Wildebeests and Great Migration: Witness A Grand Race of Survival

East Africa is home to various creatures in the wildlife, several nature reserves are home magnificent creatures like gorillas, hyenas, lions, crocodiles, wildebeest and more. The Great Migration is an amazing event where millions of wildebeest along with gazelles and zebras travel around the grasslands each year. It’s one of nature’s puzzling phenomenon where they travel Serengeti, Tanzania to Masai Nara, Kenya,  in the search for food found in those gaming reserves, during the course at least 250,000 wildebeests perish due to starvation, exhaustion, and predation.

You are likely to find the blue wildebeests traveling in the herds unlike their nomadic relatives, the black wildebeests, native to South Africa. Due to variable rain cycles every year, their movement pattern may change along with location sometimes. But the herd will always return to their original location before starting another one.

Source: Pexels, Taken By: David Odgen 

So, the event begins when the individual wildebeests settled in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. From December to February in the Rutting season, the bulls engage with each other to get the potential cows to mate.

On average 500,000 calves are born in the calving season. During the course of the migration, they are hard targets for various predators out there.

From March onwards the across plains to the Ngorongoro Crater to Maswa Gaming Reserve, as they graze out the vegetation while assembling into larger herd with other wildebeests, zebra, and gazelles. The combined herd will be the range of 1-3 million, including the individuals are a spectacle for lions and hyenas. But they continue on, as the rain cycles help the vegetation nourish.

Eventually, they come to a point where they need to cross the Mbalageti river bank towards Grumeti Reserve. Either some will drown or are killed by hungry crocodiles with the survivors moving towards Masai Mara.

Typically they remain for 2-3 months in the dry season, until another rain cycle begins from late June or August. They continue to survive their lives.

From October onwards, the remainder of the herd begin to move back to their original settlement. The losses continue to pile up as they are still at risk of hungry carnivores among other problems. By November they return and the cycle goes on for another year. Wildlife enthusiasts can visit the reserves on the given schedule to witness this complex phenomenon. The short and long rain spans would sustain the East African ecosystem as they are on move to sustain themselves.

Source: Pixabay Taken By: Hebert Aust

Wildebeest are peculiar creatures that rely on groups to evade predators. Interacting and traveling along with Zebras and gazelles they survive the treacherous plains while continuing on with their lives. This activity has garnered a lot of attention from the world as people travel to Kenya and Tanzania to witness this amazing moment.

 

So, what are the best tourists spots to see the action? Here I’ve listed the top 5 areas that you need to be to check out the fun.

 

1.      Grumeti & Mara River Crossing

The best time to visit this area is in dry season from October to March as the herd treks across the waterbody in while being drowned or attacked by crocodiles, several camps and lodges facilitate the tourists while they enjoy nature.

Located on Sasakwa hills is the Singita-Serengeti House has a magnificent point of view, with several facilities that mirror vintage explorers during their exploration in these areas.

 

2.      Maswa Gaming Reserve

 It’s one of the reserves that allows the hunting of animals in the vicinity, This area serves a refuge point for the wildebeest herd as the during January to March. Several different camps are available for tourists like Fly camps, tented, etc. 

The best part about the location is the airplane and jeep rides that give you a surreal experience.

 

3.      Serengeti National Park

The flagship of Tourism in Tanzania is one of the oldest parks preserving a variety of animals in Africa and nearly a great portion of migrational activity happens in its three sections.

The herd assembles in Southern Serengeti where they always return every year to start a new migration. You can relax safari lodges while taking time to notice the masses spending time with calves, grazing all vegetation. This park also hosts creatures like impalas, pythons, cranes and several other creatures.

 

4.      Ngorongoro Conservative Reserve

 Neighboring next to Serengeti Park is this extinct volcano range that protects the vulnerable and endangered species. For those who want to take a relaxing and beautiful photographs than it should be among your checklist. You are likely to indulge in safari rides witnessing several creatures inhabiting the crater and visiting the Magadi lake, that is absent of crocodile. You are likely to find the herd nestled here with other herbivores.

5.      Masai Mera Game Reserve

The largest game reserve where the herd spends time in area from August to October, If you got a chance to visit Kenya. Most of the time you may take safari ride to experience the creatures nearby proximity. Here the migrating herd break into smaller groups with half of them remaining in this area while the others proceed to move back. You can enjoy the breathtaking view from the hot air balloons or enjoy a splendid vacation in the hotels.

 

Great Migration is truly one of nature’s wonder as scientists are still studying this phenomenon. Both countries have found benefit from wildlife tourism as several tourists, whether they are wildlife enthusiasts, scientists or gamers, take your time to observe the wildebeests grazing around and surviving the brutality traversing around the east African outskirts.