The Great Wildebeest Migration of Serengeti

Serengeti is the world’s best well known game sanctuary and one of the jewels of Tanzania’s wildlife crown.  It lies in northern Tanzania between Ngorongoro Crater and the shores of Lake Victoria, and extends southwards from the northern frontier to the periphery of Lake Eyasi.  With an area of 14,763sakm, its ecocystem extends beyond the park’s boundaries to include sections of Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the adjacent game reserves.  The entire ecosystem marks the limit of the annual great wildbeest migration, the most magnificent wildlife spectacles of our planet today.

Every year, more than one and a half million wildebeests, six hundred thousand zebras, and three hundred thousand gazelles, moving in a gigantic herd, migrate from southeast part of the park to the greener west and north and return again to the south in a clockwise cycle.  Around the month of June, after the rains, the animals gather in large herds and then begin the long march away from the southern section of the park.  No one knows for sure what triggers the migration but what is certain is that the herds know that the grass is greener on the other side, and they know when to move and where to go.

In their thousands, these animals travel in long moving columns that at certain points extend for 40 kilometres.

Crossing dangerous rivers, tramping for many kilometers, and grunting in clouds and dust, the animals move with the spirit of nomads, looking for brighter, more attractive pastures beyond.  Following behind the grand multitude are packs of wild dogs and hyenas, families of cheetahs, and prides of lions, all pursuing the matching herbivores.  Above the long, noisy procession are circling vultures and other scavenging and hunting birds, also looking for fortune.  It is truly one of the wonders of the natural world if not in fact the most wonderful of all.

The animals spend most of their time in the Serengeti National Park, eight or nine months a year, because of the availability of ample food resources.  It is also in the Serengeti National Park that they ensure their species’ survival by calving and nurturing their young.  Indeed, calving takes place as soon as they return to southern Serengeti around the end of the year.  Almost all the females give birth, resulting to scores of thousands of newborn calves, more than enough to compensate for the numbers lost to crocodiles at river crossing, to land predators, to tough terrain, to natural causes.  The animals remain in this area until the long rain season ends when they regroup themselves again to begin another migration cycle.