Amazing Facts about Serengeti National Park

Amazing Facts about Serengeti National Park : The amazing facts about Serengeti National Park are a few aspects that travelers need to know before they embark on any adventure in Serengeti National Park.

In Northern Tanzania lies Serengeti National Park which covers an area of around 14,763 square kilometers. The park stretches over eastern Mara Region and northeastern Simiyu Region and contains over 1,500,000 hectares of vast savanna.

Serengeti national park is well known for hosting the dramatic Wildebeest Migration which involves a movement of about 1.5 Million animals including the gazelles and Zebras which migrate from Serengeti and cross over to Maasai Mara in search of Pastures and water for drinking.

The National Park is a habitat of over 2 Million ungulates, around 4000 lions, 1000 leopards and 550 cheetahs and over 500 bird species which live within the area. A journey to this National park will be amazing as you will be able to experience the great migration, enjoy wonderful game drive, birding, balloon safaris and cultural journeys.

Amazing facts about Serengeti National Park in Tanzania

Wildebeest Migration

Considered to be among the 7 wonders of the world, Serengeti National Park hosts the annual wildebeest Migration of very many wildebeests crossing from Serengeti National Park to Masai Mara reserve.

Over 2 million wildebeests together with zebras, gazelles move from Serengeti national park as the cross rivers such as Mara River and Grumeti River. The migration starts with the calving season in the southern part of Serengeti around December to February.

The wildebeest herds can also be seen during the months of April and May around the central part of Serengeti and in June around the western part of Serengeti while in the months of July and August, the wildebeest migration can be seen in the northern part of Serengeti.

The reason for their migration is to search for pastures or food and water since the season during which these wildebeests move from one location to another in Serengeti national park. Travelers flock to Tanzania to witness this annual wildebeest migration and enjoy watching the herds of the wildebeests roaming and crossing rivers across the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.

Other predators such as lions, leopards, cheetahs and also crocodiles take up this advantage to ensure that they get to feast on the wildebeests crossing the rivers during the wildebeest migration in Serengeti national park.

Ancient Memorable History of Serengeti National Park

The word Serengeti is a Maasai word which means vast open land that continues forever and ever. The Maasai which is also known as the semi nomadic ethnic group have lived in this area for centuries and were known to be pastoralists who reared cattle for a living.

In the ancient early 20^th century, the first European exploration was recorded in the 1900s in Serengeti where the game hunters became the first visitors to visit this National Park with happiness that they hard after realizing that there was a lot of wildlife game to hunt down in the area, however when game hunting increased, the British colonial administration had to rise up and save Serengeti National Park from hunters by establishing it as a game reserve in 1921 to protect this magical area from game hunters and with time, the number of animals and ungulates increased and also the wildebeest migration started and the game reserve was established as a National park in 1951. It then became the first area in Africa to be protected for conservation purposes and also to promote Tourism development in the country Tanzania.

Unique Vast ecosystems

Tanzania has got a combination of different ecosystems entirely within the whole country. These include the wetland ecosystems that is a combination of swamps, wetlands which harbor various species such as the aquatic animals as well as snakes, crocodile, hippos which live in these areas.

Serengeti National Park is known for one of the biggest ecosystems in Tanzania with savannah plains, rock outcrops, riverine forests and also acacia woodlands. Many of other wildlife species can be seen along with the 2 million wildebeests grazing in the savannah plains.

There are many other animals which live in the Serengeti ecosystem and these include zebras, wildebeests also known as the gnus, and other antelopes like elands, impalas, waterbucks, bushbucks, topi, hartebeests among others which can be seen during wildlife safaris at the destination.

The forest ecosystem is a combination of different forest settings found in the country. This ecosystem is the best habitat for bird’s species and other wildlife which live in the forest zones. The fresh water ecosystem is a combination of rivers such as Grumeti

UNESCO World Heritage Site

In the past years in the 20^th century, Serengeti used to be the best hunting ground for hunters across Africa due to the abundance of wild game in Serengeti National Park. In 1979 after being upgraded to a National in 1951, it became a UNESCO World Heritage site with a purpose to support conservation of Wildlife animals which live within the park.

Oldest National Park in Tanzania

Serengeti National Park is about 73 years which makes it the oldest National Park in Tanzania today. It was established in 1951 as a National Park with the aim to support more conservation initiatives and also to reduce on game hunting of wildlife animals by poachers in Tanzania today.

In the early 1892, the late German explorer Bauman who probably was the first explorer to see the Serengeti, his caravan bust out of the Oldeani Highland Forest to find themselves on the rim of that great extinct crater Ngorongoro 12 miles in diameter, 2000′ deep and filled with a great array of wildlife.

Serengeti national park has various activities to do during their safaris in Tanzania and they include game drives, guided walking safaris, bird watching, hot air balloon safaris among others.

Throughout the year, tourists can visit Serengeti national park but the best time to visit the park is during the dry season months of June, July, August, and September and also in December, January, February.