Serengeti and Amazon National Park (notes)

Fragile ecosystems are local environments that are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature, air and water quality and other environmental conditions.

Serengeti: Overview of the biome

The Serengeti changed from a grassland state to a woodland state twice in the last century. The few old, very large scattered trees dotting the Serengeti landscape started life about 1900, followed by a slow decline in tree numbers mainly due to elephants, fire and disease, leaving the few we see today. The second group of smaller trees established itself during the period 1976-83, and these trees are still growing in abundance today. Both of these groups were able to grow because for two periods in the Serengeti there were no elephants and no fires.

Today, the woodlands of Serengeti are growing taller, as the trees which started the mass-establishment pf the 1970s mature. The trees of the 1900 establishment are growing older and dying.

Competing interest groups within the Serengeti include:

• The indigenous people of the area, including the Masai
• The authorities and the conservationists who set up the national park
• Tourists, both the officially sanctioned ones and the illegal big game hunters
• The Tanzanian government which sees the areas as a source of food for the people and of revenue from tourism

Other important features found in the NCA are the archaeological and palaeontological site located at Oldupai Gorge and the early human footprints that were discovered at Alaitole in Ngarusi area. Because of these particular features and the harmonious co-existence between wildlife and people that has existed for many years, NCA was accorded the status of a World Heritage Site and listed as one of the International Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme. ^[1]

Potential for resource exploitation

• Large game hunting- lion manes and pelt, elephant ivory, impala horns (and those from other bovids).
• The Orangi River is an important all-year source of water for wildlife in the northern part of the Serengeti National Park. ^[1] There was an active mining site within the park boundaries between 1933 and 1966, which fed its waste products into the main supply river of the park, reducing the soil quality as the pH dropped drastically.

Exploitation so far

The Masai people have been grazing their livestock on the open plain for over 200 years. The Maasai are allowed to take their animals into the Crater for water and grazing, but not to live or cultivate there. Elsewhere in the NCA, they have the right to roam freely. ^[2]

Examples of management policies/ initiatives

Due to large-scale lion hunting, and other game, the British colonial administration decided to make a partial game reserve in the area in 1921, and a full one in 1929. This became the basis for the Serengeti National Park, which was established in 1951. As part of the creation of the park, and in order to preserve wildlife, the resident Masai were moved to the Ngorongoro highlands.
Policy changed from exclusion to inclusion. Buffer zones- community…