Welcome to Serengeti National Park!

Geography of Serengeti National Park

The park covers 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi) of grassland plains, savanna, riverine forest, and woodlands. The park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem.

The park is usually described as divided into three regions:

• Serengeti Plains (Central Serengeti)
  The almost treeless grassland of the south is the most emblematic scenery of the park. This is where the wildebeest breed, as they remain in the plains from December to May. Other hoofed animals – zebra, gazelle, impala, hartebeest, topi, buffalo, waterbuck – also occur in huge numbers during the wet season. “Kopjes” are granite florations that are very common in the region, and they are great observation posts for predators, as well as a refuge for hyrax and pythons.

• Northern Serengeti (Mara Region)
  The Northern Serengeti reaches all the way to the Kenyan border and the famous Mara River. It is therefore greener and more quiet in comparison to the southern Serengeti plains. The area stretches from the Lobo Hills southwards to Seronera and is typified by green rolling hills, which is a pleasant diversion from the much flatter southern plains. It is an ideal habitat to spot wildlife due to its versatile, green environment, its rivers and its acacia tree forests.

• Western Serengeti (Grumeti Region)
  The landscape in the western part of the Serengeti is characterized by a hilly, open savannah. It is covered by woodlands, floodplains and riverine forests which serves as a perfect habitat for all kinds of wildlife. Wildlife viewing in the Western Corridor is consistent throughout the year. The savannah south of the Grumeti River supports substantial resident populations of giraffe, wildebeest, elephant, zebra and other typical plains animals, and lion. The little-visited open grasslands north of the river are good for cheetahs. Serengeti balloon safaris are offered during the Great Migration season (from the beginning of June to the end of October).

• Southern Serengeti (Maswa Region)
  The Maswa Game Reserve is located in the south of the Serengeti National Park and borders on the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the east. It encloses Lake Ndutu and borders Lake Eyasi to the south. The open grasslands typical of the Serengeti lie to the north. The southeast is significantly hillier and you can see large rock formations, the so-called “kopjes” (hills and rock groups). Mammals such as giraffe, antelope, impala, buffalo, warthog and of course predators such as leopard, jackal, lion, cheetah and hyena live in the Maswa Game Reserve all year round. The Maswa region is also part of the great migration. Up to 8,000 young calves are born here every day in January and February, which of course attracts a lot of predators, so that large packs form.

Human habitation is forbidden in the park with the exception of staff for the Tanzania National Parks Authority, researchers and staff of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and staff of the various lodges, campsites and hotels. The main settlement is Seronera, which houses the majority of research staff and the park’s main headquarters, including its primary airstrip.

Wildlife

The park is worldwide known for its abundance of wildlife and high biodiversity. The migratory -and some resident- wildebeest, which number over 2 million individuals, constitute the largest population of big mammals that still roam the planet. They are joined in their journey through the Serengeti – Mara ecosystem by 250,000 plains zebra, half a millionThomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, and tens of thousands of topi and Coke’s hartebeest. Masai giraffe, waterbuck, impala, warthog and hippo are also aboundant. Some rarely seen species of antelope are also present in Serengeti National Park, such as common eland, klipspringer, roan antelope, bushbuck, lesser kudu, fringe-eared oryx and dik dik.

Perhaps the most popular animals among tourists are the Big Five, which include:

• Lion: the Serengeti is believed to hold the largest population of lions in Africa due in part to the abundance of prey species. More than 3,000 lions live in this ecosystem.

• African leopard: these reclusive predators are commonly seen in the Seronera region but are present throughout the national park with the population at around 1,000.

• African bush elephant: the herds have recovered successfully from population lows in the 1980s caused by poaching, numbering over 5,000 individuals, and are particularly numerous in the northern region of the park.

• Eastern black rhinoceros: mainly found around the kopjes in the centre of the park, very few individuals remain due to rampant poaching. Individuals from the Masai Mara Reserve cross the park border and enter Serengeti from the northern section at times. There’s currently a small but stable population of 31 individuals left in the park.

• African buffalo: the most numerous of the Big Five, with around 53,000 individuals inside the park.

• Carnivores – aside from the Big Five – include the cheetah – which is widely seen due to the abundance of gazelle -, about 4,000 spotted hyena, two species of jackals, African golden wolf, honey badger, striped hyena, serval, seven species of mongooses, two species of otters and the recently reintroduced East African wild dog. Apart from the safari staples, primates such as yellow and olive baboons and vervet monkey, patas monkey, black-and-white colobus are also seen in the gallery forests of the Grumeti River. Other mammals include aardvark, aardwolf, bat-eared fox, ground pangolin, crested porcupine, three species of hyraxes and cape hare.

• Reptiles in Serengeti National Park include Nile crocodile, leopard tortoise, serrated hinged terrapin, rainbow agama, Nile monitor, chameleons, African python, black mamba, black-necked spitting cobra, puff adder.
• Serengeti National Park has also great ornithological interest, boasting about 500 bird species, including Masai ostrich, secretarybird, kori bustards, helmeted guineafowls, southern ground hornbill, crowned cranes, marabou storks, yellow-billed stork, lesser flamingo, martial eagles, lovebirds, oxpeckers, and many species of vultures.

Since 2005, the protected area is considered a Lion Conservation Unit together with Maasai Mara National Reserve and a lion stronghold in East Africa.