Serengeti
Serengeti – a name synonymous with safari – provides wonderful spectacle: the start and end of the annual migration of over a million wildebeest. Nearby is Ngorongoro’s 2.5 million year old crater, which holds up to 30 000 wild animals.
Named after the Maasai word for 'endless
plains' Tanzania's 14 763 sq km Serengeti
National Park hosts more plains animals than
anywhere else in the world. Millions of years
old volcanic ash layers have given birth to
abundant grass plains in the south which in
turn support millions of game animals.
Serengeti should be on everyone's must-see
bespoke African safari agenda.
Serengeti's wondrous annual animal
migration, from south to north into Kenya
and back over several months, comes about as
a million wildebeest and other species know
to move to better grazing produced by an
endless cycle of rainy seasons. Predators
follow. They will get a few young and adults on
the fringes but sheer numbers ensure herd
survival. Even crocs waiting in ambush in rivers
across their path do not put off the multitude of
ungulates determined to get to rich new grass
beyond the rivers. The animals move south
from the northern hills to the southern plains
for the short rains in October and November
and then west and north after the long rains in
April, May and June.
If you can plan to be in the Long Grass Plains
of Serengeti from December to May, or coincide
your visit with the migration, you are sure of
one of those mouth-dropping experiences
associated with bespoke African safaris
provided by King & King. For mile upon mile
wild animals stretch away to far horizons.
Another Maasai word for Serengeti means
"The Place Where the Land Moves on
Forever."
Like so much of Africa, Serengeti suffered
from years of mercenary poaching, not just
killing for the pot. Once again huge donations
from the outside world managed to stave off
what looked like the inevitable extinction of
elephant in Serengeti.
The Serengeti region attracts more than
90 000 tourists a year. It includes Serengeti
National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area,
Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti
and Ikorongo Controlled Areas and Maasai
Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere
Reserves have been established within the
30,000 km² region. It's unique ecosystem is
one of the oldest on Earth whose climate,
vegetation and fauna have barely changed in a
million years. Early man made an appearance
in nearby Olduvai Gorge about two million
years ago. Only modern man destroys. |
