Serengeti Watch was initially formed to oppose a commercial highway across the Serengeti National Park. It is a permanent nonprofit organization that will monitor the Serengeti and bring world opinion and support to bear on vital issues
Mission
To build a strong coalition of support, advocacy, and funding for the Serengeti ecosystem, the people living around it, and adjacent reserves and protected areas.
Equally important as our advocacy role – the funding of development programs that help build a model of sustainable tourism. Only with the understanding and involvement of local people can we achieve a lasting solution. This means bringing education, involvement, and tangible benefits to them.
Partners
Using extensive research and hundreds of interviews with scientists, stewards and watershed stakeholders, NWNL shares sustainable solutions in developed and developing regions that promote greater water-use efficiency, environmental restoration, transboundary agreements, community-based conservation and watershed education
The Serengeti Preservation Foundation is a locally registered NGO in Tanzania, providing avenues for conservation education and advocacy. The empowerment and involvement of local people in conservation for sustainable development is a vital tool to for conservation We are doing this through educational programs, radio broadcasting, journalism training, and public advocacy
Serengeti Watch is a project of the Earth Island Institute, a highly respected 501(c)3 conservation organization. 
It was found by America’s conservation icon, the late David Brower. For 25 years, Earth Island Institute has been a hub for grassroots campaigns dedicated to conserving, preserving, and restoring the ecosystems on which our civilization depends.
Our Unique Role
Serengeti Watch fills a niche and plays a role that other organizations cannot:
Focus Serengeti Watch is the only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to the long-term ecological integrity of the Serengeti ecosystem.
Independence Though our aim is to support the Tanzanian government in its protection of the Serengeti, not being based in Tanzania gives us an advantage.
Worldwide Support As with our Stop the Serengeti Highway campaign, we can use social media to rally world opinion, petition the government of Tanzania, bring attention to media within and without Tanzania, and enhance the work of other NGO’s.
Funding Our broad reach and selective focus gives us a powerful mechanism to raise funds for critical projects relating to the Serengeti ecosystem.
Objectives
Provide an early warning system We have shown that an early alert to a threat can be a powerful way to mobilize support. It is crucial that this system stays in place.
Connect world supporters, travelers, tour companies, local communities to raise awareness on important issues facing the Serengeti.
Raise funds for projects that support local people living near the Serengeti ecosystem, especially projects that increase their participation in conservation and their benefits from tourism.
Partner with existing conservation organizations, the travel industry, and local Maasai communities and leaders.
Reinforce a culture of awareness and appreciation among Tanzanians for their heritage. This includes how much the country depends on revenue and jobs from international tourism, and how fragile its ecosystems really are.
Help build a model of sustainable tourism that benefits all/
Directors
David Blanton has been traveling to East Africa for the past forty years. He lived in East Africa for seven years, five years in Kenya and two in Uganda, where he was a Peace Corps volunteer. He is the author of a social studies program sponsored by the Swiss government for Utalii College in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1983, he founded Voyagers International, a nature and photo tour company whose clients included leading museums, universities, conservation organizations, and professional photographers. Voyagers merged with a larger company after twenty years.
In 1995, he founded the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association (IGTOA) which brought together leading tour companies to promote responsible tourism and raise funds for conservation. www.igtoa.org He produced and directed a series films on the Galapagos Islands and conservation: www.igtoa.org/save
Boyd Norton is a writer and photographer of 15 critically acclaimed books, including four on Africa. He is currently working on a book on the Serengeti ecosystem, the product of more than forty-five safaris over a period of twenty-five years.. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, devoted to saving the last mountain gorillas. He is currently a director of Baikal Watch, dedicated to protecting Lake Baikal and other Siberian wilderness.
Among numerous accolades, he received an award from the Environmental Protection Agency, presented to him by Robert Redford, for his “important, exciting environmental photography and writing.” Outdoor Photography Magazine (U.K.) recently selected him as one of the 40 most influential photographers in the world.
Media Director
Berry Blanton was born in Nairobi and grew up in the U.S. where he studied communications at the University of Maryland. He has extensive experience in digital and social media, including the direction and photography of award-winning films, web design for top media companies, and social media marketing. He has traveled to East Africa frequently and directed a film on an educational program in Tanzania.