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THE
SERENGETI SHALL NEVER DIE ( Professor Bernard Grzimek
)
The Serengeti National Park covering an area of 14,763sq.Km, Serengeti
National Park is the largest National Park in Tanzania. The
Park is located some 320km to the northwest of Arusha, lying
in high plateau between the Ngorongoro highlands and the
Kenya/ Tanzania border, and extending almost to Lake
Victoria to the west. Aptly named “ endless plains” by the
Maasai people, you immediately experience this vastness as
enter the southeastern plains of the Par from Ngorongoro. |
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Declared a protected area in 1921 and gazette as a
National Park 1951, Serengeti
is the oldest National Park in Tanzania and undoubtedly one
of the most famous
Wildlife sanctuaries in the World. The principal features of
the Serengeti are the
short and long Grass plains in the south and east, the
Acacia Savannah in the
central areas, the hilly and densely wooded area in the
North an the extensive
woodland in the West. There is a variety of scenery, which
include the plains,
Lakes, Hills and the Rock
outcrops called KOPJES. THE MAIN game drive areas in the Serengeti
are the
Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and Lobo. In the
Seronera Valley, animals
that can be seen are Leopards, Lions, Buffalos, Hippos,
Giraffes, Elephants,
Rhinos, Cheetah and Crocodiles. From December, when the long
Rains start, to May,
eastern Serengeti plains provide the best opportunities for
Game viewing as
hundreds of thousands of the Migratory animals are
concentrated in this part
attracted by the short palatable Grass. Between may and
June, when drought sets in,
Serengeti is site of one of the most breathtaking events in
the Animal Kingdom- the
Migration of thousands of Wildebeest heading southwest,
North or West in search of
Water and pastures. The Lobo area remain rich in Wildlife
during the dry month of
July to October when most of Game has moved from the Grass
plains in the south.
This is also true of Western Corridor towards Lake Victoria
when the Migration
usually arrives between
June and July. Serengeti provides sanctuary to the highest concentration
of plains
Animals in the World. Survey estimates indicate an Animal
population of about 4
million including 3,000 Lions 1,600,000 Wildebeests, 500,000
Zebras. There are over
400 species of Birds in Serengeti National Park. |
