Tanzania: How Serengeti National Park Recognized as World’s Best Nature Destination

By Prosper Makene

Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, a World Heritage Site has been recognized as the third best nature destination in the World by Trip Advisor, saying the park is awe-inspiring natural wonders and a place where “the land moves on forever.”

Trip Advisor which recognized Serengeti National Park is the world’s largest travel platform with a monthly user base of 400 million tourists.

Trip Advisor highlighted the famed Serengeti annual migration, the largest and longest overland migration on the planet. With over two million wildebeests, half a million zebras, and gazelles, this mesmerizing spectacle captivates nature enthusiasts from around the world.

Speaking in a statement after the Serengeti’s acknowledgement by Trip Advisor, Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) Conservation Commissioner Mr William Mwakilema said: “The recognition not only boosts the morale of the staff but also instils confidence in tourists, reaffirming Tanzania’s credibility as a top-notch tourism destination.”

On his part, Tanapa’s board Chairman; Rtd General George Waitara said that the recognition of the Serengeti National Park being named third best nature destination emphasized the significance of this award for Tanzania’s tourism industry.

“This award supports the government’s vision, under the leadership of President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, to promote tourism and contribute significantly to the economy. With the goal of attracting five million visitors by 2025,” Waitara said.

Tanapa’s board Chairman added: “This recognition also serves as a catalyst to achieve that target and generate substantial economic benefits, including job creation and foreign currency earnings.”

Serengeti National Parks’ location

It is located in the eastern Mara Region and northeastern Simiyu Region and contains over 1,500,000 hectares (3,700,000 acres) of virgin savanna. The park was established in 1940.

Great Migration

The Serengeti is well known for the largest annual animal migration in the world of over 1.5 million blue wildebeest and 250,000 zebra along with smaller herds of Thomson's gazelle and eland. The national park is also home to the largest lion population in Africa.

The great migration is the world's longest overland migration. The complete migration route is around 800 km (500 mi). South of this migration route covers the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where around half a million Wildebeest are born between January and March.

By March, at the beginning of the dry season, roughly 1.5 million and 250,000 zebras start to migrate heading north towards Maasai Mara in Kenya. Common eland, plains zebra, and Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest.

In April and May, the migrating herds pass through the Western Corridor. To get to the Maasai Mara, the herds have to cross the Grumeti and Mara Rivers where around 3,000 crocodiles lie in wait. For every wildebeest captured by the crocodiles, 50 drown.

When the dry season ends in late October, the migrating herds start to head back south. Around 250,000 wildebeests and 30,000 plains zebras die annually from drowning, predation, exhaustion, thirst, or disease

Why named Serengeti

The name "Serengeti" is an approximation of the word siringet used by the Maasai people for the area, which means "the place where the land runs on forever".

Historical background

In the 1930s, the government of Tanganyika established a system of national parks compliant with the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State.

The area became a national park in 1940. It was granted strict protection in 1948 when the Serengeti National Park Board of Trustees was formed to administer the national park.

The government restricted the movements of the resident Maasai people, and the park boundaries were finalized in 1951.

In 1959, an area of 8,300 km2 (3,200 sq mi) was split off in the eastern part of the national park and re-established as Ngorongoro Conservation Area intended to accommodate the traditional land use interests of the Maasai people in a multiple land use area.

In 1981, the Serengeti National Park covered 12,950 km2 (5,000 sq mi), which was less than half of the Serengeti.

The Serengeti gained fame after Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael produced a book and documentary titled Serengeti Shall Not Die in 1959.

Wildlife

Serengeti National Park forms a Lion Conservation Unit in 2005 together with Maasai Mara National Reserve. More than 3,000 lions live in this ecosystem. The population density of the African leopard is estimated at 5.41 individuals per 100 km2 (39 sq mi) in the dry season.

Other mammal carnivores include the Cheetah, about 3,500 spotted hyena, Black-backed jackal, African golden wolf, honey badger, striped hyena, caracal, serval, banded mongoose, and two species of otters.

The African wild dog was reintroduced to the area in 2012 after disappearing in 1991. Other mammals include hippopotamus, common warthog, aardvark, aardwolf, African wildcat, African civet, common genet, zorilla, African striped weasel, bat-eared fox, ground pangolin, crested porcupine, three species of hyraxes and cape hare.

Primates such as yellow and olive baboons, patas monkeys, and vervet monkeys, mantled guereza are also seen in the gallery forests of the Grumeti River.

Reptiles include Nile crocodile, leopard tortoise, serrated hinged terrapin, rainbow agama, Nile monitor, Jackson's chameleon, African python, black mamba, black-necked spitting cobra, and puff adder.

More than 500 bird species can be seen such as Masai ostrich, secretarybird, kori bustards, helmeted guineafowls, Grey-breasted spurfowl, blacksmith lapwing, african collared dove, red-billed buffalo weaver, southern ground hornbill, crowned cranes, sacred ibis, cattle egrets, black herons, knob-billed ducks, saddle-billed storks, white stork, goliath herons, marabou storks, yellow-billed stork, spotted thick-knees, lesser flamingo, shoebills, abdim's stork, hamerkops, hadada ibis, African fish eagles, pink-backed pelicans, Tanzanian red-billed hornbill, martial eagles, Egyptian geese, lovebirds, spur-winged geese, oxpeckers, and many species of vultures.

The park is divided into three regions:

Serengeti plains: The best-known feature of the Serengeti is the almost treeless grassland in the south. It has kopjes, granite formations that serve as observation posts for predators. The Volcanic Grasslands is a edaphic plant community that grows on soils derived from volcanic ash from nearby volcanos.

Western corridor: The main geographic feature is the pair of rivers, Grumeti and Mbalageti. There are big groups of riverine forest and some small mountain ranges. The great migration passes through the corridor from May to July. It stretches to Lake Victoria. The area is flatter than the northern parts of the park and more densely covered with plants than the southern plains.

Northern Serengeti: the landscape is dominated by open woodlands, predominantly Commiphora and hills, ranging from Seronera in the south to the Mara River on the Kenyan border. It is remote and relatively inaccessible.[citation needed]

Human habitation is forbidden in the park except for the Tanzania National Parks Authority staff, researchers and staff of the various lodges, campsites, and hotels. The main settlement is Seronera with its primary airstrip.