Serengeti National Park
Parts of the present Park were made into a
National park in 1952. The boundaries were
then changed and enlarged in 1959 to 14,763
sq. km. It is part of a coherent ecosystem some
35,000 sq. km in size.
The Serengeti is now both a World Biosphere
Reserve and a World Heritage Site.
The Serengeti is world famous and with good
reason. Not only is the migration of over 1 million
wildebeest and other plains game through its
plains and woodlands the most spectacular
wildlife event on earth, but it abounds with other
wildlife superlatives. The Serengeti is home to the
world’s largest populations of wildebeest, zebra,
Cape eland, lion, cheetah, hyena, gazelle (both
Thompson’s and Grant’s), and no doubt much
more. And on top of this it is scenically beautiful
and has a wonderful sunny climate of cool nights
and warm days.
So… if you are the kind of person that feels uncomfortable
with humankind’s restless desire to subjugate nature and
to dominate everything, you will enjoy the Serengeti! It
is a natural world at its very best. Human beings take
second place here. You come only to witness.
The towering granite monoliths of the southern plains,
the 18 - 20 foot crocodiles of the rivers, shoulderto-shoulder masses of wildebeest on the move, and the chilling openness of the Gol Mountains are safari
experiences that instill humility,
You get very close to the core of things in the Serengeti
- beauty innocence, cruelty violence, and tranquility.
When you leave and your thoughts float back to the
savannas and the woodlands, they bring with them an
ache - a longing to be part of this natural world again.
Wildebeest are the Serengeti’s driving force - some 1.3
million of them, probably more. They, together with
some 300,000 zebra and attendant predators and
scavengers are a vast ecological powerhouse, roaming
beautiful landscapes, setting the boundaries, changing
the scenery, altering the vegetation, and laying down
the limits and the lifestyles of just about everything else
that lives here. But don’t let the scale of this natural
machine overwhelm you. There is a variety of mammals
and birds here that only Africa can boast.
It is only when you get into the Serengeti on the ground
that the vastness of the place becomes real. Many people
think of it as only one destination to be seen in two days
before rushing somewhere else. How wrong! There are
very different places here with a range of habitats from
treeless plains to mountains to closed canopy riverine
forests and springs. On top of all this is the question of
seasons. The wildlife and the character of places varies
dramatically from one season to another.
Maybe this quote by the famous biologist George
Schaller says it best,
“Yearning for hope and thriving on dreams, we find what
we seek in the Serengeti. At least once in a lifetime every
person should make a pilgrimage into the wilderness
to dwell on its wonders and discover the idyll of a past
now largely gone. If I had to select just one such spot on
earth, it would be the Serengeti. There dwell the fierce
ghosts of our human past, there animals seek their
destiny, living monuments to a time when we were still
wanderers on a prehistoric earth.
To witness that calm rhythm of life revives our worn souls
and recaptures a feeling of belonging to the natural
world. No one can return from the Serengeti unchanged,
for tawny lions will forever prowl our memory and great
herds throng our imagination.”
Wildlife
All the classic big game animals of Africa are found in
the Serengeti. Of recent importance are re-introduction
programs for black rhino and Cape hunting dogs.
The
black rhino is being introduced in the north and south
of the Park while hunting dogs are beginning to spread
throughout.
Getting there
Air. There are all weather airstrips in the center at Seronera, in the south at Kusini, in the east at Lobo, in the west at Kirawira and in the north at Kogatende and Lamai. These airstrips are used by scheduled and private charters.
Road. Access is only possible through established entry points which are at Naabi Hill, Seronera, Ndutu, Kusini, Kirawira, Handajega, Ikoma, Tabora ‘B’, Lamai, Kleins. All entry fees are paid online through the Park HQ, and all entry points and the HQ are interconnected through the internet.
Baumann was in fact the first European to visit both Ngorongoro and the Serengeti together with his compatriots who built the Fort. The Fort was used as an administrative centre and a military outpost until it fell to the British in 1917 as the Germans were forced to retreat from what is now Tanzania during the World War I.