The Great Wildebeest Migration
The grounds are trembling with the vibrations of thundering hooves as the sound of grunting fills the air. The herds are gathering and the wildebeest are on the move, preparing for the biggest migration known to the animal kingdom: The Great Wildebeest Migration.
Together, Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve host one of the biggest wildlife spectacles on earth, where over 1.5 million wildebeest, joined by 200,000 zebra migrate in an endless circle across the open plains in search of food and water. Tirelessly, they follow the same route each year covering a miraculous 2,900km! However this route is not quite as predictable as the pretty migration maps will have you believe; local weather patterns are a huge driving force than can result in the herds suddenly surging forward, or rapidly back tracking. It is simply a delightful chaos!
September generally sees the herds spread out across the northern Serengeti, where the broad and fast Mara River poses the most daunting obstacle. The crossing is the greatest episode of the entire migration. As herds by the hundreds start congregating along the river’s edge, the dust clouds begin rising and so too does the tension as they slowly begin nervously nudging one another closer to the water’s edge, waiting for the first brave machos to take the initial leap. After the first brave beast hurdles itself into the river, the rest follow with the hopes of cheating death. The wildebeest, nicknamed the ‘clowns of the savannah’ leap into the river with little calculation or method, stampeding over one another as they frantically try to make it to the opposite side of the river in one piece.
Crossing the river is a “do-or-die” survival game where participants risk not only being swept away by the raging currents of the Mara River but also find themselves having to dodge the jaws of hungry Nile crocodiles as well as out run predators who hide in the thickets on the opposite side of the river, waiting for easy pickings on the injured and exhausted survivors. It is a dramatic, dust filled spectacle injected with panic, confusion and terror!
Sometimes you can wait as long as two hours in anticipation for the crossing to begin, and then, as if their nerves get the better of them, the herd will decide not to cross and turn around. There are no guarantees when it comes to the crossing, but when it happens it is a spectacular event and well worth the wait!
If the Great Wildebeest Migration wasn’t enough to get you excited about the Maasai Mara, consider that it also is renowned for having one of the largest densities of lions in the world. As the herds begin to grow in numbers they attract a large amount of attention from all predators, who have waited for the annual coming of the migration with eager anticipation, ready to welcome the fattening ungulates as early Christmas gifts. Witnessing a kill is no longer an idle dream for wildlife enthusiasts; in the Maasai Mara it’s not uncommon to see a kill every day!
Nowhere in the world is there a movement of animals as immense as the Great Wildebeest Migration. Fittingly, it’s not surprising that East Africa is recognised as one of the world’s top safari destinations, fully deserving of its title as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.