The proposed tarmac road which would have bisected the Serengeti National Park, jeopardising the world’s last great mammal migration, will not now be built, the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism announced at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting.
 
Hon. Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania’s Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, confirmed that the existing tourist route would remain as it is, while roads outside the Park to District capitals would be upgraded.

“This decision has been reached in order to address the increasing socio-economic needs of the rural communities in northern Tanzania, while safeguarding the Outstanding Universal Value of Serengeti National Park,” stated the Minister.

Tourism is Tanzania’s largest foreign revenue earner. It raised over 1 billion US$ in 2009 and provides more than 600,000 jobs. The Serengeti is Tanzania’s premier tourist destination, attracting more visitors than any other destination.

The Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, is the world’s largest protected grassland and savannah ecosystem, and provides the stage for one of the last terrestrial animal mass migrations on earth. Shaped by the circular march of some two million herbivores, including wildebeest and zebra, in their endless search for forage and water, the park supports one of the world’s highest concentrations of large predators, and is home to over 450 bird species. It is also of huge importance for Tanzania’s tourism and the country’s economy.
 
Welcoming this announcement, Dr Markus Borner from the Frankfurt Zoological Society; Thomas Tennhardt, Vice President of NABU (the German BirdLife Partner) and Dr Tim Stowe for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK) thanked President Kikwete and the Tanzanian Government for recognising the importance of the Serengeti ecosystem.
 
The proposed road was expected to be used by 800 vehicles a day by 2015 (one every two minutes) and 3,000 a day by 2035 (one every 30 seconds). Collision and fatalities amongst people and wildlife would be inevitable.  If built, the road would negatively affect biodiversity by acting as a barrier to the migration’s dry season range and dropping the population of 1.8 million animals by a third. This would most likely spell the end of the great migration. The follow on effects on dependent predators, including one of the world’s most important lion populations, would be catastrophic.
 
The road would also likely act as a conduit for the introduction of invasive plants, animals, and diseases as well as poachers. Poaching already poses the primary management challenge in both the Serengeti National Park and the adjacent Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, which form part of a contiguous ecosystem. 

The decision means that tracks through the Northern Serengeti will continue to be managed by the park authority TANAPA. Tarmac roads will not reach the border of the park but will end at Mugumu to the west (12 km from the border) and Loliondo to the east (57.6 km from the border), leaving fragile habitat on both sides of the park without tarmac roads.

Earlier this year, Federal Minister for Development Dirk Niebel announced that Germany would be willing to finance a study on alternative ways of connecting areas bordering the Serengeti in the north to the existing road network, without crossing the Serengeti. In addition, Niebel reaffirmed willingness jointly to finance an international feasibility study for an alternative southern bypass for the national park.