim to fame: world's biggest inland delta
The Okavango Delta is the world's biggest inland delta and is located in the nortwest of Botswana. The Okavango river does not have an outlet into the sea and instead it ends in the middle of the Kalahari desert where it floods an area as big as 15,000 square kilometers. The floodings starts in the north at the end of the year (December) and hits the south about 5 or 6 months later in May. You will be rewarded when visiting this rather expensive place to visit, as the area is teeming with wildlife and a trip in a dug out canoe, a mokoro, is one of the highlights o this magnificent area. Crocodiles and hippos roam the waters and elephants, zebras and giraffes are here in huge numbers.
Kruger National Park
- Where: Northeast of South Africa
- Claim to fame: Easiest and safest park to drive and see lots of wildlife
The Kruger National Park is located in the northeast of South Africa and has recently been joined by parks in Mozambique and Zimbabwe to form a huge transfrontier peace park.
Kruger is one of the most biodiverse national parks in South African and in fact in the whole of Africa. Huge varieties are reported amongst the mammals as well as birds, plants and even fish! No less than 147 different mammals exist here and tens of thousands of buffalos and zebras roam the park. Other animals easily spotted are elephants, crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, several species of antelope and predators like lions and the somehow more elusive leopard. Cheetahs, African wild dogs (only 250) and black rhinos are all preasant as well, but numbers are more limited. There is a downside to all this though because many roads are now tarred and huge numbers of tourists visit Kruger because it is easy and part of the year it even is malaria free!
Mountain Gorillas
- Where: Central Africa
- Claim to fame: the only place in the world to see Mountain Gorillas
Although this is not about only one park, the special place that Mountain Gorillas deserve to prevent them from extinction, is good enough to list several of the parks where you can see them. In Rwanda there is the Volcanoes National Park, in Uganda the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and in the Democratic Republic of Congo there are the Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, although the latter is seldom visited due to the unstable position of the country. A trip doesn't come cheap, 500 USD in Rwanda and Uganda and 350 USD in the DRC and are best booked well in advance, especially when you want to visit the Bwindi park. See the three country articles for some more information.
Asia
Bandhavgarh
Royal Chitwan NP
- Where: Central Nepal, west of the capital Kathmandu
- Claim to fame: one of the best places in Nepal to see tigers and rhinos
The Royal Chitwan National Park was established in 1973 and contains 932 square kilometersitage with a diversity of ecosystems-including the Churia hills, Ox-bow lakes, and the flood plains of the Rapti, Reu and Narayani Rivers. It is located west of Kathmandu at the foot of the Himalayas and is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the 'Terai' region, which formerly extended over the foothills of India and Nepal. It has a high biodiversity which makes this park unique in Nepal and wildlife includes one of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros and several dozens of Bengal tiger, although the last one is a matter of pure luck to see this elusive big cat. It is placed on the Unesco World Heritage List.
Changtang Plateau Wilderness Area
Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
The world-renowned Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre was set up in 1964 to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned baby orang-utans from logging sites, plantations and illegal hunting. These orang-utans are taken care of, brought up, and trained to survive in the wild. They will be released into the wild once they are ready. Visitors will be able to see these orang-utans up-close in their wildlife habitat as well as going on trekking and river expeditions.
Located within the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, the centre also educates the public on conservation, and conducts research on other endangered species such as the rhinoceros. The sanctuary is one of the top tourist attractions in Sabah.
Tabin Wildlife Reserve
- Where: 50 kilometres northeast of Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia
- Claim to fame: Home to many mammal species and all eight Hornbill species.
The Tabin Wildlife Reserve consists of 120 500 hectares of diverse rainforest located on the eastern coast of Sabah near Lahad Datu. Tabin Wildlife Reserve is a dedicated breeding ground for wildlife and birdlife, including the Sumatran Rhino and the Borneo pygmy elephant. The reserve was the winner of "The Most Promising Attraction 2003" given by the Malaysia Tourism Awards.
Central America
Europe
Middle East
North America
South America
Amazone
- Where: South America, Brazil has the largerst part
- Claim to fame: largest rainforest in the world
The Amazon Rainforest contains over half of the rainforest in the world and is by far the largest rainforest with about 7 million square kilometers. Although the Amazone contains hundreds of rivers, the Amazon River itself is the most important one and arguably the longest in the world (the Nile claims the same) with about 6600 kilometers. Althouh wildlife here is generally much harder to spot compared to the Galapagos Islands and the Pantanal, the Amazone contains of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world with tens of thousands of species of flora and fauna. Sloths, anacondas, dolphins, monkeys, birds, butterflies, insects (the most annoying animals probably), fish like the piranha and elusive predators like the jaguar and puma all reside here, but seeing some of them is a matter of pure luck. You will however most like see dolphins, sloths, caiman and many species of birds during a multriple trip into the forest.
Galapagos
- Where: Pacific Ocean, 1000 km west of Ecuador
- Claim to fame: best place in the world to see megafauna
The Galapagos Islands is one of the best places to experience the sight of some rare and endangered species of animals. Some animals are so strange you wouldn't have thought they were actually alive and because they are generally extremely timid you can watch them all up close, both above as well as under water. Most of the animals here are considered megafauna. Megafauna defines animals which live in a small environment devoid of major predators and as a consequence have become larger and extremely specialized, filling a different niche.For a wider explanation and more depth of with animals to expect, have a look at the Wildlife In The Galapagos article.
Pantanal
- Where: southwest of Brazil and parts of Bolivia and Paraguay
- Claim to fame: world's largest continuous wetland
The Pantanal is the world's largest continuous wetland with a total area of more than 200,000 square kilometers. It is one of the best places in the New World to watch wildlife as a wide range of mammals, birds, reptiles, butterflies and other sorts of creatures can easily be seen in their natural habitat. One of the most striking animals is the capibara, the world's biggest rodent which can grow as big as small pig occasionally. You will definately see lots of caimans and dozens of sorts of (aquatic) birds as well. The blue hyacint macaw is one of the biggest sorts in the world you can encounter here. Anacondas and giant river otters live in the rivers as well, but you need a little bit of luck to see them. Biggers animals include the tapir and predators like the jaguar, although the last one is very elusive and seeing one of these magnificent animals requires luck and some venturing deeper into the Pantanal.
Peninsula Valdéz
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- Where: Argentina, just south of Bahía
- Claim to fame: largest number of whales during mating season; several rare kinds of pinguins
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