Alan Moorehead had it right when he said: “Anyone who can go to the Serengeti, and does not, is mad.” This is a place where you let the world swallow you and you just sit back and watch herds of wildebeest sweep by you. Being amongst almost every animal you’ve ever read about in an out-of-Africa book, and with golden grasses waving all around you as you watch animals roam between flat-topped acacia trees and on distant blue hills, you would think that you have been captured in a clichéd postcard while on your overland safari.
Serengeti means ‘the place where the land moves on forever’ and the land literally does move when over a million wildebeest and about 250 000 zebras migrate en masse from the Masai Mara to the south following the rains in this region, and then west for the heavier rainfall in April, May and June. Nothing can hold them back, including a barbed wire fence that was erected in the early 1960s when the government tried to stop the animals from moving into Ngorongoro. But these animals have been migrating for thousands of years, so a simple barbed wire fence was not going to stop them! This is not the only time this spectacular force of nature has been threatened. In 2011 it was proposed that a highway be built right through the Serengeti National Park, threatening to stop the migration, however, the Tanzanian government decided against it.
The Serengeti is the world’s largest protected grassland and savannah ecosystem due to the huge financial gain from tourism that supports the country’s economy. Therefore, by visiting this UNESCO World Heritage site you are assisting in contributing towards the sustainment of the country’s economy and the annual migration of these beautiful wild beasts.
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Other activities you can partake in:
Game viewing
Wildlife photography
The Great Wildebeest Migration
Hot air balloon safaris
Night drives
Guided nature walks
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