COUNTRY Tanzania

NAME Serengeti National Park

IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY

II (National Park)

Biosphere Reserve

Natural World Heritage Site - Criteria iii, iv

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE 3.05.04 (East African Woodland/savanna)

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION West of Great Rift Valley, 130km west-north-west of Arusha. A corridor extends westwards to within 8km of Lake Victoria and a northern sector extending to the Kenya border. In Mara, Arusha, and Shinyanga regions. 1°30'-3°20'S, 34°00'-35°15'E

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT Protected area since 1940. In 1929, 228,600ha of central Serengeti was declared a game reserve. Afforded national park status in 1951 with extensive boundary modifications in 1959. Internationally recognised as part of Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve (with the adjoining Maswa Game Reserve) under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1981 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in the same year.

AREA Serengeti National Park (1,476,300ha) is contained by the biosphere reserve (2,305,100ha); contiguous to Ngorongoro Conservation Area (809,440ha) in the south east, Lolindo Game Controlled Area to the north east (400,000); Maswa Game Reserve (220,000ha; recently reduced) in the south, Maasai-Mara National Reserve (151,000ha) in Kenya to the north, and the Ikorongo-Grumeti Game Controlled Area (500,000) in the west.

LAND TENURE Government

ALTITUDE 920m to 1,850m

PHYSICAL FEATURES The plains of Serengeti are mainly crystalline rocks overlain by volcanic ash with numerous granitic rock outcrops (kopjes). In the north and along the western corridor are mountain ranges of mainly volcanic origin. Two rivers flowing west usually contain water and there are a number of lakes, marshes, and waterholes.

CLIMATE Rainfall is mainly restricted to November-May with peaks in December and March/April. Mean annual temperature 20.8°C and mean annual precipitation 1210mm recorded at 1,150m. Rainfall tends to decrease towards the east and increase to the north andwest, reaching 950mm annually in the western corridor near to Lake Victoria, and 1150mm annually in the extreme north of the park near to the border with Kenya.

VEGETATION The undulating open grassland plains are the major type of vegetation, but become almost desert during periods of severe drought. Dominant species are couch grass Digitaria macroblephara and Sporobolus marginatus (an indicator of saline soils). In wetter areas, sedges such as Kyllinga spp. take over. There is an extensive block of acacia woodland savanna in the centre, a more hilly and densely wooded zone covering most of the northern arm of the park, and some gallery forest. Lowland woodlands comprise Commiphora, Acacia drepanolobium, and A. gerrardii. Upland woodlands comprise Acacia lahai and A. seyal.

FAUNA The park is best known for the now unrivalled herd sizes of 'plains game', which migrate between seasonal water supplies and grasslands. These include wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus (LR), zebra Equus burchelli, Thomson's gazelle Gazella thomsoni (LR), numerous prides of lion Panthera leo (VU) numbering up to 3,000 individuals (Packer, 1996), and spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta (LR). In May and June many game animals take part in a mass migration away from the central plains into the western corridor. The annual wildebeest migration is described in SRCS (1992) and Murray (1992). In the 1950s the wildebeest population is thought to have numbered 190,000, subsequently increasing to an estimated 1.69 million in 1989 (SRCS, 1992), and 1.27 million in 1991 (TWCM, 1992). Other characteristic mammals are leopard Panthera pardus, cheetah Acinonyx jubatus (VU), elephant Loxodonta africana (EN) estimated to number 1,357 in 1994 (Said et al., 1995), black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis (CR), hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis (LR), buffalo Syncerus caffer (LR), topi Damaliscus lunatus (LR), waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus (LR), eland Taurotragus oryx, sitatunga Tragelaphus spekei (LR), bushbuck T. scriptus, oryx Oryx gazella (LR), reedbuck Redunca redunca (LR), mountain reedbuck R. fulvorufula (LR), numerous species of rodents and bats, golden jackal Canis aureus, side striped jackal C. adustus, Grant's gazelle Gazella granti (LR), seven species of mongoose, two species of otter, warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus, and seven species of primate. Smaller predators include bat-eared fox Otocyon megalotis and ratel Mellivora capensis. The last packs of wild dog Lycaon pictus (EN) disappeared from the park in 1991. A rabies epidemic killed three of the packs, but there is no clear consensus on the full cause of the disappearance (Morell, 1995; Dye, 1996; East and Hofer, 1996).

Over 350 recorded bird species include 34 species of raptors, six vultures, kori bustard Choriotis kori, ostrich Struthio camelus and lesser flamingo Phoenicopterus minor (LR), and several with a comparatively restricted distribution such as rufous-tailed weaver Histurgops ruficauda.

CULTURAL HERITAGE During the 19th century the Serengeti and Masai Mara are thought to have been open grasslands free from tseste fly and extensively grazed by pastoralists. In the 1880s a rinderpest epidemic caused wildlife and domestic livestock losses, causing much of the human population to abandon the area (SRCS, 1992). The whole of the eastern half of the park was previously part of the Maasi pastoralist system, whose rangeland resources were used by both wildlife and livestock. The Maasi are the largest pastoral ethnic group in East Africa, and their cultural code precludes consumption of meat from wild animals (Leader-Williams et al., 1996).

LOCAL HUMAN POPULATION There is no resident human population but the Maasai occupy the eastern frontiers of the park, and the area to the west of the park is densely populated. Population growth on these western frontiers is 4% per year (Packer, 1996). The population in the Serengeti District as a whole increased by about 54% during the period 1967 - 1978, and the population in the seven districts to the west of the park reached a total of 1,733,958 in 1988. Agriculture is the main source of income, but many people have been attracted to the area by the wildlife resource and tourism opportunities presented by the park (Campbell and Hofer, 1993; Leader-Williams, 1996).

VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES Tourist facilities include lodges at Seronera and Lobo and four campsites near Seronera. Lodges were being built at Kirawira (one operational as of August 1989), Klein's Camp, Banagai, Turner Springs, Seronera and Nyaruboru. Six access routes exist, but usually access is by road from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. There are several airstrips and an aerodrome at Seronera. In 1983, the lowest number of visitors (18,602) since the 1950s was recorded, following several years of isolation due to the closed border with Kenya. The reopening of the Tanzania-Kenya border in December 1983 resulted in increased visitor numbers. Serengeti Regional Conservation Strategy figures indicate that visitors to the park rose from 11,000 to 40,000 during the period 1985-1991. Further expansion is expected following the completion of new lodges and other infrastructural projects (SRCS, 1992).

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH The park has been the centre for major research for the past 30 years. The Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute (SWRI) has a research centre at Seronera. This has well-equipped laboratories, a library, herbarium and accommodation for visiting scientists. Projects active during 1992 included the continuation of long-term research on ecosystem processes, the behavioural ecology of lion, leopard and ungulates, population dynamics and reproduction of mongoose, and the ecology of dung beetles and termites. A programme on the behaviour and ecology of the African wild dog used radio-collaring techniques to monitor 22 individuals (SWRC, 1993). When the wild dog population disappeared from the park in 1991, controversy erupted over whether the stress of handling the dogs to fit radio-collars helped cause their disappearance (Morell, 1995; Dye, 1996; East and Hofer, 1996). A number of externally funded scientists conduct research at the SWRI, and the staff of the Tanzania Wildlife Conservation Monitoring (TWCM) programme have taken over the long term ecological monitoring programme, and carry out regular aerial surveys and wildlife censuses (SRCS, 1992).

CONSERVATION VALUE Serengeti National Park, with its herds of ungulates and their associated predators, is the last remnant of a Pleistocene large mammal ecosystem in all its complexity. The park, in combination with the contiguous Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Maasai Mara National Park, is sufficiently large to ensure the survival of this savanna ecosystem.

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT In 1951, the original boundary of the National Park included land to the south and east of the present park and the Ngorongoro Highlands. Pastoralism and cultivation by the Maasi were allowed to continue until 1954 when it was felt that this was incompatible with resource conservation, and the park was divided into the present day Serengeti National Park, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The National Park was set aside strictly for wildlife conservation and tourism, and human access was restricted (Leader-Williams et al., 1996). The preservationist approach to protected areas management has slowly been changing throughout the 1980s. IUCN has coordinated aconservation and development programme in the Serengeti region, in collaboration with NORAD, the Serengeti Regional Conservation Strategy. Phase II started in 1989 with the development of a Conservation and Development Plan, developed and executed with the involvement of local people. The overall goal is to change the approach of the management and utilization of the Serengeti from the traditional approach which has excluded local communities, to one in which the needs of human development in the region are reconciled with natural resource conservation (SRCS, 1992). It has been recognised that wildlife is an important economic resource for rural communities around the park. It is hoped that creating schemes whereby local communities are given legal rights to manage the wildlife around their villages will prevent the present illegal and unsustainable levels of wildlife poaching from the park. Areas suitable for development as buffer zones to the park have been identified where wildlife can be managed by the local people, and village Wildlife Committees are supervising conservation activities. The Serengeti Regional Conservation Strategy also includes programmes to stabilise land use, and plans to channel more money earned from tourist activities within the park back into the community (Leader-Williams et al., 1996).

The park administration works with the village authorities to resettle encroachers and re-mark the boundary. Grumeti Game Controlled Area has been incorporated in the park as greater control of the area was thought to be necessary.

MANAGEMENT CONSTRAINTS The human population to the west of the park has expanded rapidly over the past 30 years, wildlife and livestock populations have grown, and demand for land is high. Grazing land is becoming scarce as pasture land is converted into cropland. Local people are vulnerable to external development and large scale agricultural schemes which do not benefit local communities. Open land ownership has also resulted in local people over-exploiting common resources (Leader-Williams et al., 1996). Agricultural encroachments have appeared on park boundaries and former subsistence poaching has now become large-scale and commercial. An estimated 200,000 animals are killed annually, resulting in large declines in the numbers of some species. The rise in demand for meat has partly been driven by the growing local population and in-migration as wildlife and fuelwood is depleted elsewhere. The need for bushmeat has also been exacerbated by the relatively low contribution tourism has made to the local economy (Leader-williams et al., 1996). A controversial hunting lease to the Loliondo Game Control Area next to the park was granted to a Brigadier of the Dubai Army. The lease is an exclusive permit for ten years and takes advantage of the migratory patterns of wildlife coming out of the park. Reports received from the first hunting season noted the indiscriminate use of machine guns and the taking of non-game species (IUCN, 1994), and it is feared that the concession has had a severe impact on wildlife in the area (Lamprey, 1995). At one time the Serengeti was not inhabited by elephants, but cultivation and settlement outside the park resulted in change in distribution. The combination of elephant, uncontrolled fires, and subsequent browsing and stunting of regrowth by giraffe has caused a decline in woodlands. There has also been some tree cutting in small areas on the west and north-west boundaries. In 1994 an epidemic of canine distemper virus (CDV) killed 30 % of the Serengeti and Masai Mara lions, and the disappearance of the wild dog population in 1991 may have been accelerated by rabies spread via domestic dogs. Approximately 30,000 domestic dogs live in the area, most of which are not vaccinated, thus creating a large reservoir for diseases (Roelke-Parker et al., 1996; Morell, 1995). Mass vaccinations of domestic dogs for distemper and rabies around the park started in December 1996 to create an infection free buffer zone on the western boundaries of the park (Bristow, 1996).

STAFF A staff of over 180 includes 35 in administration (many of whom trained at the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka and/or the University of Dar es Salaam), 80 anti-poaching staff, one chief park warden and five park wardens (undated information).

BUDGET 1977: Tanzanian Shs.2,752,100 (approximately equivalent to US$334,000) including grants from external sources. No recent information.

LOCAL ADDRESSES

Tanzania National Parks Authority, PO Box 3134, Arusha

Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre, P.O. Box 661, Arusha (1993).

REFERENCES

Over 300 papers have been published by Centre/SRI research workers and others in scientific journals, and several popular books are also available.

Belsky, A.J (1987). Revegetation of natural and human-caused disturbances in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Vegetation 70(1): 51-60.

Borner, M., Fitzgibbon, C.D., Borner, M., Caro, T.M., Lindsay, W.K., Collins, D.A. and

Bristow, M. (1996) Dog jabs to save lions BBC Wildlife 14(12):p61.

Campbell, K. and Hofer, H. (1993) Humans and Wildlife: Spatial Dynamics and Zones of Interaction in Sinclair, A.R.E. and Arcese, P. (1993) Serengeti II: Research, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem. Draft copy.

Caro, T.M. (1970). Map of the Serengeti National Park and surrounding area. ARUSHA: SRI and Hunting Technical Services.

Dye, C. (1996) Serengeti wild dogs: what really happened? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11(5):188-189.

East, M.L. and Hofer, H. (1996) Wild dogs in the Serengeti ecosystem: what really happened Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11(12):509.

Grzimek, B. (1960). Serengeti shall not die. Hamish Hamilton, London.

Herlocker, D.J. (1976). Woody vegetation of the Serengeti National Park. College Station, Texas A & M University.

Holt, M.E. (1987). The decline of the Serengeti Thompson's gazelle population. Oecologia (Berlin) 73(1): 32-40.

IUCN (1994). Monitoring of the State of Conservation of Natural World Heritage Properties. World Heritage Committee 19th Session, Phuket, Thailand.

IUCN/WWF Project 1931. Tanzania, Anti-poaching equipment for National Parks.

Jager, T. (1979). Soil of the Serengeti Woodlands, Tanzania Agricultural Research Report 912: 1-239. PUDOC, Wageningen.

Kreulen, D.A. (1975). Amphibians and reptiles of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique de France 100(4): 673-674.

Kruuk, H. (1969). Interaction between populations of spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta and their prey species. In: Watson, A. (Ed.) Animal populations in relation to their food resources. Oxford.

Kruuk, H. (1972). The spotted hyaena. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lamprey, R. (1995) The management of sport hunting in Tanzania Swara 18(2)

Leader-Williams, N., Kayera, J.A. and Overton, G.L., Eds. (1996) Community-based conservation in Tanzania. IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. ix + 266pp.

Makacha, S., Msingwa, M.J. and Frame, G.W. (1982). Threats to the Serengeti herds. Oryx 16(5): 437-444.

Morell, V. (1995) Dogfight erupts over animal studies in the Serengeti Science 270(5240): 1302-1303.

Murray, M. (1992) Wanderlust BBC Wildlife 10(6):24-27.

Packer, C. (1996) Who rules the park? Wildlife Conservation 99(3):36-39.Pearsall, W. (1957). Report on an ecological survey of the Serengeti National Park, Tanganyika. Fauna Preservation Society, London.

Roelke-Parker, E.M., Munson, L; Packer, C., Kock, R., Cleaveland, S., Carpenter, M., O' Brien, S.J., Pospoischil, A., Hofmann-Lehmann, R., Lutz, H., Mwamengele, G.L.M., Mgasa, M.N., Maschange, G.A. Summers, B.A. and Appel, M.J.G. (1996) A canine distemper virus epidemic in Serengeti lions (Panthera leo) Nature 379(6564): 441-445.

Ruess, R.W. and Halter, F.L. (1990). The impact of large herbivores on the Seronera woodlands Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 28(4): 259-275.

Said, M.Y., Chunge, R.N., Craig, G.C., Thouless, C.R., Barnes, R.F.W., Dublin, H.T. (1995) African elephant database, 1995. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 225 pp.

Schaller, G.B. (1972). The Serengeti Lion. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.

Schmidl, D. (1982). The Birds of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. BOU Check-list No. 5, SRI Publication No. 225. British Ornithologists' Union, London.

Schmidt, W. (1975). The vegetation of the northeastern Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Phytocoenolgia 3(1): 30-82.

Serengeti Regional Conservation Strategy (1992) Project co-ordination unit and district support programme. Project proposal prepared for the Minstry of Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment Wildlife Division supported by NORAD. Unpublished document, 40 pp.

Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre (1993) Scientific Report 1990-1992 Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre.

Sinclair, A.R.E. (1977). The African buffalo: a study of resource limitation of populations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Sinclair, A.R.E. and Norton-Griffiths, M. (1980). Serengeti: Dynamics of an Ecosystem. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 389 pp.

Stronach, N. (1988). The management of fire in Serengeti National Park: objectives and prescriptions. Tanzania National Parks. 38 pp.

Stronach, N. (1990). New information on birds in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 110(4): 198-202.

Wit, H.A. de (1977). Soil map of the Serengeti Plain. Appendix "Soils and grassland types of the Serengeti Plain (Tanzania)". Thesis, Landbouwhogeschool, Wageningen 1978.

DATE 1985; reviewed September 1989, June 1997.