Serengeti General Management Plan

Serengeti National Park General Management Plan
Action 1.2.1: Identify and establish a broad spread of tourism sinks in the High
and Low Use Zones
This GMP defines tourism sinks as designated areas where visitors can get out of their vehicles
to undertake a specific activity. The aim of these tourism sinks is firstly, to get vehicles
off the roads so as to reduce the congestion and impact of vehicles within the Park, and secondly,
to increase the length of time visitors stay in the Serengeti and their level of satisfaction.
Tourism sinks will be distributed evenly around the High and Low Use Zones and will
provide minimal facilities. The development of these sites will be based on a survey that will
recommend an appropriate choice of activities and sites to be developed.
Types of tourism sinks to be developed will include picnic sites, short walks on designated
trails (e.g. along Grumeti River), cultural sites (e.g. Fort Ikoma and Loiyangalani, near Sopa
Lodge), and water-bird viewing points. Lodges and other accommodation facilities in these
zones will also be encouraged to develop their own tourism sinks within their concession areas.
Many tourism sinks will not need to be booked and will charge no fee for their use. These
tourism sinks will be especially attractive to the budget tour operators, where there is a need
to keep the distance travelled to a minimum. However, certain tourism sinks will have special
development and administration needs, such as a potential aerial walkway along the Grumeti
River. These special tourism sinks will have a fee associated with them.
Action 1.2.2: Develop overnight walking safaris in the Wilderness Zone, according
to the Limits of Acceptable Use
Walking safaris are a new product in Tanzania and are in high demand by the tourism industry.
Since 1997, TANAPA has been exploring the potential for walking safaris in national
parks. The draft “TANAPA Walking Safari Guidelines” are presently under review, based
on the experiences of a pilot scheme in Tarangire National Park.
The Limits of Acceptable Use for Walking Safaris in the Wilderness Zone are provided in
Table D.2 below, but it is important to note that they are subject to the TANAPA Walking Safari
Guidelines and the collection of additional information, which may result in modifications.
Table D.2: Wilderness Zone LAU: walking safaris
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Operational Parameters Limits
Maximum number of nights at any one campsite location 4 nights
Minimum length of walking safari 2 paying days
Maximum number of clients per group 8
Maximum number of groups per walking safari block 1
In order to develop walking safaris within the Wilderness Zone, it is proposed that an initial
pilot scheme is tested. This pilot scheme will have specific walking safari blocks containing
between two and four campsite locations. These campsite locations will be situated in such a
way that groups will be able to walk in a day from one to the next. In addition, these locations
will cover a relatively large area, within which the walking group will be able to select where
to set up their camp. The task of identifying a workable network of campsite locations will involve
the specialist knowledge of TANAPA, Tour Operators and the SENAPA Resource Protection
Department. The walking safari blocks will be booked for the exclusive use of one
walking safari group at any one time. The group can spend a maximum number of nights
equivalent to twice the number of campsite locations in the block. Therefore if there are four
campsite locations in a block, then the group can spend a maximum of eight nights. Finally, it