The upper layer on the surface of the main road which cuts through the Serengeti National Park will now be raised by half a meter in efforts to control water logging during heavy rain seasons.
In future, however, Tanzania is considering overlying the road with concrete blocks as it is the case on the roads that lead into the adjacent Ngorongoro Crater basin, pending consultations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Government Spokesperson, Mobhare Matinyi said the 68 kilometers long road starting from the Serengeti-Ngorongoro border point at Golini all the way to the Park Headquarters at Seronera through the Naabi Gate, needs to be given an added layer of gravel.
According to Matinyi, the Golini-Seronera road is among the various surface passageways in the famous tourist destination that have been adversely affected by torrential El-Nino rains that have been pounding most parts of East Africa since October 2023.
It is a short-term measure as Tanzania mulls upgrading the park roads into permanently hardened surface such as concrete blocks or even environment friendly bitumen layers.
Serengeti has a road network measuring 3176 kilometers in total, crisscrossing around the National Park, which is the third biggest in the country, after Nyerere and Ruaha.
“It is the National Park with the longest road network in the country,” Matinyi points out.
The Serengeti covering over 14,763 square kilometers is the country’s most popular tourist destination and famously known for the largest annual animal migration in the world.
An average of 800 vehicles, of different sizes, passes through the National Park on a daily basis.
But as it happens, the main ground transport backbone, which is the track connecting Golini entry point to Seronera and all the way to Ikoma, lies slightly below the surface of the endless plains, making it susceptible to collecting flowing water during heavy downpours in the park.
For primary intervention, the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) will now raise the road surface by at least 50 centimeters to allow water to flow on either side of the busy track.
Over 2407 kilometers of the road in the Serengeti National Park happen to be Soil stabilized roads while 769 kilometers are covered by gravel, both surfaces are no match to torrential precipitations.
On the other hand, the National Meteorology Agency (TMA) predicts that the El-Nino rains may continue throughout the forthcoming April monsoons and may possibly go on to May 2024.
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