The Serengeti Plains Tanzania

The Serengeti Plains

The Serengeti Plains: Serengeti Plains ( plains of Serengeti ) are found in the Serengeti national park in the northern part of Tanzania, a 7-hour drive from the tourism city of Arusha. The Serengeti plains form the great Serengeti ecosystem that covers areas of Central Serengeti, Southern, and North of Ngorongoro conservation area, and finally the North Maasai Mara ecosystem.

The endless Serengeti plain runs from the north-central Tanzania to the border of Kenya. The plains are best known for the large and high numbers of plains animals, especially the wildebeest, Zebras, Gazelles, and different species of Antelopes. Serengeti National Park is the only tourism destination that hosts the annual wildlife migration called the wildebeest migration.

Serengeti plains are named after the maasai local word Siringet, which means endless plains which they used to describe the Serengeti plains. The plains are flat with dotted acacia trees that makes one to see as far as he or she can with no interference.

The plain is located in Serengeti district, which forms the 7 districts in the North Arusha region in Mara region. The district is administered by the mini administrative cells. The headquarters of the Serengeti district is found in Mugumu town, a few kilometers away from the Serengeti gate of Ikoma in the Western part of the park.

The Serengeti plain was an ancestral home for the Maasai people, who lived here for years as herdsmen and hunters until the Tanzanian government relocated them and declared the plains a national park in 1951, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. The park covers an area of 18,600 square Miles, which is equivalent to 30,000 square kilometers.

The plain is a flat open grassland with an elevation ranging from 3,020 feet to 6,070 feet, which is equivalent to 920 meters to 1,850 meters. The plains extend 160 kilometers Southeast, nearing the shores of Africa’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria, nearly 100 miles to the North bordering Kenya.

The plains are a home of wildlife with 35 species of plain animals, more than 450 species of birds, the dominant habitats the Zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, topis, oribi, kobs, antelopes among others not leaving out the African big 5 those are Rare black Rhinos, Elephants which are the most recent addition to the park, leopards, Buffalo and finally the king of the jungle lions.

The plain is the current Serengeti National Park. After it was gazetted and declared a protected area, all the locals were moved away to pave the way for conservation.