The Greatest Wildlife Spectacle on Earth
THE GREAT MIGRATION
The Greatest Wildlife Spectacle on Earth
The great migration of gnus or wildebeest, accompanied by zebras and gazelles, that takes place in the Serengeti National Park every year is the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth.
Every year, between January and March, over a million wildebeests concentrate in the southern plains of the Serengeti where about half a million calves are born This is a sight to behold. At this time of the year the pastures are green with enough nutrients for the milking mothers and for the calves to gather strength, after weaning, for the journey to come. It is also a good time for predators like the big cats, lions, cheetahs and leopards, and for hyenas.
As the grasses dry, at the beginning of May, the large herds of wildebeests, zebras and gazelles rearrange and start their long migration through the central ad western parts of the Serengeti to arrive in July at the northern sector of the park to the banks of the Mara river, near the border of Tanzania and Kenya. They will stay there until October crossing the Mara river back and forth from the Serengeti into the Masai-Mara in Kenya. To add up to the usual court of predators, the crossing of the river entails a new peril: crocodiles; more than 3,000 hungry ones have awaited almost a year for the arrival of the migration. This spectacle may be gruesome for a few, but the forces of Nature can be fully appreciated.
Now, by the end of October the herds get together again to start their long journey back to their calving grounds in the southern Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, thus closing the circle. The entire herd of nearly 2 million animals between wildebeests (1.5 million) and zebras and antelopes, would have traveled almost 3,000 kilometers. In their journey about a quarter million wildebeest and 30,000 zebra and antelopes die in the paws of land predators and the teeth of lurking crocodiles, or from disease and exhaustion. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should be at the top of your bucket list, if safari is your thing.
