Thank you for an amazing safari. Our guide Patrick was the best. His extensive knowledge of flora and fauna was amazing. He has a great sense of humor; he is warm, patient and professional. Patrick not ...
Constantine and Luis Regalado Physician Wellington, FL
The Serengeti takes its name from the Maasai word siringet, which means "endless plains." The plains certainly are that, and the park itself is endless, covering 14,763 sq km (9,173 sq mi) of dry rolling grassland, acacia speckled savanna, and dense riverine woodland. In the south one finds short and long grass plains, desiccated much of the year, brought briefly back to vibrancy by the short rains of November and December. It is no coincidence that the wildebeest calving season occurs in the months that follow; the entire Serengeti ecosystem follows the rhythm of the pattering rains, great herds of grazers following the rainfall and briefly rich forage. The Serengeti supports millions of hoofed animals – wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, Thomson's and Grant's gazelles – and the predators that harass them. This ecosystem extends beyond the boundaries of the park, some of it protected within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the park's eastern border and a knuckle of it within the Maasai Mara Reserve across Tanzania's northern national border with Kenya.
While the bulk of the park consists of grassland, the western reaches, near Lake Victoria, feature wooded highlands, and woodlands line the tributaries of the Mara and Grumeti rivers.
The ecosystem persists today due to human intervention, but human intervention has long played a role in the Serengeti. Nomadic herdsmen arrived in the region some 2500 years years ago and found that the abundant grassland, rich in minerals, was as good for grazing cattle as it was for wandering wildebeest. Controlled cattle grazing and suppression of shrubs and trees through fire promoted the spread of the plains. European explorers and naturalists visited the area in the late 1800s, and soon thereafter, hunters and cattle ranchers and farmers arrived. In short order the Serengeti's lion population was decimated, some hunters taking as many as fifty lions in a single outing, while the wildebeest and Maasai cattle were nearly wiped out by rinderpest disease spread by imported European cattle. People again intervened, and beginning in the 1930s, hunting restrictions were put in place to protect the lions, followed soon by regulations protecting many other species. World War Two delayed establishment of the Serengeti National Park, which was finally accomplished in 1951. By the 1960s, the wildebeest herds had re-established their number to a million and half or so individuals. Today, people are prohibited from inhabiting the park, though as many as 30,000 nomadic Maasai live within the adjacent Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Wildlife
The wildebeest migration is by far the Serengeti's most famous wildlife attraction. The migration begins in the southeastern corner of the park, on the border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where volcanic soils – and rain – promote the growth of the nutrient rich short grasses favored by the wildebeest. Foaling occurs here and in a brief few weeks, hundreds of thousand of calves are born each spring. As the grasses brown and wither, the herds begin to move in search of better forage. Predicting the precise location of the animals is difficult as the procession makes its circuit of the Serengeti in fits and starts. Generally speaking, the route takes the animals first to the northwest, through the “Western Corridor” on the park's western border near Lake Victoria. The ultimate destination is the lush grassland of the Mara Triangle in Kenya's Maasai Mara Reserve. The journey is an arduous one, taking as long as three or four months. A host of carnivores, primarily lions and hyenas, harass the herds along the way. After a couple of months spent grazing the Mara, the herds turn south, returning to their calving grounds on the Serengeti.
The Serengeti hosts the entire menagerie of East African wildlife, including a large population of lions, many of which fitted with radio transmitters to track their movements (the Park takes its responsibility for conservation seriously). Cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, elephants, Thomson's and Grant's gazelles, elands, impalas, klipspringers, and warthogs are present in large numbers throughout the year. Hippos can be found wading in the Grumeti River (as can crocodiles) on the park's Lake Victoria side. Alkaline Lake Ndutu to the south is home to thousands of pink flamingos.
