SERENGETI ~ THE WILDEBEEST MIGRATION
Seasonal Highlights
Wildebeest migration
December - May
Over a million snorting and grunting wildebeest migrate down from the Maasai Mara in Kenya onto the vast short grasslands that are the Serengeti.
It is a time of plenty for the plains game and predators alike. As the herds move around the Serengeti, following the storm clouds, so the predators guzzle. Their world turns green; wild flowers carpet the plains. Fat bellied, well-fed lions and cheetah look magnificent against the colourful backdrop.
During the migration, the wildebeest, believing there is safety in numbers, calve in a three-week period. Other young are born - fluffy cheetah cubs, bat eared fox pups, tiny Thomson’s gazelle.
As the rains recede, so do the herds, heading west, then north, back to the Mara. They leave behind the territorial and resident game to survive the dry season - waiting anxiously for the next rains to come.
It is the rains that bring the wildebeest migration onto the Serengeti plains. Along with these are zebra, Grant’s gazelle, Thomson’s gazelle and other plains game, all making the most of the time of fresh green grass shoots that are springing into life.
The pale yellow grass and parched earth rejuvenates overnight from the first downpour of rain.
Before the rains, the air is heavy and still. Birds are quiet, animals on edge. In the distance you can hear rolling thunder and there is an acute feeling of expectation and excitement. Strong winds whip through the dry grass and the sky blackens. The sun, battling with the dark storm clouds, turns the world golden, lighting up the bark on a tree or the first green leaves of spring. Drops begin to fall and suddenly you are in the middle of an avalanche of water. Lightening lights up the sky and thunder crashes overhead. Millimetres of rain can fall in an hour. The storm passes and the smell of rain is strong in the air, the earth is pungent with promise.