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For millions of years, humans spent their time travelling from one place to another, gathering edible plants and hunting animals for food and other necessities of life. Then, about 12,000 years ago, it dawned on them that instead of gathering edible plants, they could grow them. The first farms cropped up in West Asia, in a lush region watered by the Tigris and Euphrates. One of the first plants to make it into these ancient farms was a wild grass with an enticing grain on its stalk: wheat.

It was abundantly available; so, its seeds were easy to get. Once sown, it grew quickly and easily and could be harvested in just a few months. Successfully growing wheat encouraged prehistoric humans to take up farming, changing the way they had lived for millions of years. They began to settle down in one place, clear and plough fields, sow seeds, tend to them, harvest, store and consume the crop. Eventually, they began growing other kinds of crops. In time, these crops spread around the world and more groups of humans took up farming.

Wheat remained one of the most popular food crops and thousands of years later, it became the star of the Green Revolution that originated in Mexico during the 1940s. To overcome acute food shortages, scientists led by Norman Borlaug at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, engineered a new variety of wheat that could resist various diseases and yielded so much grain that, within a few years, the countries growing it had enough to not only feed their own people, but also sell to other countries. During the 1960s, this high-yielding variety of wheat was brought to India, beginning the Green Revolution here.

While ancient wheat encouraged humans to take up farming, the Green Revolution wheat dramatically changed the way we farmed. It brought in modern science and technology into farms by popularising seed engineering, advanced irrigation systems, machines for ploughing and harvesting, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides. New seeds had to be bought every sowing season; using seeds from the old harvest no longer worked. All this increased the cost of farming. Yet, the bumper harvest encouraged many farmers to fill their fields with Green Revolution wheat and other varieties that followed.

While this new way of farming helped to grow more food than ever before, it also had adverse effects on the environment. Today, many farmers in India are reviving ancient varieties of wheat and returning to old ways of farming. Who could have thought that the grain that goes into our bread has so much history behind it?

One of the most wondrous sights in Nature is that of vast herds of wildebeest and zebra along with Thomson’s gazelles and elands thundering across the plains of the Serengeti. This annual migration of beasts seeking fresh pasture as they move from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya is said to be the largest migration of mammals on Earth and is a major tourist attraction.

Stretching to around 15,000 sq.km, the landscape varies from grasslands and savanna to riverine forests and woodlands. The area is home to big cats such as lions, leopards and cheetahs; mammals such as the African elephant, African buffalo, the Eastern black rhino, hippopotamus, warthog, pangolin, and baboons; reptiles such as the Nile crocodile, black mamba, spitting cobra, and Nile monitor; and over 500 species of birds including the Masai ostrich, the secretary bird, crowned cranes, hadada ibis, African fish eagles and many species of vultures.

This is not to say that humans have no place in the system. The Serengeti has seen human habitation for almost four million years. Of the many indigenous people who still live here, the most famous are the Masai. Education and western cultural influences have not stopped the Masai from holding on to and preserving their traditions and way of life.

While the plains and its animal life were first mentioned in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was the explorations of the 1920s and 1930s that brought to light the great migration and the initial photographs.

Despite being recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the park faces many threats such as deforestation, climate change, increasing human population, use of land for farming and raising livestock. and poaching. However, as the park is also a major tourist destination, the authorities use the revenue generated from tourism to support conservation initiatives, promote research and also educate and inform the local communities about the value of this ecosystem.

Fun Facts

Serengeti is derived from siringet, a Masai word that means endless plains.

Owing to the number of prey species, the Serengeti has the world’s largest population of lions.

In 2013, the great migration was judged to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

South-central Serengeti also contains a geologic wonder called kopjes, small hills of gneiss and granite. The Simba Kopje is said to be the inspiration for The Lion King’s Pride Rock.