Great Migration, Serengeti, Tanzania travel guide
The Great Migration is a marvellous movement of animals across Tanzania and into Kenya – plan your trip to see nature's greatest spectacle
They call it ‘great’ for a reason: some two million ungulates – over a million wildebeest, plus zebra, gazelles and eland – rumble across the sweeping savannah of Tanzania’s Serengeti.
A wonder in itself, the Great Migration in Tanzania and Kenya is also a moveable feast – dinner for countless hungry predators, notably lions, leopard, cheetah, hyena and crocodiles, all of whom gather to pick off unfortunate prey from the massed herbivores.
What happens is this: the wildebeest are dispersed around the southern Serengeti plains during the rains at the end of the year, giving birth to their calves in January and February – some 8,000 are born each day.
Come April-May, the southern Serengeti becomes drier and the animals gather in huge herds, ready to move north-west towards greener grazing areas – the Great Migration. Arguably the most dramatic part of this mass movement is the crossing of the Grumeti River in the west of the Serengeti, usually in June or July – huge crocs lie in wait to pick off unwary ungulates as they paddle across.
From July, large numbers of moving munchers have crossed the northern border from Tanzania into Kenya’s Masai Mara, though many others disperse around the northern Serengeti.
Come October or November, they’re heading south again to enjoy the green shoots of post-rain grass – the Great Migration is a cyclical process.
There isn’t just one Great Migration experience; depending on where you are at any given time, you might see massed herds in the south, the action-packed river crossings, or the rumbling exodus to the north.
A range of camps and lodges – from public park campsites to $1,000-per-night all-inclusive affairs – offers accommodation in various spots around the Serengeti; some are mobile, following the migration as it tracks around the park.
But whenever and wherever you stay, there’s always plenty to gawp at in the Serengeti.