Tending to Extend - The Spectacular Serengeti

Tending to Extend - The Spectacular Serengeti

The Serengeti is a vast ecosystem of about 25 000 square kilometres that overflows from northern Tanzania into the southwest of Kenya. It is justifiably world famous and the mere mention of the word conjures up an archetypal image of African plains teeming with huge herds of wildlife. The keystone species is of course the Wildebeest or Gnu, more than one and a half million of which migrate annually across the plains. It is the extent of this migration which defines the boundaries of the ecosystem and which provides the catalyst for much of the cycle of life here.

The Serengeti National Park, proclaimed as then Tanganyika's first national park in 1951, does not encompass the whole ecosystem and is itself bounded by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Grumeti, Loliondo and Ikorongo Controlled Areas, the Maswa Game Reserve and Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve. The ecosystem as a whole is essentially a huge plateau that ranges in height from 1200 to 1800 metres above sea level. The southeast is comprised of undulating open plains dotted with small rock outcrops, the mood of the land being encapsulated in the Masai word ‘siringet' which means ‘tending to extend', while woodlands cover the north and west, eventually merging into grassland again on the northern plains of the Mara. Six major rivers drain west towards Lake Victoria, three across the plains and three through the woodland, while other topographical features are the Gol Mountains, running north-south in the east, the seasonal Lake Lagarja and the Olduvai Gorge. There is a huge array of animal life but it is the scale and concentrations that are so astounding: 1 500 000 million Wildebeest, 200 000 Zebra, 400 000 Thompson's Gazelle, 100 000 Impala, 2500 Lions, 9000 Spotted Hyena. Clearly this is a wildlife spectacle second to none.

Serengeti is not just about wildlife though and the famous wealth of fossils found in Olduvai Gorge confirms the presence of hominids in the area three million years ago. Modern man utilised the plains seasonally 6000 years ago and just 200 years ago the pastoralist Datoga were displaced by the Masai. Today cattle are grazed only on the fringes of the reserves and the wildlife attracts thousands of visitors every year eager for their once in a lifetime experience of the great migration. CC Africa operates in four areas of the Serengeti ecosystem from the Ngorongoro Crater in the southeast, to Grumeti in the west and Kichwa Tembo and Klein's Camp in the north and northeast. The formerly volcanic Ngorongoro is the world's largest unbroken caldera, the rim and its forests rising some 2500 metres above sea level, while the crater floor houses a fantastic assemblage of wildlife including an important population of Black Rhino and some huge Elephant tuskers. Grumeti River Camp is situated in the western corridor of the Serengeti on the banks of the Grumeti River. It is here that thousands of Wildebeest gather in June and July and run the gauntlet of gigantic Crocodiles in dramatic river crossings and daily thirst slaking, and then battle a host of other predators such as Lion and Spotted Hyena, on the plains. From Grumeti the Wildebeest migrate north into Kenya and Kichwa Tembo and its satellite, Bateleur Camp, having to cross the Mara River and its hungry Crocodiles en-route. The southward journey of the Wildebeest back to the short grass plains of the southeast where calving occurs, takes the herds through the 10 000 hectare private concession that is Klein's Camp where night game drives, unusual in Tanzania, allow for additional wildlife experience.

-Chris Roche-

Posted: Other by CC Africa, Date: 21 November 2006