Across the Serengeti

Each year wildebeest (gnus) give birth in February in the south-eastern Serengeti.  As the rains end around May they start moving, almost 2 million, northwest towards the Maasai Mara region (in Kenya).  They return in November. Along with the wildebeest, several hundred thousand zebra, as well as gazelles, buffalo and other animals take part in this largest annual migration of mammals on Earth.

We headed west out of the NCA and paused for lunch on a kopje–one of the sparse rock outcroppings on the Serengeti plain–before entering the park.  Almost immediately we found ourselves among wildebeest and zebras.  Our guides told us that they are complimentary migrants:  They eat different kinds of grasses; The zebras have better eyesight and see predators first while the wildebeest have a better long-distance ‘nose’ for new grass.