Serengeti Under Canvas

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The annual movement of wildebeest across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world. Originating on Tanzania’s short grass plains of the southeastern Serengeti, the dwindling of the available grass is the impetus for this primal trek. The horizon fills with 1.5 million wildebeest,
200 000 zebra, 18 000 eland and 500 000 Thompson’s gazelle, relentlessly tracked by Africa’s great predators.

Essentially, the wildebeest are taking advantage of the strongly seasonal conditions, spending the wet season on the southeastern plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania, and the dry season in the woodlands of the Masai Mara. The wildebeest give birth between January and March on the short-grass plains.

The Migration is rarely the same in terms of precise timing and direction, as local conditions influence grass growth. The wildebeest may therefore move off the open plains earlier in some years, and remain in the northern woodlands for longer in others. Typically, they head slowly northwest towards the western corridor of the Serengeti and the Grumeti River. From there, the herds move north before crossing into the Masai Mara. Here, they must ford another river, this time the Mara. The Migration remains on the productive Mara grasslands until the storm clouds gather in the south, and they return to their breeding grounds.