The Great Migration

One of the things we hoped to see while on safari was the great migration of wildebeests - and we were so fortunate to witness an actual river crossing!!

Here's what the Masai Mara website says:

The Great Migration is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating back to the early 1960s. In the late 19th century a rinderpest epidemic eliminated over 90% of the wildebeest and cattle in the region. To prevent a further spreading of the disease, cattle was inoculated by veterinarians, and the disease soon disappeared from the area. As a result, the wildebeest population boomed in the 60´s and 70´s, from 260,000 to the 1.4 million individuals that currently inhabit the Serengeti - Masai Mara ecosystem.

The growing herds were thus forced to migrate in their search for water and grazing grassland, starting the circular migratory route. The first seasonal treks were probably observed -and documented- in the 60s by Dr. Grzimek, who first described a definite pattern in the migratory moves.

In spite of the exceptionality and sheer beauty of the event, not everybody sees it with sympathy. The Maasai, for example, must rear their livestock in competition with the migrant herbivores, which they regard as transmitters of diseases and guilty of poisoning the rivers with their foetal sacs.

If you're planning a photographic safari to the Masai Mara, make sure you coincide with the wildebeest migration (best between late July and September). Otherwise, if your schedule imposes travelling during a non-migration period, consider the Serengeti National Park. In any case, make the impossible to be in the right place and at the right time for meeting the wildebeest and their co-migrant companions and foes.


This map shows the route of the migration.  

So here is what we saw - and just to let you know it will seem like a lot of pictures but I've tried to give you a glimpse of the progression that we watched.


When we drove up to the river, we saw hippos and alligators and a lone zebra.

And then Chris noticed that a line of wildebeests was starting to form and they were heading to the river.  In his very quiet, unassuming way he let us know that something interesting might start to develop - and he was so right!

                                       

The animals milled around on the bank-

as more and more of them gathered.

Then suddenly the first one took the plunge and soon they were jumping into the river -

one after another, swimming across-

until suddenly a big white crane flew along the river bank and frightened some and they turned back.  You can see the dust here as they turned and headed back, regrouping and milling but not approaching the river again.

Soon the ones that had crossed started to come through the trees, emerging on our side of the river and plodding on their way.

The total time that elapsed was 15 minutes, exactly (I checked on our photo info!).  Chris said that in the 9 years he's been working as a tour guide, this was only the 4th time he'd seen a river crossing.  Once they spent several hours waiting, watching the animals gather and finally left because people had to go to the washroom.   By the time they returned, just a short time later, the animals were all across the river!  We really were in the right spot at the right time - again!!

This was the scene across the river!  At one point there were 30 safari vehicles lined  up over there - and 5 more were on our side.  I think this event was a highlight for all 4 of us.  It was the kind of thing you see documented in National Geographic and we were actually there!!  From the beginning of our planning, Clarence especially had hoped we'd get to see it - and we did!!