Serengeti

 

Between the Ngorongoro Highlands, Lake Victoria and Tanzania’s northern border with Kenya stretches one of the world’s last great wildlife refuges - the Serengeti.  The name comes from the Maasai “siringet,” meaning “endless plains”. The Serengeti’s 14,763 km2 contains about three million large animals, most taking part in seasonal migrations, unparalleled in nature.

Twice a year, triggered by the rains, 1.4 million wildebeest, 300,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle gather to undertake the long trek to new grazing lands. The migration of the herbivores roughly defines the boundaries of Serengeti National Park, which is the central zone of the Serengeti ecosystem, an area that also takes in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Maswa Game Reserve in the west. Within this 25,900 km2 of varied landscape live thirty-five species of plains game and 500 bird species.