Serengeti. The Maasai call it siringet, in that expressive and lyrical language of Maa. It means extended, or endless, a place that goes on forever. They do appear endless, the plains that comprise a large part of Serengeti. The total Serengeti ecosystem, which includes Serengeti National Park (larger than Connecticut), Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and adjacent reserves such as Loliondo, Maswa, Ikorongo and Grumeti, is almost 10,000 square miles – nearly 3 times the size of Yellowstone National Park. While this may seem an excessively large area to preserve, it is important to realize that it needs to be large in order for the life cycles to continue as they have for thousands of years. Serengeti is one of the very few reserves left on earth that protects and contains such a complete ecosystem and the succession of life that takes place within it.