Vol. 7 · No. 1 · 2003

J. Terrence McCabe

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The savannas and rangelands of East Africa are famous throughout the world for their vast concentrations of wildlife, especially the large migratory ungulates and the predators that depend on them. The unique qualities of these grasslands and bushlands and the vulnerability of these ecosystems to over-exploitation have been recognised since the early days of the colonial period. The first game control ordinances were put in place at the beginning of the twentieth century and the first national parks in East Africa designated in the 1940s (Western 1997, Neumann 1998). Once the national park system was established, the number of parks and protected areas increased dramatically throughout the remainder of the colonial period. Some parks were fairly small, such as Nairobi National Park, while others were vast; the original proposal for Serengeti National Park encompassed 29,500 square kilometres, nearly the size of present day Belgium (Neumann 1998).