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WHY DID WE CHOOSE THE SERENGETI
WHAT IS THE SERENGETI ?
WHY DID WE CHOOSE SERENGETI ?
Everything mentioned above is a good enough reason why this location was chosen for the game's setting. An abundant and biodiverse landscape with a mosaic of different habitats accompagnied by the very iconic animals that everyone can expect out of an African animal survival game.
Not only that, but we also have the opportunity to expand gameplay - environmental elements by implementing large herds of herbivores like wildebeests and zebra to replicate the great migration as well the ecological impact they have on the ecosystem and create diverse and fun interactions with the playerbase.
Human elements and structures such as safari vehiciles, roads, lodges and even Maasai tribesmen with their cattle herds grazing alongside the local wildlife can also create interesting and inutitivive gameplay interactions and dynamics.
However it's also important to us to bring up the conservation aspect of this choice. The Serengeti is one of the oldest national parks on the African continent, home to the biggest land mammal migration on earth and is a stronghold for wildlife in East Africa and Tanzania. It is important to us to provide a positive impact by educating our playerbase about the problems that threaten wildlife and ongoing projects to further study or protect this ecosystem; not only in the park itself but across the entire African continent as a whole.
The Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem's wide variety habitats allows in return an extremely biodiverse and productive landscape. Large herds of grazing animals like Blue Wildebeest, Plains Zebra, Topi Antelope, Hartebeest, Thomson's , Grant's Gazelle, Common Eland, or Cape Buffalo are easily found wherever there is good pastures. Larger herbivores can also be found in great numbers depending on their preferred habitats, Maasai Giraffes and Black Rhinoceros being most common in the southern and northern woodland and Kopje habitats, Hippopotamus Pods in river channels, and African Bush Elephants feeding in almost any of the habitats present in the park. This wide variety and density of prey also attracts large apex predators such as African Lions, Cheetahs, and Leopards as well as Spotted Hyenas, African Wild dogs hunting the large herds of grazing animals, while Nile Crocodiles prowl the river channels. These in turn leave carcasses for scavengers like several vulture species, jackals, striped hyenas and even some birds of prey like eagles. The most iconic event in this ecosystem is probably the great migration where millions of wildebeests and hundreds of thousands of zebra and thomson's gazelle travel across the landscape in an annual circle following the rains that provide fresh grazing that they favor. This causes massive shifts in predator movements and impacts the entire ecosystem from top to bottom in a multitude of ways as well as creating awe inspiring sights of large herds crossing rivers and the birth of a quarter of a million wildebeest calves in the southern plains of the park during Febuary and March.
The park is world renowned for being one the best places to view wildlife in an iconic African landscape. It is divided into three major ecological regions, which all have particular geological and habitat characteristics that make them unique.
The Serengeti Plains located in the central and southern sections of the park are mostly wide open savannah grasslands dotted by a few trees or woodland communities, and clusters of rock formations called kopjes, which act as islands of green in a sea of grass, allowing smaller animals to be able to thrive in an otherwise hostile landscape, the most impressive ones being Simba and Moru Kopjes. To the far south two massive lakes called Ndutu and Masek are surrounded by a massive woodland forest community dominated by Acacia Tortillis sp. providing food for large browsing animals. This almost tree-less plains habitat is mostly due to ash deposits being coughed out by neighbouring volcanoes, like Ol'donyoi Lengai, preventing tree species to root properly wherever it fell.
The western corridor is by the name suggests, in the western section of the park and is mainly known for the famous Grumeti river flowing through the landscape and bordered by massive riverine woodland forests, allowing for a wide diversity of water dependant life to thrive in its waters or by its shores. Hills covered by Acacia sp. and Commiphora sp. woodlands also create valleys allowing small streams and another river to all flow towards the Grumeti or Lake Victoria to the far west outside of the park's borders.
Finally the most remote region of the park is in the northern section being mostly dominated by Commiphora sp. open woodlands, a few kopjes and rolling hills extending to the Masai Mara Game Reserve and its river the Mara
The Serengeti National Park is a massive nature reserve, stretching over 14,000 km2 or over 5000 mi2. It is located in the east african country of Tanzania near its Western north border with Kenya while also being connected with another national park the Maasai Mara National Reserve creating what we call today, the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. The park was founded in 1940, but would only get proper protection and establishement of borders by 1950 and split into two major areas, The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation area. Today, the Serengeti is bordered by several conservancies and reserves like Ikorongo, Grumeti, Loliondo, and Maswa Game reserves.
Map of the Serengeti National Park with it's notable airstrips, river channels, and it's neighbouring Parks and notable locations such as lakes, and international borders. It also showcases the general route the Great herds take during the migration across the Greater Serengeti- Mara Ecosystem
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