Serengeti National Park

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Serengeti National Park
Swahili: Hifadhi ya Serengeti
IUCN category II (national park)
Landscape in Serengeti National Park
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Location	Tanzania
Coordinates	2°20′S 34°34′E / 2.333°S 34.567°E / -2.333; 34.567
Area	14,763 km2 (5,700 sq mi)
Established	1951
Visitors	350,000 per year
Governing body	Tanzania National Parks Authority
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Natural
Criteria	vii, x
Designated	1981 (5th session)
Reference no.	156
Region	Africa

The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in northern Tanzania that stretches over 14,763 km² (5,700 sq mi).^[1] It is located in eastern Mara Region and northeastern Simiyu Region and contains over 1,500,000 hectares (3,700,000 acres) of virgin savanna. The park was established in 1940.

The Serengeti is well known for the largest annual animal migration in the world of over 1.5 million blue wildebeest and 250,000 zebra along with smaller herds of Thomson's gazelle and eland.^[2] The national park is also home to the largest lion population in Africa. It is under threat from deforestation, population growth and ranching.

Etymology

The name "Serengeti" is an approximation of the word siringet used by the Maasai people for the area, which means "the place where the land runs on forever".^[3][4]

History

In 1930, an area of 2,286 square kilometres (883 sq mi) was designated as a game reserve in southern and eastern Serengeti.

The Serengeti gained fame after Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael produced a book and documentary titled Serengeti Shall Not Die in 1959.^[9]

Wildlife

Serengeti National Park forms a Lion Conservation Unit since 2005 together with

African bush elephant herds recovered from a population low in the 1980s caused by poaching, and numbered over 5,000 individuals by 2014.^[13] The African buffalo population declined between 1976 and 1996 due to poaching, but increased to 28,524 individuals by 2008.^[14] The black rhinoceros population was reduced to about 10 individuals in the 1980s due to poaching, and fewer than 70 individuals survive in the park today.^[15] Rhinos mostly browse on grasses, woody Indigofera, Acacia and Crotalaria forbs and shrubs.^[16]

Other mammal carnivores include the

The great migration is the world's second longest overland migration. The complete migration route is around 800 km (500 mi). South of this migration route covers the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where around half a million wildebeest are born between January and March. By March, at the beginning of the dry season, roughly 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras start to migrate north towards Maasai Mara in Kenya. Common eland, plains zebra, and Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest. In April and May, the migrating herds pass through the Western Corridor. To get to the Maasai Mara, the herds have to cross the Grumeti and Mara Rivers, where around 3,000 crocodiles lie in wait. For every wildebeest captured by the crocodiles, 50 drown. When the dry season ends in late October, the migrating herds start to head back south. Around 250,000 wildebeests and 30,000 plains zebras die annually from drowning, predation, exhaustion, thirst, or disease.^[22]

Geology

The

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The park covers 14,750 km² (5,700 sq mi)^[27] of grassland plains, savanna, riverine forest, and woodlands. The park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area.

The landscape of the

• Serengeti plains: The best-known feature of the Serengeti is the almost treeless grassland in the south. It has koppies, granite formations that serve as observation posts for predators. The Volcanic Grasslands is an
  edaphic plant community that grows on soils derived from volcanic ash from nearby volcanoes.^[29]
• Western corridor: The main geographic feature is the pair of rivers, Grumeti and Mbalageti. There are big groups of
  riverine forest and some small mountain ranges. The great migration passes through the corridor from May to July. It stretches to Lake Victoria. The area is flatter than the northern parts of the park and more densely covered with plants than the southern plains.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Northern Serengeti: the landscape is dominated by open woodlands, predominantly Commiphora and hills, ranging from Seronera in the south to the Mara River on the Kenyan border. It is remote and relatively inaccessible. ^{[citation needed]}

Human habitation is forbidden in the park except for the Tanzania National Parks Authority staff, researchers and staff of the various lodges, campsites, and hotels. The main settlement is Seronera with its primary airstrip. ^[30]

Administration and protection

The park is listed by the

The administrative body for all parks in Tanzania is the Tanzania National Parks Authority. Myles Turner was one of the park's first game wardens and is credited with bringing its rampant poaching under control.^[32]

Threats

Deforestation in the