Serengeti National Park
Serengeti - Tanzania National Park, spread over a vast territory of 14,763 km2. On the north side, the park is adjacent to the Kenyan reserve Masai-Mara, and on the southeast side with the reserve Ngorongoro. The name of the park is translated from the Masayev language as "endless plains".
Nobody settled this area for a long time, about 100 years ago the Masayev tribe came here in search of new pastures for livestock. Of the Europeans, the first naturalist Oscar Bauman visited here in 1891. In 1921, there was a small partial reserve with an area of only 3.2 km2. In 1921, the reserve became complete, thereby creating a base for the park. Every year, the authorities increasingly understood the need to protect nature and in 1951 the territory of the reserve was significantly expanded and founded the national park. In 1959, the Ngorongoro reserve with an area of 8288 km was withdrawn from the Serengeti2. Even after the withdrawal of the reserve, the ownership of the park is impressive and yields only to the hunting reserve of Selus.
The kings of the Serengeti plain are ungulates, of which there are millions. Of the predators in Serengeti Park, lions dominate. There is no such number of wild animals anywhere else on the planet. In the vast expanses of Serengeti, colossal herds roam: impal, zebr, gazelles, buffaloes, bushcocks, swamp and water goats, congons, oribi, hippos, giraffes, rhinos, elephants. In addition to lions, there are predators in Serengeti such as: leopard, cheetahl, hyenoid dog. Of the small animals, it is worth noting porcupines, baboons, warthogs, pads, and mongooses. In Serengeti Park, a wide variety of birds, of which there are 500 varieties, are among the main ones: eagles, ostriches, stamens, flamingos.
There are 1 lion per thousand herbivores in Serengeti. From such a abundance of food, lions do not even pay attention to people, so drivers safely carry tourists in the territory controlled by lions. The lions themselves let the guests of the park close to themselves and are completely not afraid of anyone.
The main feature of the Serengeti National Park is the annual movement of animals, during which animals travel approximately 3,000 kilometers. In October - November, a myriad of antelopes and more than two hundred thousand zebras go from the northern hills to the southern plains, in which at that time showers. In April - June, the rainy season begins in the north, and animals return. During migration, animals enter several parks into which they eat at least 4,000 tons of vegetation per day. Many animals die on the way: from land predators, drought, from crocodiles, but 250,000 cubs are born during the journey, which makes up for all losses.
During the drought, Serengeti looks like a planet scorched by the sun, but with the advent of the rainy season, the plain is covered with a green blanket, flowers bloom. Life is returning to Serengeti again, along with vast herds of animals and their cubs.
The Serengeti administrative center is located in the small village of Seroner. Here is the management of the national park, the hotel "Seroner-Lodge", a small museum, a campground.
