Serengeti’s Annual wildebeest movement.
Among the various resources and beauties found and viewed in the Serengeti ecosystem: rich animal and plant diversity, un exposed gold and mineral mines, splendid sunsets on smooth landscapes, first class wonder on the list in the Serengeti is the great wildebeest movement. The understanding on how and why the movement occurs is very complex; there is no definite and guaranteed conclusion to pin point a trigger that begins the movement. The movement has made its own culture in the Serengeti, with the wildebeest doing what they are doing for the last two million years. Nothing goes on permanently, not the rains, not the grass, not the timings of the movement.
The movement begins when the wildebeest feel that the time has come. During the yearly movement, that circumbulates the entire ecosystem beginning fro the south in Kusini the western corridor in Maglaribi, curving back and going north to Kenya in Kaskazini and coming back through the Eastern Serengeti in Mashariki, back to the south. More than one million wildebeest start the journey, who will progress rapidly more than 1800 miles and eat more than three million kilograms of grass.
The whole movement is masterfully planned by nature, with often times, the movement being headed by the Burchells zebra which enjoy the tall grasses, making it easier for the wildebeest with their sunken heads to feed on the shorter grass. The remaining short grass benefits the magical spectacle of the wild procession.
Details about Serengeti’s Annual wildebeest movement.
The complexity included the visitor focussed research headed by AfricanMecca plus or guides to form a layman yet detailed records for the Serengeti National park, an extraordinary work, which included interviewing persons from all corners of the Serengeti ecosystem. Our documentation project involved visiting all the corners of the Serengeti National park where the wildebeest, zebras and Gazelles migrated through. The details of the wildlife movement were required to make an authentic awareness on the philosophy of the Serengeti. The details below follow chronologically.
Southeastern part of the Serengeti limiting Ngorongoro Conservation Area is “the place to be” during December to March. The wildebeest movement infact comes into being and ends circumambulation in this region. During the months from December to March, the wildebeest give birth extravagantly, which creates a grand true to life lesson in nature science. Reaching this area will be either from the limit of Ngorongoro Conservation, which heads down to the Lake Ndutu or from within the Serengeti National park.
Guests residing adjacent to the lake Ndutu region are so advantaged by the gift of wildlife which several guests when residing at Ndutu Lodge usually get to pull a chair on their porch, get a pair of binoculars and do the game watching from the comforts of their accommodation all day. Splendid rare animals are viewed very easily in this area except for the popular big name ones. Our tour to Lake Ndutu offered us the chance to view, among others, the shy steinbock gazelle, and cautious and beautiful serval cat. Guests can spend a good amount of time just watching game, grasping their ways and behaviours of several other beautiful creatures.
From a visitor’s point of view, Lake Ndutu also harnesses the environment and the wildlife in the following ways: the rains fill up the seasonal lake, which attracts the flamingos and other beautiful birds to the lake. The lake also welcomes the producing wildebeest and other wildebeests, which put a show to perform entertaining behavioural rituals on the lake, the presence of the wildebeest is an encouraging call for the territorial predators, for example the lions to show up and take charge. A gain, for AfricanMecca guests the thrill of taking part in these activities is once in a lifetime, experience.
Southwestern Serengeti: Lake Magadi, Niaroboro Hills, Simba and Moru kopjes Area.
If you drive out from Lake Ndutu region trekking the wildebeest as they continue their yearlong journey, the next stage would be the region covered by Lake Magadi, Niaroboro
Hills, Simba and Moru kopjes.
We encourage visiting this region from April up to the end of may. The terrain of this region is hilly with excellently positioned kopjes. The word Kopjes better pronounced kop-ees than kop-hes, is a Dutch word meaning “Rocky Outcrops” or “Hill mounds of Rock”. For those who attended a British education system would relate to the term called “Inselbergs”, from their physical geographical classes; kopjes were created from ash deposits from years of volcanic activity. If the history behind the kopjes was not brought out, the kopjes of the Serengeti would be lying around like nothing happened.
The kopjes of Serengeti plains support the food web chain. They create the perfect lookout for predators such as lions. The lioness, which is supposed to hunt, perches herself on the hill awaiting the snorting and galloping of the wildebeest, who do not take notice of the watchful hunter until alerted by the sharp and watchful zebras. With the viewing of a predator during their game drive, AfricanMecca visitors park and turn off their vehicle engine and begin a daylong watch which usually turns out to be their event of a lifetime.
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