‘Serengeti Shall Not Die’: Transforming an Ambition into a Reality

The slogan “Serengeti shall not die” (German: Serengeti darf nicht sterben) is widely credited for alerting the global community to the urgency of conserving the Serengeti and its biological values for the benefit of local and global communities. The slogan has become popular since 1960 when Bernhard and Michael Grzimek authored a book, Serengeti Shall Not Die. However, despite this commitment the management challenges in Serengeti are growing, causing skepticism about the potential for realizing such a goal. These challenges include illegal hunting, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflicts aggravated by human population growth and poverty. In addressing these challenges and therefore transforming the ambition “Serengeti shall not die” into reality, the multiple strategies required are presented in this paper. The paper starts by reviewing the challenges contradicting the ambition.