Serengeti National Park occupies about 14,763 square kilometres in northern Tanzania, but its ecological story extends well beyond the park boundary. The wider Serengeti ecosystem covers roughly 35,000 square kilometres and connects with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and protected lands toward Kenya. The name is often translated from Maa as “endless plains,” an image that fits the short-grass savanna yet does not describe every habitat: rivers, woodland, rocky kopjes and seasonal wetlands interrupt the horizon.
The park was established in 1951 and was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1981. Its protected area is about 1,476,300 hectares. The Swahili-language brochure published by Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) recounts the park’s establishment and describes it as one part of a much larger ecological system. This distinction matters for visitors: animals move across different landscapes, while permits and visitor rules apply to the particular protected area they enter.