Southern Serengeti Short-Grass Plains

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The treeless short-grass plains of the south-eastern Serengeti and the adjoining western Ngorongoro Conservation Area, centred on the Ndutu and Salei areas. They sit at the dry end of the ecosystem's rainfall gradient, receiving on the order of 400–500 mm a year, and their soils are shallow and derived from volcanic ash from the Crater Highlands, which makes the grass unusually rich in phosphorus and calcium. This is where the herds concentrate in the wet season and where essentially all calving happens. The plains have no gazetted boundary of their own; they straddle the park and conservation-area line.