Serengeti National Park: The Heart of Africas ‘Circle of Life’

Famous for a reason

If you’ve heard the word Safari, then you’ve heard of the Serengeti National Park (SNP). In 2025, the SNP was recognised as Africa’s Leading National Park by the World Travel Awards.

Stretching across 15,000 square kilometres (an area larger than Montenegro), the SNP lies just South of the Kenya-Tanzania border, with the snow-capped silhouette of Mount Kilimanjaro rising to the East. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, and is one of the Seven Wonders of Africa (UNESCO standing for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). Many Serengeti species have evolved specifically for this landscape of distance and danger — built for endurance, camouflage, and cooperation.

In pop culture, the SNP has almost become a place of mythology. It appears in documentaries from National Geographic and the BBC to Sir David Attenborough’s iconic Serengeti series and Disney’s The Lion King to name a few. Yet no film or documentary can truly capture the scale and beauty of this vast ecosystem. If the Ngorongoro Crater is an amphitheatre, then the Serengeti is the stage on which Africa’s greatest ecological drama plays out.

Iconic Landscapes: Endless Plains & Ancient Kopjes

The SNP is known to the Maasai as “Siringet”, meaning “endless plains” or “the place where the land runs forever”. Both definitions perfectly describe the horizon-stretching savannah, which is rather incomprehensible until you’ve stood inside it. Scattered throughout the plains of the SNP are landmark rock formations, known as Kopjes (pronounced Koppie). These unique granite rock formations, referred to as ‘islands in a sea of grass’, break up the landscape. Kopjes create microhabitats, with cool and vital vantage points for predators such as lions —basking spots for reptiles, and safe havens from bushfires.

Despite being Tanzania’s most famous park, much of the SNP remains wild and untouched. More than 7,000 square kilometres (half of the parks total area) is road-free, the closest to untouched African wilderness on the planet. The SNP is home to one of the largest predator/prey interactions worldwide, with one of the greatest concentration of wild animals on the planet. Governed by TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks Authority), whose mandate, under the National parks Act of 2002, is ‘Conservation First’. TANAPA parks must pay for themselves through visitor fees and other sources of revenue and are not subsidised by the

government. The SNP works closely with NGO’s (Non-governmental Organisation) such as the Serengeti Conservation project and reinvest income into the parks. The visitor fees generated are reinvested into anti-poaching efforts, habitat restoration, research programmes and community conservation. TANAPA and the SNP are "committed to low impact, sustainable visitation to protect the environment from irreversible damage while creating a first class ecotourism destination”. This commitment is one of the reasons why a

safari in the SNP is considered among the most ethical in Africa as they minimise human impact on the environment, and prevent the harassment of the animals within it.

The Great Migration & its Ecosystems

The biogeography of the SNP is one of its greatest strengths. The dominating savannah and grassland ecosystems support the most dramatic wildlife event on earth, The Great Migration, involving over two million animals annually from Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), Plain Zebra (Equus quagga), Thompsons (Eudorcas thomsonii) and Grants (Nanger grant) Gazelles. The SNP also has woodland and riverine forests ecosystems within its boundaries, allowing animals such as Kirks Dik Dik (Madoqua kirkii),

Rock Hyraxe (Procavia capensis), Colobus Monkeys officially Mantled Guereza (Colobus guereza) and African Fish Eagles (Icthyophaga vocifer) to thrive.

Due to its vast landscapes and abundant wildlife, the SNP welcomes nearly 500,000 visitors each year, many during peak migration to witness the famous Mara River crossing. Known to the Maasai as “Mto wa Mara”,with Mto meaning river and Mara meaning spotted in reference to the tree-dotted landscape, the Mara River is the only river that flows perennially (year-round) through the SNP. It originates in Narok County, Kenya, and winds nearly 400 kilometres before reaching Lake Victoria. Watching thousands of wildebeest gather at its banks: hesitating, surging forward, then finally plunging into the crocodile-filled water, is a sight so raw and unforgettable that it etches itself into your memory in a way no photograph ever could. But these grasslands have carried not only wildlife migrations, but human stories too.

Human History in The Serengeti:

The Serengeti has been home to early pastoralists, hunter-gatherers and migrating communities like the Dorobo and Maasai, whose history, culture, and presence is written into the landscape itself. Pictograms are depicted across the Moru Kopjes, and have been attributed to the young warriors, known as “il-moran”, of the Maasai people.

These paintings found on rock shelters located in central and southern Serengeti depicts elephants, geometric and abstract shapes, human figures, shields, and cattle. They were created using natural pigments, white and yellow from clays, black from ash, and red ochre from the juice of wild nightshade plants. Some paintings are estimated to be more than 7,000 years old. Moru Kopjes is also believed to have been the location for “orpul”, the traditional Maasai meat-feasting ceremony for the Il-moran, who were otherwise prohibited from eating meat publicly. The site would have also served as an initiation area for the

young men to transition into adulthood, a deep-rooted tradition in Maasai culture.

Nearby sits “Gong Rock”, a large boulder carved with circular depressions thought to have been struck to produce a resonant, drum-like sound which would have allowed communication across the plains. Together these cultural sites offer a glimpse into the cultural and spiritual worlds of people who once moved their herds across the same plains that the Great Migration follows today. Standing among these silent stones you feel the continuity of human presence in this landscape. A reminder that the story of the

Serengeti is as human as it is wild.

Why the Serengeti Feels Alive

Visiting the birth place of ‘The Circle of Life’ is nothing short of magical. From the knowledgeable guides to your own quiet moments of curiosity, you really get a sense that everything is connected. From the smallest of insects to the king of the Pride Lands, everything returns to the earth, continuing the cycle. This phenomenon, where the weak are culled and the strong survive, highlight just how delicate this huge ecosystem really is. The Serengeti is often describes as a “living theatre”, and once you witness it for yourself, you’ll know there is no phrase truer to describe this phenomenal place. In moments of stillness,

with only the sound of grazing animals in the distance, the Serengeti feels like it’s breathing around you.

Few landscapes make you as aware of the miracle of life as the Serengeti does.

In my next blog you can learn about the biological importance of this phenomenal landscape: (Serengeti biodiversity)

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