10 Interesting facts about the Serengeti National Park
10 Interesting facts about the Serengeti National Park
Located in the Republic of Tanzania is Serengeti National Park measuring approximately 5,700 square miles. The Serengeti is also referred to as the Maasai Mara National Reserve and is found in the north-western part of the country, all the way to Kenya. It is the oldest national park in Tanzania and a veritable tourist attraction in the country. The so-called Northern Safari Circuit, named so because it incorporates the Serengeti National Park, consists of Arusha National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Tarangire National Park.
On an endless plain, you hear hearing far-off roar of the buffalo in its year to the thunder of the wildebeests advancing across the horizon. Serengeti National Park is one of the most beautiful and bio diverse places on planet earth. Serengeti National Park attracts wildlife enthusiasts, photographers and adventurers across the world.
Whether you have the intention to visit Tanzania safaris or take Tanzania tours, then the place is somewhere to make the first in the list. In order that you may really enjoy this heavenly park, here are 10 facts about Serengeti National Park that will make you know more- and travel with wanderlust.
1. Serengeti National Park is home to the Greatest Wildlife Migration on Earth
Major migration of the wildebeests (over 1.5 million), zebras (300,000) and gazelles (hundreds of thousands) moves as a huge loop across the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara ecosystem in a cycle every year. The Great Migration is one of the most spectacular natural wonders on earth.
In the period between July to August, the herds set out in search of new grazing areas and have to cross rivers infested with crocodiles and face the danger of being attacked by predators. It is a rough fight to survive, and that is what makes it an attraction that brings tourists to the place, even with the tourists making reservations in Tanzania to tour the wildest side of nature. The ideal time to visit the river crossings is during July and August along the Mara River.
2. The Name Serengeti means Endless Plains
The name Serengeti originates from a Maasai word ‘’Siringet’’ that translates as, the place where the land stretches on forever. It earns its name as it has more than 14,750 square kilometres of area as part of the preserved territory. The Masai people have inhabited the Serengeti grasslands for more than 200 years before the first European explorer, Oscar Baumann, arrived in the region in 1892. The Serengeti also attracted sport hunters both in Europe and the United States since it had what would have been at the time the largest population of big game in Africa. Uncontrolled hunting of lions forced the British colonial government to turn it into a partial game reserve in 1921. By 1929, it was a full reserve. This culminated in the establishment of the Serengeti National Reserve in 1951. By this time, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area had merged with the Serengeti. Serengeti further became a reserve in its own right in the late summers of 1959 as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
3. Serengeti National Park is one of the oldest Ecosystems in the world.
The ecosystem of Serengeti has remained more or less the same for more than a million years. The climate, the vegetation and the wildlife patterns are almost the same as they used to be in prehistoric times.
This old stability means that Serengeti is not only a preserve for animals but also serves as a museum to be lived by both scientists and nature enthusiasts who look at tour and travel packages that are aimed at conservation and eco-tourism.
4. Big Five
Despite the fact that the migrating grazers are the attraction point, it is the big 5 (Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhinos and Buffaloes) which draws tourists to the park all year. Lions in the Serengeti number more than 2,500 and hence form the highest population of lions in Africa. The park is the perfect place where the cats flourish because of the abundance of prey. The park has about 1,000 leopards occupying the park and one can spot 5,000 elephants in the park. There are fewer than 50 black Rhinos in the Serengeti plains, and this is attributable to uncontrolled poaching that took place in the 1970s and the 80s. Rhinos are only diminutive in number, but buffaloes amass more than 53 thousand in Serengeti strolling in the park.
Other animals that can be found in the Serengeti are cheetahs, hyenas, serval cats, jackals, wild dogs, otters, honey badgers, mongooses, and the African golden wolf, on top of the previously listed herbivores and big five. There are also Aardwolves, aardvarks, bat-eared foxes, cape hares, crested porcupines, ground pangolins and hyraxes. The primates that can be found in the park are baboons, vervet monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys. Most of the primates are found in the forests along the Grumeti River.
5. Serengeti National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Serengeti National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the year 1981. This recognition is to save it against industrial development and conserve it for long-term conservation. In that way, by picking responsible Tanzania tours, you are not only going to see a part of the sustainability of the park but also the preservation of one of the most valued natural resources of the whole world.
6. Serengeti National Park Inspired the Modern Conservation Movements.
The biodiversity of the Serengeti contributed to the initiation of the international action of protecting nature. Serengeti Shall Not Die is a powerful documentary that was produced by a famous German zoologist, Bernhard Grzimek, together with his son Michael, in the 1950s, which raised international awareness and support towards wildlife protection. In the present, tour and travelling organisations still operate within the vicinity and the Serengeti, engaging in anti-poaching and other community outreaches as a part of ethical tour initiation.
7. It is a photographer’s Dream land.
Serengeti has stunning scenery that will leave you with an open mouth. Imagine the acacia trees as the outline on the orange skies, the dust and the trail made by migrant herds and the sleeping pride of lions on the golden grass. This way, if you are a professional or merely taking pictures on your phone, every twist and turn provides the next Instagram-worthy photo. Even the Tanzania safaris have photo tours, where the guide would know where to go to take photographs and when and what to expect.
8. You can soar into the skies using a Hot Air Balloon.
Feel like viewing the Serengeti from a different perspective? Take flight in a hot air balloon at sunrise and fly over the plains whilst the elephants and wildebeests move below.
It is the most memorable one that can be offered within the framework of the high-quality Tanzania tours, presenting its customers with the serene, scenic image of a wild nature rising to the new day.
9. It is not Only Wildlife, but also History
Other than the animals, the Serengeti is rich in human history. Some of the oldest human remains were discovered in the nearby Olduvai Gorge, which is also referred to as the cradle of Mankind. This is not only a Tanzania safari visit but also an evolutionary trip of man. Several tour and travel companies incorporate the travels to Olduvai as part of the wider tour plans to Tanzania.
10. Serengeti National Park is best explored with a local guide
Serengeti can be best known by the local guides. They will be able to tell you a mile away where there is a leopard hiding in a tree and state just how culturally connected the Maasai people are with the earth itself.
By booking a tour and travel locally run company, you will make the Tanzanian communities happy and the experience will be more authentic and richer. Most of them provide small-group or tailor-made Tanzanian safaris to your wishes.
Conclusion
An experience, the Serengeti is not a place but an experience. It is sunrises over endless savanna, lights under acacia trees, the roar of hooves in the process of the Great Migration, and the great culture of the Maasai people.
It does not matter whether you are pursuing spectacular shots, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, or you just want to feel closer to nature, Serengeti National Park will provide what eminent.
