THE SERENGETI’S SUPER PRIDE JEWELS OF TANZANIA

The Serengeti in northern Tanzania is possibly the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty and scientific value. With more than two million wildebeest, half a million Thomson's gazelle, and a quarter of a million zebra, it has the greatest concentration of game in Africa.
It is also however one of the few places in the on earth where ‘the king of the jungle’ can be found. This month on DStv the National Geographic Channel profiles the Africa lions that roam the plains of the Serengeti.
On Thursday May 15 (22:00 CAT) the program SUPER PRIDE will look at the park that is filled with big predators, but none compare to the lion. The Serengeti sustains one of the biggest lion populations in Africa: approximately 3 500 lions in 300 prides. But this pride, residing in the central Serengeti, is an exception. 22 lions in all: they are a Super Pride.
Few lion prides reach Super Pride status. This phenomenon requires the right conditions. Plentiful prey and strong pride males are key to its success.
But keeping cubs alive to maturity is the Super Pride's ultimate goal. Sometimes the greatest threats to a lion cub's life come from other lions. SUPER PRIDE documents the journey of these lions in the Serengenti.

Dis you know that an adult male can grow up to be 2.4 m long and weigh as much as 238 kg? The female is smaller and lacks the male's heavy mane. Lions live in open country, in groups known as prides, consisting about 6 members headed by one or two mature males.
They hunt co-operatively and, while the females are better hunters and do most of the work bringing down the prey, the males eat first, followed by the females, and lastly the cubs get their share. Lions prey mostly on hoofed animals, although they occasionally consume fallen fruit.
The initial charge of the lion only lasts for 50 to100 m, and if the target is quick enough to keep ahead of the predator for that distance, the lion usually abandons the attempt. One interesting fact about lions are, that they spend about 20 hours of each day doing absolutely nothing.
The program will also show DStv audiences what makes the Serengeti so special. Located in north-western Tanzania and extending to south-western Kenya, the Serengeti spans an incredible 30 000 km. It also hosts the largest and longest overland migration of animals in the world, a semi-annual occurrence that has become world famous.
This migration is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world and each year thousands of tourists from all over the globe come to witness this amazing phenomenon. (The region contains several national parks and game reserves. The name, Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language meaning "Endless Plains".)
Around October every year nearly 2 million herbivores travel from the northern hills toward the southern plains of the Serengeti, crossing the Mara River, in pursuit of the rains. In April, they then return to the north through the west, once again crossing the Mara River. This phenomenon is sometimes called the Circular Migration
Tune in for SUPER PRIDE on Thursday May 15 at 22:00 CAT on National geographic Channel, channel 260 on DStv.

*** Interesting Trivia ***
-Lions can eat as much as 25% of the bodyweight at one time, gorging themselves ata large carcass and then maybe going without food for 3-5 days. The tongue is covered with tiny backward-curved hooklets that allow them to strip thin pieces of meat from the bones. Mainly nocturnal; Spend 20 hours a day resting and hunt in the early morning and at night. Lions are the only cats to live in groups (prides).

-They are the most social of the cats. The Serengeti region, which compasses of the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas and the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya is visited by over 90 000 tourists visit the Park each year.

-Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere Reserves have been established within the 30 000 km² Serengeti region.

-The Serengeti is the jewel in the crown of Tanzania's protected areas, which altogether make up some 14% of the country's land area, a conservation record that few other countries can match.