Serengeti

The greatest animal migration on Earth

The Serengeti is a vast savanna in Africa where every year 1.5 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras set off on a 'round trip' in search of fresh grass — 1,000 km! On the way they cross rivers full of crocodiles while lions lie in wait. This is the 'Great Migration' — the largest movement of animals on Earth. 'The Lion King' was inspired by this place. 'Serengeti' means 'endless plain' in the Maasai language.

Serengeti National Park (14,750 km², 1951; UNESCO 1981) in northern Tanzania forms one ecosystem (30,000 km²) with Kenya's Maasai Mara. The Great Migration: 1.3 million wildebeest, 300,000 zebras and 400,000 Thomson's gazelles move clockwise following rain and grass growth, 800–1,000 km a year; in July–August they cross the crocodile-filled Mara and Grumeti rivers; in January–February on the volcanic-ash plains of the south 500,000 calves are born within 3 weeks (a 'predator satiation' strategy). 3,000 lions (the densest population on Earth), leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, the 'big five'. Olduvai Gorge is the 'cradle of humankind' (the Leakeys, 1.8-million-year-old Homo habilis). Threats: poaching, fences, shrinking Mara river flows. 350,000 tourists a year.

Fun facts

• In the Serengeti 500,000 wildebeest calves are born in 3 weeks — predators can't eat them all.
• 3,000 lions live here — more than anywhere else.
• A 1.8-million-year-old human ancestor was found in Olduvai Gorge.