The Seronera River – A Paradise for Predators

Game viewing along the Seronera River of the Central Serengeti in Tanzania, East Africa offers truly extraordinary opportunities to witness Africa’s big cats in action. The combination of location and resident prey attracts the largest and most diverse population of predators in Africa. The secret is out – there is simply no better place inAfricato observe these large carnivores in action! Since many of these predators are resident to Seronera, excellent encounters are available year round and it is not unusual to encounter all four large predators (lion, hyena, leopard and cheetah) during the course of a day along with a multitude of smaller predators (mongoose, jackal, serval and bat-eared fox).

The Seronera River Valley is home to an incredible diversity of wildlife due to its unique ecological niche as a transitional zone. A transitional zone, or ecotone, is where two distinctly different habitats merge and where various species of flora and fauna from both habitats can coexist. Seronera is the border zone between the Serengeti plains and the Serengeti woodlands. At Seronera the great Serengeti Plains stretch out to the south and east while the Serengeti Woodlands predominate to the north and west. Due this unique ecological feature, Seronera supports a much greater diversity of wildlife then anywhere else in the Serengeti including elephant, giraffe, impala, waterbuck, hippo, topi, reedbuck, buffalo, baboon and vervet monkey.

The Seronera River is the largest and most well known of the four rivers that snake through the broadSeroneraValleylike giant green fingers. Each river is lined with beautiful umbrella acacia, yellow barked acacia and sausage trees. TheSeroneraRiverin particular, with its seasonal swamps and deep pools of water, is ideal lion and leopard habitat and there is perhaps no easier place in Africa to see both these species of big cats in action. The Seronera River Valley is well known for the largest resident lion prides in the Serengeti. It is the ‘Park Place’ of lion territories in the Serengeti due to the permanent sources of water and the high resident prey biomass. Seronera is home to the world-renowned Serengeti Lion Project, which is the longest continuous field study ever conducted on a large mammal. Since its inception in 1966, twenty-six lion prides residing around Seronera have been continuously tracked and studied with the use of radio collars.