The South

Most visitors enter the Serengeti through Naabi Gate in the South of the park. This is the area of the great short grasss open plains, home to the enormous migratory herds of wildebeest and zebra during the wet season. In February several years ago in the area around Ndutu we witnessed dozens of animals giving birth simultaneously providing such a glut of easy prey to the predators that their chances of survival were dramatically improved. Whilst during the wet season this area is lush and full of life, during the dry season, the southern plains are transformed into a semi desert and only a few tough gazelles remain under the baking sun. At this time game tends to be limited to the wooded areas and around the Kopjes.

The Kopjes are outcrops of old, resistant, weathered rocks made up mostly of granites and gneiss. Below the layers of volcanic rock and ash that form the soil of Serengeti is a thick layer of extremely old metamorphic rock. Late in the Precambrian era, a giant bubble of liquid granite forced its way up from the liquid layers below the Earth's crust and into the Tanganyika Shield. Today, as the softer metamorphic rocks of the Shield wear away, the uneven top of the granite layer is exposed, forming kopjes. The granite is cracked by the repeated heating and cooling under the African sun, and weathered into interesting shapes by the wind. Kopjes provide protection from grass-fires, maintain moisture better than the open plains and provide holes, cracks, and caves, excellent habitats for smaller animals such as lizards, frogs, snakes and some bird species and a vantage point for hunters of all kinds.

Before arriving at the Naabi Gatefrom from Ngorongoro is the turnoff for the Olduvai Gorge, also known as the cradle of mankind. Through faulting and erosion in this arid gorge, known in Maasai as Oldupai Gorge, the remains of more than 30 hominoid fossils have been discovered over the last hundred years including the 1.8 million year old Nutcracker Man (Australopithecus). This is one of the great Anthropological sites and the little museum is very interesting. Impressions of visits to Olduvai vary enormously from one person to another. To some it appears like a gravel pit and the museum of little interest, to others it is an essential and fascinating part of their visit to this part of the world.

To the West of the Naabi gate on the Southern border of the park is Lake Ndutu and nearby is the traditional but highly recommended Ndutu Lodge, which in the right season teams with game and serves as an excellent point of departure to discover the Kopjes along the South Western border of the park.