Serengeti National Park
- This article is about a National Park; for the geographic location see Serengeti
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Criteria | Natural: vii, x |
| Reference | 156 |
| Inscription | 1981 (5th Session) |
The Serengeti National Park (2°19′58″S 34°34′00″E / 2.33278°S 34.56667°E) is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one million and a half white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest and 200,000 zebra.
History
The Maasai people had been grazing their livestock in the open plains which they knew as “endless plain” for over 200 years when the first European explorers visited the area. The name Serengeti is an approximation of the word used by the Maasai to describe the area. German geographer and explorer Dr. Oscar Baumann entered the area in 1892. [1] Baumann killed three rhinos during a stay in the Ngorongoro crater.
The first Briton to enter the Serengeti, Stewart Edward White, recorded his explorations in the northern Serengeti in 1913. Stewart returned to the Serengeti in the 1920s, and camped in the area around Seronera for three months. During this time he and his companions shot 50 lions.[2]
Because the hunting of lions made them so scarce, the British decided to make a partial Game Reserve of 800 acres (3.2 km2) in the area in 1921 and a full one in 1929. These actions became the basis for Serengeti National Park,[3] [4] which was established in 1951. The Serengeti gained more fame after the initial work of Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael in the 1950s. Together they produced the book and film Serengeti Shall Not Die, widely recognized as one of the most important early pieces of nature conservation documentary.
As part of the creation of the park, and in order to preserve wildlife, the resident Maasai were moved to the Ngorongoro highlands. There is still considerable controversy surrounding this move, with claims made of coercion and deceit on the part of the colonial authorities.
The Serengeti is Tanzania's oldest national park and remains the flagship of the country’s tourism industry, providing a major draw to the “Northern Safari Circuit”, encompassing Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Arusha national parks, as well as Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Geography
The park covers 14,763 km² (5,700 square miles) of grassland plains and savanna as well as riverine forest and woodlands. The park lies in the north of the country, bordered to the north by the national Tanzania and Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Masai Mara National Reserve. To the south-east of the park is Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the south-west lies Maswa Game Reserve, and to the western borders are Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, finally to the north-east lies Loliondo Game Control Area.
Human habitation is forbidden in the National Park with the exception of staff for TANAPA, researchers and staff of Frankfurt Zoological Society, and staff of the various lodges and hotels. The main settlement is Seronera which houses the majority of research staff and the park’s main headquarters, including its primary airstrip.
The park is usually described as divided in three regions:
- Serengeti plains: the endless, almost treeless grassland of the south is the most emblematic scenery of the park. This is where the wildebeest breed, as they remain in the plains from December to May. Other hoofed animals- zebra, gazelle, impala, hartebeest, topi, buffalo, waterbuck- also occur in huge numbers during the wet season. Kopjes are granite florations which are very common in the region, and they are great observation posts for predators, as well as a refuge for hyrax and pythons.
- Western corridor: the "black cotton" (actually black clay) soil covers the swampy savannah of this region. Grumeti river is home to enormous Nile crocodiles, colobus monkey, and the martial eagle. The migration passes through from May to July.
- Northern Serengeti: the landscape is dominated by open woodlands (predominantly Commiphora) and hills, ranging from Seronera in the South, to the Mara river in the limit with Kenya. Apart from the migratory wildebeest and zebra (which occur from July to August, and in November), the bushy savannah is the best place to find elephant, giraffe and dik dik.
Wildlife
As well as the migration of ungulates, the park is well known for its healthy stock of other resident wildlife, particularly the "Big Five", named for the five most prized trophies taken by hunters:
- Lion: the Serengeti is believed to hold the largest population of lions in Africa, due in part to the abundance of prey species
- Leopard: these reclusive predators are commonly seen in the Seronera region
- Elephant: the herds are recovering from population lows in the 1980s caused by poaching, and are largely located in the northern regions of the park
- Black Rhinoceros: mainly found around the kopjes in the centre of the park, very few individuals remain due to rampant poaching
- African Buffalo: still abundant, but numbers have been reduced due to disease
The park also supports many further species, including cheetah, Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, topi, eland, waterbuck, hyena, baboon, impala, African wild dog and giraffe. The park also boasts about 500 bird species, including ostrich, secretary bird, Kori bustard, crowned crane and marabou stork.
Administration and Protection
As a result of the biodiversity and ecological significance of the area, the park has been listed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites The administrative body for all parks in Tanzania is Tanzania National Parks or TANAPA.
Myles Turner was one of the Park's first game wardens and is credited with establishing anti-poaching defenses. His autobiography, My Serengeti Years: the Memoirs of an African Game Warden provides a detailed history of Serengeti National Park's early years.
References
- Homewood, K.W. and Rodgers, W.A., Maasailand Ecology: Pastoralist Development and Wildlife Conservation in Ngorongoro, Tanzania, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991 ISBN 0521400023
- Turner, Myles, My Serengeti Years: the Memoirs of an African Games Warden, New York: W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 1988 ISBN 0393025764
External links
- Serengeti Official Site
- TANAPA - Serengeti
- TANAPA - official site of Tanzania's national parks
- World Heritage Sites Protected Areas - Serengeti
- Map of Serengeti National Park
