The Great Migration

Known as the "greatest show on earth", the migration numbers approximately 2 million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle that group communally for protection as they wander cyclically between Tanzania and Kenya. Dropping their foals between January and March each year, the promise of rain draws the herd northwards to the succulent grasses of the Masai Mara. As they move, they run a continual gauntlet as predators weed out the weak and the lame.

The herd enters the Paradise Plains of the Mara around July, crossing the mighty Mara and Talek rivers which teem with hungry Nile crocodile. Here the spectacle of life is at its most brutal as the herd panics in its instinctive need to cross to the safety of the other side, often trampling each other in the melee. Once across, they feed on the succulent grasses of the north for the next 3 months to then head back to the southern calving grounds of Ndutu in the Serengeti.

As the herd moves up from the Serengeti, there is another movement that happens within the Kenyan borders from east to west. The less documented Loita Plains herd is a migratory herd of around 20,000 that briefly herd with their cousins from Tanzania once a year. Moving westwards in the middle to end of July, they spill across the northern boundaries of the park and return to the plains in late October, swelling the numbers of the Serengeti herd for a few months as the cats in the region feast. A trip to Kenya without witnessing this spectacular sight and the infamous lions of the BBC’s Big Cat Diary would be incomplete.