The Serengeti National Park is well
known for its 5700 square miles of vast, open savannah originally formed from
volcanic activity. Characterized by seemingly endless grasslands, brush, hills,
and kopjes, the African savannah can be compared to none. It is home to the
active volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai, or “The Mountain of God” as the Maasai call
it, which is the only active natrocarbonatite lava producing volcano in the
world. Within the park, the Mara River basin can be found as well, supporting
numerous rivers, lakes, and streams that feed the savannah.
Landscape of the Serengeti National Park 50 Years From
Now
On any wild safari, one of the main
attractions is the idea of traveling through the savannah by way of a safari
vehicle. These vehicles, if not driven on a designated road or pathway, can
cause excess soil erosion as well as leave tire ruts that can lead to gullies,
if not driven on maintained roads. When
vehicles drive across the savannah, the localized pressure from the tires on
the ground cause the soil to become compacted, thus decreasing soil porosity as
well as the capacity to hold water. With decreased soil porosity, air and water
have limited access which inhibits the ability of roots to penetrate the
ground, as well as vital nutrients essential to the growth of plant life. With
wildfires being a constant threat throughout the savannah during the dry
season, the grasslands could be gone forever without a way to replenish after a
wildfire.
There is the idea that more
roads could be built in order to prevent the destruction of the grasslands by
having vehicles drive on the designated roads, but a) there’s no guarantee that
the appealing sights will always be able to be seen from the same roads, and b)
the process of building roads can be harmful to the landscape as well.
These tire ruts can also turn into
gullies if left to their own devices, through a series of changes. First, the
tire tracks cause rills, or small divots in the ground in which water can now
flow or collect water, especially with all the rain that is received during the
wet season. Then, with the rills unable to support the water, the soil walls
are eroded, leaving larger spaces, known as gullies. These gullies can potentially
change drainage patterns and landscapes, riddling the land with expansive
cracks in the earth.
According to a thesis written by R.
Shepherd in 2010, a measurement of gully erosion was taken in the tropical
savannahs of the Burdekin catchment, with results showing a 22% increase in one
gully system over a period of 58 years. The noted causes of the eroding gullies
include rain water, surface runoff, and flooding, all which can and do occur
throughout the wet season in the park. With the Serengeti National Park having
the same type of climate classification, I can expect that the changes would be
similar over the same time frame.
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| An example of gully formation in the park http://www.fredhoogervorst.com/photo/07483pan/?PHPSESSID=d22e9429bc193f8ce250d070fdef7cba |
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| An example of the number of vehicles traveling during one safari http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Serengeti-airport--Tanzanian-govt-wins-the-day/-/2558/1622540/-/item/1/-/1ve412/-/index.html |
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| An illustration showing how the pressure of a tire affects soil compaction
http://extension.psu.edu/agronomy-guide/cm/sec1/sec11f
|
While the Serengeti National Park may be a protected
wildlife refuge, unfortunately there are still dangers that could forever alter
the park. With tourism comes the task of housing the tourists, which can lead
to clearing land for hotels, pollution from the construction vehicles, and
waste water that ends up dumped in the water systems. Potentially permanent
landscape changing effects of tourism include the building of hotels, more roads,
and the degradation that tire marks can leave on the ground. Regrettably, tourism
is an essential economic part in order to maintain the park as a wildlife
refuge and conservation area, and sometimes it’s a matter of choosing the
lesser of two evils.
Sources for Information:
*http://extension.psu.edu/agronomy-guide/cm/sec1/sec11f
*www.tanzaniapark.com/serengeti.htm
*bbc.co.uk/schools/gcebitesize/geography/ecosystems/human_uses_savannah_rev3.shtml
* http://www.austrangesoc.com.au/userfiles/file/2010_ARS_conf/Bob%20Shepherd%20new.pdf
