Trees and Plant Life in Serengeti National Park - Tanzania

Ready to Experience the Magic of the Serengeti?

This guide is just the beginning of your journey toward an unforgettable African adventure! If you’re dreaming of witnessing the Great Migration, spotting the Big Five, or soaking in the endless beauty of the Serengeti, now is the perfect time to start planning.

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🌳 Meet the Trees of the Serengeti

Get to know the iconic and unusual trees that shape this breathtaking landscape.

Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana) 🌭

This peculiar tree stands out near dry riverbanks with its giant, dangling fruit.

As you explore dry riverbeds in the Serengeti, keep your eyes open for the rare and impressive sausage tree. Its giant, sausage-shaped fruits can grow up to 50 cm long! Although they’re juicy, don’t be tempted—they’re toxic. When they fall and decompose, they release seeds into the soil. Even after the fruit is gone, the dangling stalks remain, often mistaken for a leopard’s tail swaying in the branches.

Fig Trees (Ficus species) 🌿

These trees thrive along rivers and rocky outcrops, offering food and shelter to wildlife.

You’ll spot fig trees along riverbanks or clinging to rocky kopjes. They’re easy to identify thanks to their smooth grey bark, wide-spreading roots, and large, dark green leaves. These trees are important for the ecosystem and provide food and shelter to many creatures in the park.

Wild Date Palm (Phoenix reclinata) 🌴

Graceful palms that offer shade and shelter—though their fruits are better left uneaten.

These graceful palms grow near rivers and swamps. You’ll notice their long leaves with parallel veins—like all monocots (relatives of grasses and lilies). While the fruits are technically edible, they taste pretty awful. Interestingly, the sap can be fermented into palm wine. Lions love these shady spots for their midday naps.

Commiphora Trees (Commiphora africana) 🟦

Recognizable by their peeling bark, these trees are treasured for their medicinal uses.

Found throughout the park, especially in the east, these trees are easy to recognize by their flaking yellow-blue bark and small round leaves. Local communities value them for traditional medicine—treating everything from liver issues to skin problems. The most common species here is Commiphora africana, also known as African myrrh.

Yellow Fever Tree (Vachellia xanthophloea) 💛

A striking yellow-barked tree that earned its name from an old medical misunderstanding.

This tall beauty thrives in swampy and flood-prone areas. Its smooth yellow bark and sharp white thorns make it stand out. Back in colonial times, people wrongly assumed the tree caused malaria because it grew near mosquito-ridden water, hence the spooky name “Yellow Fever Tree.”

Umbrella Tree (Vachellia tortilis) ☂️

This flat-topped tree defines the African skyline and provides vital shelter for wildlife.

When you picture the Serengeti, you’re probably imagining this tree. Its flat-topped shape spreads wide above the savannah, offering shade and character to the landscape. Giraffes and elephants adore its seedlings, but fires usually wipe them out—meaning most umbrella trees here are either about 125 or 45 years old, tied to rare windows of regrowth.

Whistling Thorn (Vachellia drepanolobium) 🎵

With its ant-filled galls and eerie whistling, this tree has one of nature’s coolest defenses.

These quirky little trees are fascinating! They grow hollow, ball-like swellings at the base of their thorns—perfect homes for biting ants. In return for shelter and sugary nectar, the ants fiercely defend their tree. When wind passes through the tiny holes, the tree whistles—hence the name. You’ll find these in seasonally wet soils.

🌾 Serengeti’s Signature Grasses

The grasslands here are diverse, beautiful, and vital to the animals that roam them.

Red Oat Grass (Themeda triandra) 🔴

A reddish, wheat-like grass that dominates the plains and feeds the herds.

This is one of the main grasses you’ll come across, especially in woodlands and tall-grass plains. As it dries, it takes on a reddish-pink hue, resembling a wheat field when viewed from afar. Wildebeest feed on it, but only after tastier grasses are gone.

Finger Grass (Digitaria macroblephora) ✌️

It’s the Serengeti’s most common grass, loved by grazers big and small.

The most common grass in the park, it’s loved by grazers of all kinds. Its slender seed heads look like little fingers pointing skyward, and almost every plant you find will have a nibble taken out of it.

Pan Dropseed (Sporobolus ioclados) 🎄

Short and sturdy, this grass has a festive look and thrives in the plains.

This short grass is one of the two dominant species of the short-grass plains. The seed heads resemble tiny Christmas trees, with seeds hanging like decorations. Alongside finger grass, it also grows in a miniature form, which can make it a bit tricky to tell them apart.

🚫 Watch Out for Invasive Plants

Some plants don’t belong here—and they’re taking over vital habitats.

Some plants don’t naturally occur in the Serengeti, but have found their way in and are now threatening the delicate ecosystem.

• Mexican Marigold 🌼: Introduced through contaminated wheat seeds, this fast-growing weed now competes with crops and native species, often found along roadsides.

• Prickly Pear (Opuntia sp.) 🌵: A stubborn cactus that’s difficult to remove and quickly spreads across open spaces.

• Custard Oil (Rhoicissus sp.) 🍃: Yet another intruder altering plant communities and affecting the animals that rely on native vegetation.

These invaders are especially common along roads where seeds spread quickly due to vehicle movement and fire-disturbed soil.