The Serengeti National
Park,
The largest in Tanzania,
is about 5,700 sq miles in area. The park's name, Serengeti, means 'endless
plains' and is derived from the Maasai language.
The park lies in a high plateau between
the Ngorongoro highlands and the Kenya/Tanzania border, and extends almost
to Lake Victoria. The park encompasses the main part of the Serengeti ecosystem.
The ecosystem is defined by the dominant migration route of the wildebeest
and extends into the game reserves and conservation areas that surround
the Park's boundaries, supporting over 4 million mammals and birds in what
is probably the greatest concentration of wildlife in the world.
It is probably the short grass plains
of the Seronera area in the South of the Park that are well known to the
visitor. Here we find kopjes, the rocky outcroppings from the sea of grass
surrounding them. These form habitats for several species and viewpoints
for larger predators, especially the big cats.
Equally scenic and with its own distinct
ecosystem is the acacia Savannah and wooded grasslands in the North of the
Park in the Lobo/Grumeti area where the Serengeti meets the Kenyan Maasai
Mara. It is in this region that the Great Migration begins to congregate
for the push to the birthing plains of the South.
The Great Migration is a sight that
has to be experienced first hand to be believed. Anyone who sees the huge
numbers of wildebeest gathering before trekking north will witness a marvelous
sight. Throughout the world it is rare for animal migrations to be completed
undisturbed and it is an important conservation achievement that the Tanzanian
government has protected this wilderness area and allowed the wildebeest
to migrate freely.
One of the most unique and remarkable
wildlife experiences in the world is the annual migration of plains game
such as the wildebeest, zebra and gazelle from the central plains of Serengeti,
westwards or northwards towards the Maasai Mara in search of water and pasture,
and back again; this pattern is to be repeated year after year like there
is an in-built clock prompting the amazing phenomenon. As the herds move
to new grazing ground, they are followed by predators such as lions, hyenas,
jackal and hunting dogs waiting for weak prey while vultures soar overhead
waiting for their share of the kill. By some estimates, the migration can
involve over a million assorted wildlife representing about a quarter of
the population found in the Serengeti."
The annual migration into Kenya (in
a continuous search of water and pasture) of more than 1.5 million wildebeest,
zebra and gazelle is triggered by the rains and usually starts in May, at
the end of the wet season. Called the Great Migration, this constitutes
the most breathtaking event in the animal kingdom ever known to humans.
As the dry season intensifies, the herds drift out towards the west, crossing
the Grumeti River, and to the north (to Lake Victoria, where there is permanent
water), heading for the permanent waters of the northern rivers and the
Mara. The migration instinct is so strong that animals die in the rivers
as they dive from the banks into the raging waters only to be dispatched
by crocodiles. The survivors concentrate in Kenya's Masai Mara National
Reserve until the grazing there is exhausted, when they turn south along
the eastern and final stage of the migration route.
Before the main exodus, the herds
are a spectacular sight, massed in huge numbers with the weak and crippled
at the tail end of the procession, followed by the patient vigilant predators,
including lions (the adult males of Serengeti have characteristic black
manes), cheetahs, hunting dogs and spotted hyena. The migration coincides
with the breeding season, which also causes dominance fights among the male
of the herd.
