Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park
Perhaps the best known of all the Game reserves, the Serengeti is contiguous with Kenya's Masai Mara, yet this huge area in Tanzania is six times the size. Similar in many ways to the Masai Mara except off road driving is not allowed and during the dry months of our summer the great herds have moved into Kenya and the narrow channel of the Seronera becomes the most fertile area.
It was 1913 and great stretches of Africa were still unknown to the west when an American hunter called Stewart Edward White set out from Nairobi. Heading south, he 'walked for miles over burnt out country. Then saw the green trees of the river, walked 2 miles more and found paradise.'
It was 1913 and great stretches of Africa were still unknown to the west when an American hunter called Stewart Edward White set out from Nairobi. Heading south, he 'walked for miles over burnt out country. Then saw the green trees of the river, walked 2 miles more and found paradise.'
The Serengeti National Park itself is part of a larger landscape that includes the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, and several adjacent game reserves. The area draws more than 90,000 tourists to the region every year.
It's the migration for which Serengeti is most famous. Over a million wildebeest and about 250,000 zebras flow south from the Mara to the southern plains for the short rains every November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June. So strong is the ancient instinct to move that no drought, gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back.
The Wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitat. They are also pursued relentlessly in both reserves by the predators. The Serengeti's reputation is justified; The best accommodation can be found in some of the camps.
Serengeti news
The Wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitat. They are also pursued relentlessly in both reserves by the predators. The Serengeti's reputation is justified; The best accommodation can be found in some of the camps.
Measuring some 5,700 square miles in size, Serengeti National Park is characterized by a mix of grasslands and plains, riverine forests, and woodlands. Its most noteworthy attraction is the migration of two species-the white-bearded wildebeest and the plains zebra. The movements of the herds are driven by the dry and wet seasons, with the vast herds setting out for the perennially wet northern landscape when the south becomes dry.
The landscape also contains many globally important populations of threatened species-cheetahs, lions, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, rhinos-and is the traditional home of the Maasai, a nomadic cattle-herding people who have co-existed with the region's wildlife for millennia.
The landscape also contains many globally important populations of threatened species-cheetahs, lions, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, rhinos-and is the traditional home of the Maasai, a nomadic cattle-herding people who have co-existed with the region's wildlife for millennia.
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