Seronera river serengeti Tanzania – Water is a key factor for wildlife survival in Africa as many people know the annual rains in masai Mara and Serengeti great wildebeest migration is triggered by the rains.
This is undoubtedly one of the best places in the entire Serengeti National Park where you can spot cheetahs and lions; with its Water Rivers and seasonal swamps, it is the ideal habitat for wildlife, Leopards are commonly spotted on the branches of the sausage trees that line the Seronera river Serengeti Tanzania , where they usually drag their prey and hold it in a safe position, not reachable by other predators.
Some studies show that this is precisely one of the areas with the highest concentration of leopards in the entire Africa.
The lions on the other hand are often spotted along the river always lurking, ready to catch prey that comes here to drink.
Here reside several lion prides that are the subject of study and monitoring under the Serengeti Lion Project; the pride studied under this project are: the Maasai Kopjes pride; the Makoma Hill pride; the Campsite and the Seronera pride.
The river is also home to the huge Nile crocodiles, often standing motionless on the river banks with their mouth open, to regulate their body temperature. There are also hippos that spend their days immersed in water and you can often see just the ears and the big nostrils, while at night they emerge from the water bed and graze on the grass that grows near the river banks.
Visitors to the Retina Hippo Pool are permitted to leave the jeep and view on foot the hippos in the pool, where they are huddled together, that inevitably causes the break-out of fights for the territorial domination.
The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was established in 1952. It is home to the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth – the great migration of wildebeest and zebra. The resident population of lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, and birds is also impressive. There’s a wide variety of accommodation available, from luxury lodges to mobile camps. The park covers 5,700 sq miles, (14,763 sq km), it’s larger than Connecticut, with at most a couple hundred vehicles driving around.
The Park can be divided into 3 sections. The popular southern/central part (Seronera Valley), is what the Maasai called the “serengit”, the land of endless plains. It’s classic savannah, dotted with acacias and filled with wildlife. The western corridor is marked by the Grumeti River, and has more forests and dense bush. The north, Lobo area, meets up with Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve, is the least visited section.
Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere Reserves have been established within the 30,000 km² region. It’s unique ecosystem has inspired writers from Ernest Hemingway to Peter Mattheissen, filmakers like Hugo von Lawick and Alan Root as well as numerous photographers and scientists – many of which have put their works at our disposal to create this website.
The Serengeti ecosystem is one of the oldest on earth. The essential features of climate, vegetation and fauna have barely changed in the past million years. Early man himself made an appearance in Olduvai Gorge about two million years ago. Some patterns of life, death, adaptation and migration are as old as the hills themselves.
It is the migration for which Serengeti is perhaps most famous. Over a million wildebeest and about 200,000 zebras flow south from the northern hills to the southern plains for the short rains every October and November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June. So strong is the ancient instinct to move that no drought, gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back.
The Wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitat. Join us to explore the different forms of vegetation and landscapes of the Serengeti ecosystem and meet some of their most fascinating inhabitants.