Besides Safari Soles Tours, the Serengeti and Maasai Mara are the heart of East Africa, being among Africa’s best-known safari destinations and the venue of one of the most spectacular events on Earth: the Great Migration.
Today, however, the greatest challenge is climate change: an unpredictable force that reconfigures this already fragile environment in ways both dramatic and disturbing.
How does it impact the wildlife and the ecosystem?
Changing weather with rising temperatures and unsettled patterns of rainfall is slowly tilting the delicate balance of life in the Serengeti and Maasai Mara.
Less water: The rivers and waterholes dry up much sooner than they ever used to, which forces animals to travel farther in search of a drink of water. This causes increased stress among species and increased conflict between them.
Less grassland: Changes in rainfall affect grass growth and thus affect the ability of herbivores such as wildebeest and zebra to find food.
Changes in the migration pattern: Probably nature’s most spectacular view, the Great Migration, becomes quite unpredictable due to rainfall different from the historical norm.
Temperature increase: The minimum average month temperature in Narok is increasing by 5.3°C since 1960.
Changes in rainfall: There is an increasing trend in time, but the extreme floods and severe droughts, besides their intensities, are becoming frequent.
Loss of wildlife: Droughts kill by starvation, dehydration, and increased predation. Heavy rain might also be fatal to animals weakened earlier.
Level of Mara River: Drought may affect the Mara River level; this is very important during the Serengeti migration.
Competition for resources: Competition for water increases; this can be visualized by some parts having huge dams contributing to reducing or drying up the river.
Human-wildlife conflict: Humans-wildlife conflict increases during drought because the wild animals raid crops, kill livestock, and injure or kill people.
Biodiversity and tourism: Climate change impinges on both biodiversity and tourism.