Serengeti General Management Plan

1. Ecosystem Management Programme
The GMP’s Ecosystem Management Programme is based on a simplified ecological management
and monitoring approach that has been adapted from the latest international conservation
planning methodologies and best practice. The Programme identifies eight
SENAPA Conservation Targets - the ecological components that capture the unique biodiversity
of the Park. The GMP maintains that if these eight Conservation Targets are safeguarded,
then the long-term health of the Park’s ecosystem will be secure. The Conservation
Targets selected for SENAPA are:
vi
Conservation Targets Ecosystem Level
1. The Migration
2. Mara River
System
3. Riverine Forest
4. Acacia woodland
5. Terminalia woodland
6. Kopje habitat
7. Black rhino
8. Wild dogs
Community
Species
The Ecosystem Management Programme aims to ensure that all components and processes
of the naturally evolving Serengeti ecosystem are conserved through the implementation of
strategies designed to reduce specific threats to the prioritised Conservation Targets and to
restore the species-level Conservation Targets (i.e. Black rhinos and Wild dogs). Management
actions to reduce threats to the Migration and the Mara River system will concentrate
on using sound ecological understanding to inform, influence and collaborate with key stakeholders
involved in management and decision-making within the Greater Serengeti ecosystem.
Fire plays a critical role in shaping the Serengeti and a Fire Management Plan will be
developed and implemented during this GMP to control and minimise the damage caused by
wildfire and direct the use of prescribed fires for management purposes. The restoration of
Black rhino and Wild dogs in the Serengeti will be based on careful scientific research, and
any potential re-introductions will be done in close consultation with TANAPA headquarters
and TAWIRI.
The Programme also provides a framework for the development of a simple and costeffective
Ecological Monitoring Plan for SENAPA, based on the Park’s Conservation Targets
and their key ecological attributes. The Ecological Monitoring Plan will be formulated subsequently
as a Technical Detail Plan, and will enable an assessment of the Ecosystem Management
Programme’s management interventions as well as facilitating adaptive management.
2. Tourism Management Programme
The Tourism Management Programme aims to provide an outstanding experience for both
local and international visitors, optimal economic benefits to the nation, TANAPA, private
sector partners and local communities, and minimal impacts on the Park’s resource values. A
high priority for this GMP will be the enhancement of visitor access and use while at the
same time minimising disturbance to key habitats and wildlife. One of the main ways of
achieving these dual aims will be the diversification and dispersal of tourism activities, especially
in those areas of the park which are presently little used. In addition, efforts to mitigate
visitor impacts will be enhanced through the dissemination of the Serengeti Code of
Conduct, which encapsulates the park rules and regulations through a few general behavioural
characteristics expected of visitors and their tour guides and drivers.