A NEW ROAD IN THE
SERENGETI?
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Every May when the dry season starts to settle over Tanzania, great herds of wildebeests,
zebras, and gazelles head northward, leaving the Serengeti National Park for greener pastures in Kenya.
By: A. R. Williams
As the rains return in November, so do almost 2 million animals. Now their migration path is the focus of a debate over the proposed construction of a commercial highway.
The government says such a road is needed to link the remote Lake Victoria area to ports on the Indian Ocean such as Dar es Salaam (bottom). It is studying the feasibility of running an unpaved, two-lane stretch across the Serengeti's northern wilderness. But conservationists say hundreds of trucks would use the road daily, risking collisions with migrating animals and increasing the possibility of poaching. They propose a longer route, to the south, that would skirt the park altogether. The country now faces the hard decision of how to balance development with the protection of its iconic wildlife.
