The Wildebeest Migration

What:  The great­est nat­ur­al show on the plan­et — the Wilde­beest Migra­tion is a year round event in which mil­lions of wilde­beest and hun­dreds of thou­sands of game migrate in a cir­cu­lar motion across the vast plains of Africa in an end­less jour­ney seek out fresh graz­ing grounds, water, part­ners and mat­ing and birthing con­di­tions. 

Begin­ning at the start of the year in the Tanzania’s south­ern Serengeti, the herds which includes zebra’s, gazelle’s and elands trav­el 500 miles clock­wise through the Serengeti and up into Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve, hav­ing to nav­i­gate along the way preda­tors, which include lions, hye­nas and gators hunt­ing in packs and the tough con­di­tions of the plains which cause thirst, hunger and exhaus­tion caus­ing the loss of a quar­ter of a mil­lion of the herd – mak­ing the migra­tion not just one of the tough­est jour­neys on earth, but also a nat­ur­al spec­ta­cle like no oth­er.

When: The Wilde­beest Migra­tion takes place all year round, so view­ing peri­ods vary based upon the sea­son and the rain­fall, July – Octo­ber is con­sid­ered the best peri­od as the wilde­beest cross the Serengeti plains, with Decem­ber – March offer­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to view the wilde­beest con­gre­gat­ing on the Serengeti plains and birthing.

Where: The Migra­tion takes place pri­mar­i­ly on the grounds of the Serengeti in both Tan­za­nia and Kenya, begin­ning in the south­ern Serengeti and head­ing up to the Masai Mara reserve- the best view­ing spots are con­sid­ered to be at Ubun­tu, Olaki­ra and Kimon­do – all of which require tour guides to accom­pa­ny you to and all of which it is rec­om­mend­ed to stay at for at least four days.

Dura­tion: The Wilde­beest Migra­tion takes place all year round, with the view­ing chances and habits of the herds vary­ing based on the month and rain­fall.

Fol­low­ing the tra­di­tion­al cal­en­dar you can expect the fol­low­ing in each of the sea­sons:

Jan­u­ary – March: The migra­tion will fin­ish and then begin again from the south­ern edges of the Serengeti – expect to see the herds graze, birth and raise their young in these three months, with a flock of preda­tors fol­low­ing them and seek­ing to sep­a­rate the young from the adults for easy prey.

April – June: Fol­low­ing the rais­ing of the young and the con­sump­tion of the graze, the herd will move into the cen­tre of the Serengeti, fol­lowed by flocks of Zebra’s and small­er mam­mals, you can expect the ear­ly parts of courtship (read fights between males) to begin amongst wilde­beests dur­ing this peri­od.

June – August – this is the dan­ger zone for the herd, you can expect dra­mat­ic scenes as they try to nav­i­gate the croc­o­dile infest­ed waters of the Serengeti – includ­ing the famous Mara Riv­er where packs of lions wait on the banks to ambush any ani­mal sep­a­rat­ed from the pack, for those want­i­ng to watch nature at its rawest and most extreme, this is the time to head to the Serengeti.

Sep­tem­ber – Decem­ber –the heard enjoys a month of qui­et as they cross the bor­der into Kenya and take time to fur­ther graze, before fol­low­ing the rains they cross back over the Mara sur­round­ed by wait­ing chee­tahs – and begin the cycle again. 

Tick­ets: There’s no two ways about it – a trip to watch the migra­tion will set you back, with tours start­ing from $3000 usd and going into the tens of thou­sands depend­ing on your length and lux­u­ry.

The best advice we can give you is to pick the sea­son and activ­i­ty you want to watch and the camp (we’d rec­om­mend one of the Ubun­tu, Olaki­ra or Kimon­do camps) and seek out a tour oper­a­tor for your bud­get and time – with the Nomad Tan­za­nia and Beyond Seren­git tour com­pa­nies both hav­ing excel­lent rep­u­ta­tions for pro­vid­ing high qual­i­ty migra­tion watch­ing expe­ri­ences.

Need to Know: What­ev­er sea­son you attend, be warned that there is a strong change of see­ing nature at its rawest – with a quar­ter of a mil­lion of wilde­beest los­ing their lives over the course of the migra­tion you can expect to see exhaust­ed and hunt­ed ani­mals at any point on the migra­tion.

More Infor­ma­tion: A full herd track­er, which marks the migra­tion pat­tern of the ani­mals is avail­able at (https://www.discoverafrica.com/herdtracker/) which pro­vides full infor­ma­tion and updates on the move­ments of the migra­tion to help you plan your trip and ensure you get the full migra­tion expe­ri­ence.