Last chance to see: Visit Tanzania before “The Migration” is destroyed


Zebra and wildebeest in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007

With the government bent on building a road that scientists say will reduce the wildebeest herd by 500,000 animals, 2011 is the year to visit Tanzania to witness one of the world’s most incredible wildlife spectacles: the migration of more than a million wildebeest, zebra, and other animals across the Serengeti.

And if you needed another reason to visit Tanzania in 2011, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation and Society for Conservation Biology Africa are holding a meeting in Arusha from June 12-16.


Female lion with wildebeest kill. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) feeding on a lion kill. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Little Bee-eater {Merops pusillus}. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Plains zebra (Equus quagga burchellii). Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Lilac-breasted Roller, Coracias caudata. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Elephants. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Cape buffalo with a Red-billed Oxpecker. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007


Male ostrich defending chicks. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2007

More pictures from Tanzania.

More on the road project

Scientists: road through Serengeti would likely end wildebeest migration

(02/02/2011) A new study finds that a proposed road cutting through Serengeti National Park would likely have devastating consequences for one of the world’s last great migrations. According to the study the road itself could lead to a 35% loss in the famed park’s migrating wildebeest herd, essentially cutting the herd down by over half a million animals. Despite such concerns, and the availability of an alternative route that would bypass the Serengeti plains altogether, the Tanzanian government has stated it is going ahead with the controversial road.

World Bank offers to save Serengeti from bisecting road

(01/31/2011) The World Bank has offered to help fund an alternative route for a planned road project that would otherwise cut through Tanzania’s world famous Serengeti National Park, according to the German-based NGO Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU). When announced last year, the road project raised protests from environmentalists, scientists, and Tanzanian tour companies, but the Tanzanian government refused to shift plans to an alternative southern route for the road, thereby bypassing the park.

Threatened on all sides: how to save the Serengeti

(09/27/2010) Tanzania’s plan to build a road through the Serengeti has raised the hackles of environmentalists, conservationists, tourists, and wildlife-lovers worldwide, yet the proposed road is only the most recent in a wide variety of threats to the Serengeti ecosystem. A new study in mongabay.com’s open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science looks at the wide variety of issues facing the Serengeti and how to save one of the world’s most beloved landscapes and wildlife communities.

Road through the Serengeti will eventually ‘kill the migration’


(07/08/2010) Tourists, conservationists, individuals, and tour companies have launched an international outcry against the Tanzanian authorities in response to the announcement of the planned construction of the trans-Serengeti Highway highway. There is even a Facebook group and an online petition with 5,038 signatures. But the government has responded by saying that the plans are still on course.

Author: Mongabay

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