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One of the spectacular and unique event of the
year is the
Serengeti wildebeest migration, which takes place between the
months of November
and July following year. This has been described by many as one of the
greatest natural invent in the wildlife world
From July on, they migrate towards Northeast Serengeti
(Bologonja and Ikorongo Game Reserve) to Maasai Mara in Kenya. Only
those animals (excluding predators) which can stand without surface
water for long periods and adapted to the poor forage remain there.
The biggest and the most demanding task for the
animals is when they have to cross Grumeti and Mara Rivers in the west
and north (see the Map). Many animals are drown or
got caught and eaten by the crocodiles. On the other side of the river lions are waiting to have their
day too. In
November, when the pasture has been exhausted in the North
and Maasai Mara, this army of animals surges back to the now green
pastures of the Serengeti south and Ngorongoro as well as
Maswa Game Reserve. If it happens to be in
Lobo or Loliondo area in October and November you are
likely to see the migratory herds at some stage of their continual cycle. At this time many hundreds of thousands of animals, mostly
wildebeest and zebra, having made their way south Serengeti, giving
birth in a very short space of time, and Ndutu woodland and the
surrounding plains are the focus for predators
However, the Wildebeest Migration does not mean
that the plain is completely empty. There are many animals which do not
follow the migration pattern; they live and stay at the plains year
round, especially wild cats as lions, leopards and cheetah.
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The Migration
witnesses more than one million wildebeest, 200,000 zebras and 300,000
Thomson’s gazelles cross seven hundred miles of the Serengeti National
Park trek to new grazing lands.
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