Serengeti General Management Plan

Serengeti National Park General Management Plan
SENAPA Exceptional Resource Values
Exceptional Resource Values (ERVs) are the biophysical features of a national park that are
assessed as being especially important to maintaining the unique ecological character and
functions of the park and that provide outstanding benefits (social, economic and aesthetic)
to local, national and international stakeholders. The identification of SENAPA’s ERVs provides
a foundation for formulating the Park’s Purpose Statement, identifying the Park’s management
problems and opportunities, and generating management objectives and targets.
Table B.1 below shows the top twenty ERVs prioritised by the GMP Planning Team. The
ERVs are grouped according to four main categories: natural, scenic, social and cultural.
Each of these ERVs is described below.
Table B.1: SENAPA Exceptional Resource Values by category
10
Category Exceptional Resource Value Rank
Large mammal migration cycle, notably ungulates 1
Rich flora and fauna biodiversity 2
Natural self-regulating ecosystem, linked to the Mara Reserve 4
Natural
Habitat mosaic; grasslands, bushland, woodlands, forests
Protection of threatened and endangered species
8
10
Migratory birds and their habitats 14
Seasonality; wet and dry periods, allowing for the migration 15
The availability of permanent surface water 17
Endless grassland savannah plains 3
Large predator - prey population and interactions 5
Scenic Wilderness; pristine condition of large areas 11
Kopjes (granite inselbergs and habitats) 13
Mara and Grumeti riverine systems 19
Direct economic benefits from tourism to communities 7
Social
National economic benefits, particularly from tourism
Huge water catchment area for people outside the Park
9
12
Community social services from community outreach 16
National and World Heritage status 6
Cultural Traditional cultural sites of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists 18
Stone Age heritage; early records of mankind 20
Natural values
The Migration
The Migration is the defining characteristic of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, and much of
the migration occurs within the Serengeti National Park. The 1.3 million wildebeest together
with 0.6 million zebra and Thomson’s gazelle congregate on the southern grasslands of the
Park and NCA during the wet season (December-May). In May or June they move northwest
and concentrate in the northern woodlands of the Park and then move to the Masai Mara National
Reserve in Kenya during the dry season (August – November). The wildebeest return
to the southern grasslands with the onset of the rain in December. The migration track of the
wildebeest is shown in Figure B.1 below.