SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK. TANZANIA.

The Serengeti ecosystem is a

geographical region in Africa. It is located in north

Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya

between latitudes 1 and 3 degrees south latitude

and 34 and 36 degrees east longitude. It spans

approximately 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).

Kenyan part of the Serengeti is known as Maasai

Mara .

The Serengeti hosts the largest terrestrial mammal

migration in the world, which helps secure it as one

of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa and one

of the ten natural travel wonders of the world .

The Serengeti is also renowned for its large lion

population and is one of the best places to observe

prides in their natural environment.

The region

contains the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania

and several game reserves .

Approximately 70 larger mammal and 500 bird

species are found there. This high diversity is a

function of diverse habitats, including riverine

forests, swamps , kopjes , grasslands, and

woodlands. Blue wildebeests , gazelles , zebras ,

and buffalos are some of the commonly found large

mammals in the region.

There has been controversy about a proposed road

to be built through the Serengeti.

Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language ,

Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless

Plains".

History.

Much of the Serengeti was known to outsiders as

Maasailand. The Maasai are known as fierce

warriors and live alongside most wild animals with

an aversion to eating game and birds, subsisting

exclusively on their cattle. Historically, their

strength and reputation kept the newly arrived

Europeans from exploiting the animals and

resources of most of their land. A rinderpest

epidemic and drought during the 1890s greatly

reduced the numbers of both Maasai and animal

populations. The Tanzanian government later in the

20th century re-settled the Maasai around the

Ngorongoro Crater . Poaching and the absence of

fires, which had been the result of human activity,

set the stage for the development of dense

woodlands and thickets over the next 30–50 years.

Tsetse fly populations now prevented any

significant human settlement in the area.

By the mid-1970s, wildebeest and the Cape buffalo

populations had recovered and were increasingly

cropping the grass, reducing the amount of fuel

available for fires. The reduced intensity of fires

has allowed Acacia to once again become

established.

Great migration

Migrating wildebeests

Wildebeests crossing the river during the Serengeti

migration

Each year around the same time, the circular great

wildebeest migration begins in the Ngorongoro

Conservation Area of the southern Serengeti in

Tanzania. This migration is a natural phenomenon

determined by the availability of grazing. This phase

lasts from approximately January to March, when

the calving season begins – a time when there is

plenty of rain-ripened grass available for the

260,000 zebra that precede 1.7 million wildebeest

and the following hundreds of thousands of other

plains game, including around 470,000 gazelles.