Top 4 Best Places and National Parks to see Leopards in Tanzania : A member of the “Big Five,” leopards are one of Africa’s most elusive big cats. They are common charismatic creatures in Africa and can be found all throughout Tanzania. If you’re planning an African wildlife trip and want to see leopards, Tanzania should be the top pick on your Tanzania safari itinerary and bucket list. Although both black rhinos and leopards are endangered wild animals, and their numbers are declining in Africa, it is a different story in Tanzania, where there are numerous leopards that can be seen roaming freely in their natural habitats at various national parks and game reserves throughout the country.
Where can I see leopards in Tanzania? Leopards are elusive, shy, and difficult to spot, especially during the day because they are most active at night. Despite these challenges, if you choose to visit one of Tanzania’s top national parks that are home to leopards, you have a good chance of seeing them on your safari night game drive, morning game drive, or evening game drive.
While there are more than five locations and national parks in Tanzania where you can spot leopards while on a wildlife safari, the central Serengeti national park offers the best chances of viewing them. Although you may need to be a little patience as these creatures are more elusive, shy, and nocturnal, witnessing them in the Seronera Valley in the center of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, can be worthwhile. If you are patient, you have a greater than 80% probability of seeing them there. Combining the Serengeti and Tarangire national parks, where there is a typically decent probability of sighting leopards, on your bucket list will boost your chances of seeing one during your Tanzania wildlife tour.
Where can you see leopards in Tanzania? The top 4 spots to observe leopards in Tanzania are listed below. To increase your chances of seeing leopards on your Tanzania safari, make sure to visit these locations often because that’s where they’re usually spotted.
- Serengeti National Park.
Since the Serengeti is regarded as one of the best sites in Africa with such a large number of leopards, Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is one of the best places to see leopards in both Tanzania and the rest of Africa. If you travel to Tanzania for a Tanzania safari tour during the great wildebeest migration, which typically occurs from July to October, you will have the opportunity to witness leopards hunting prey as the wildebeests are migrating.
Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park Leopards can primarily be found along the riverine along the routes created specifically for game viewing. Searching for them among the higher trees rather than on the ground will help you find them. A leopard would probably be resting among the huge trees’ slanted trunks. If you’re lucky, you might see a leopard carrying its victim up into a tree, where it will be safe from lions and hyenas. Besides leopards, wildebeest, zebra, lion, gazelle, giraffe, spotted hyena, elephant, serval, agama lizard, rock hyrax, secretary bird, rhinoceros, buffalo, cheetah, jackal, and aardwolf are some of the other prominent wild animals that may be seen in Serengeti National Park.
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Another excellent location to watch leopards in Tanzania is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Due to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area’s habitat differences, leopard sightings are more difficult than in Serengeti National Park. Leopards live in the woodlands that make up the Ngorongoro conservation area, but it might be challenging to view them because they like to hide there, especially during the day, and come out at night to hunt. The chances of spotting leopards at Ngorongoro are not as high as they are in the Serengeti, but if you’re lucky, you might be able to spot them, particularly in the tall trees that line the crater rims of Ngorongoro and Empakai.
Since these creatures are more active at night and you have a higher chance of sighting them than you do during the day, a night game drive will be ideal for hunting for them. This will increase your possibility of seeing leopards in the Ngorongoro crater. Other significant animal species that can be sighted in the Ngorongoro conservation area, besides leopards, include wildebeest, lion, hartebeest, elephant, mountain reedbuck, zebra, spotted hyena, hippopotamus, buffalo, gazelle, and the black rhinoceros, which is an endangered species, Top 4 Best Places and National Parks to see Leopards in Tanzania .
- Lake Manyara National Park
The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is the best place to see leopards, but Lake Manyara National Park is also a great place to see them. However, like the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we can’t guarantee that you’ll see them here, and the park’s dense forest makes it a little harder to see them. Again, Like in the Ngorongoro conservation area, a night wildlife drive will be ideal to observe leopards at Lake Manyara National Park because they are more active at night and easier to spot than during the day.
In addition to seeing leopards in this park, you can also observe lions, black-backed jackals, bat-eared foxes, and servals, African wild cats, spotted hyenas, African civets, genet (Genetta) species, and many species of mongoose.
- Ruaha national park
Visit the riverine woodlands of Ruaha National Park in southern Tanzania, which is renowned for having good leopard sightings. Although there aren’t many leopards here, the whereabouts of specific cats are frequently known by guides, so you might have to share sightings with other vehicles. The Greater and Lesser Kudu, Sable and Roan antelopes, wild dogs, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, impalas, impalas, elands, jackals, and bat-eared foxes are among the other creatures.
Arusha National Park, Kitulo National Park, Saadani National Park, Katavi National Park, and Mikumi National Park are a few additional famous places to see leopards in Tanzania in addition to the national parks mentioned above.
