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A million
wildebeest... each one driven by the same ancient
rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the
inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of
territorial conquests and mating; survival of the
fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through
crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north;
replenishing the species in a brief population explosion
that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the
1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again.
Tanzania's
oldest and most popular national park, the Serengeti is
famed for its annual migration, when some six million
hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra
and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek
for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet,
the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating
game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller
groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon
thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s
gazelle.
The spectacle
of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest
park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of
plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees
lining the Seronera River, while a high density of
cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost
uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here,
alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive
small predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf
to the beautiful serval cat.
But there is
more to Serengeti than large mammals. Gaudy agama
lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of
the park’s isolated granite koppies. A full 100
varieties of dung beetle have been recorded, as have
500-plus bird species, ranging from the outsized ostrich
and bizarre secretary bird of the open grassland, to the
black eagles that soar effortlessly above the Lobo
Hills.
As enduring as
the game-viewing is the liberating sense of space that
characterises the Serengeti Plains, stretching across
sunburnt savannah to a shimmering golden horizon at the
end of the earth. Yet, after the rains, this golden
expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green
carpet flecked with wildflowers. And there are also
wooded hills and towering termite mounds, rivers lined
with fig trees and acacia woodland stained orange by
dust.
Popular the
Serengeti might be, but it remains so vast that you may
be the only human audience when a pride of lions
masterminds a siege, focussed unswervingly on its next
meal.
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