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The Serengeti National Park (2°19′58″S
34°34′00″E) is a large national park in Serengeti area,
Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one
million 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. 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.
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, 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 and Wildlife
The park covers 14,763 km˛ (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.
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: the lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo.
These species remain the key attractions to tourists, but the
park also supports many further species, including the cheetah,
gazelle and giraffe, as well as a large and varied bird
population.
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