Great Migration

Often called the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth, over one million wildebeest are joined by hundreds of thousands of zebra, Thomson’s gazelles, and Grant’s gazelles as they move throughout the Serengeti ecosystem (including Kenya’s Masai Mara).

Great Serengeti Migration - Wildebeest and Zebra

The migration is a year round event as the herds move seasonally according to rain patterns and grass growth. Movements and locations will vary some from year to year according to local conditions but general areas of use are fairly predictable.

We consider two annual events to be the highlights: The Calving Season and Crossings of the Mara River.

The Calving Season

Typically between mid-January and early-March the herds congregate on the short grass plains in the Ndutu area of the southern Serengeti system to birth their calves. This is the time of year when the animals are most concentrated with tens of thousands of individuals that may stretch out across the entire horizon. The concentrations and the presence of new young ones results in a full grocery store for all of the predator species and they become very visible as well. The adaptive strategy of the prey species is called irruptive birthing, basically instead of having vulnerable babies throughout the year that predators will consistently prey upon they give birth to tens of thousands of babies all within about a three week period. This overwhelms the predators as they feed to the point of saturation allowing the majority of calves, who mature very quickly, to survive. In addition to the amazing sight of animals everywhere you look this becomes one of the easiest times to view lion, spotted hyena, and cheetah. When during the approximate two month period actual calving will take place varies from year to year but the concentrations and predator action tend to persist throughout the period.

Crossings of the Mara River

This is the spectacle that is shown over and over in nature documentaries. Numbers of the wildebeest and zebra pile up at the river edge preparing for the dangerous crossing. As the excitement mounts eventually animals begin to launch themselves off the banks and into the river to try and survive the currents and the enormous crocodiles that wait in the river. It takes some luck to find crossings and often patience for them to actually begin, but few other events can come close to this drama.