Serengeti Environment

As you would expect, the Serengeti Environment is an intricate one. Firstly, however, it's a matter of size: the Serengeti ecosystem is massive, covering the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The ecosystem is 25 000km² in size and is regarded as the most complex ecosystem on earth.

The yearly migration has a profound effect on the ecological balance. The Serengeti National Park's plant life is intricately tied to the millions of animals that come across its path. Grass, plant and trees are fertilised by millions of droppings, and are both destroyed and regenerated by rain, hoof and season.

The eruption of the Ngorongoro, Sadiman and Kerimasi volcanoes some three or four million years ago covered the Serengeti in volcanic ash.

The rock hard top coat is too tough to be permeated by tree roots, so the landscape is left to the devices of shallow-root grasses - packed with nutrients, and just what a growing grazer needs. Like magnets, the grasslands polarise over two million large mammals into migrating every year in search of food.

The Serengeti National Park proper covers 14 000km² and consists of long open grasslands, rocky outcrops and rivers. The generally flat and gently undulating landscape is dotted with the occasional granite kopje.

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