Sura ya Tano - Wahamiaji Wengi

Chapter Five - The Great Migration

This, the great migration, was why we were here in the southern Serengeti at this slightly tricky time of year. We were here to see these guys. To see them in their millions.

The wildebeest, or gnu, a somewhat ungainly looking creature, here trying to look a little majestic.

We had seen the migration three times before, each time attempting to cross the river Mara. The wildebeest that is, not us. That would be silly. (See previous blog here and the story of Gilbert the Gnu here). Watching them cross the Mara is a life-changing experience, but to get a true idea of their mind-boggling numbers, the southern Serengeti is the place to be.

Here they form stupidly long lines where they stupidly follow each other in single-file apparently in random directions, then accumulate together in pastures new, then head off again, often stupidly in the opposite direction, in a giant year-long wibbly-wobbly circle covering the entire Serengeti and beyond. The biggest migration on planet Earth.

Over 800km.

Although they seem to travel blindly in random directions, they do have a guiding hand in the search for new sustenance.

 The zebra. Over two hundred thousand of them.

The zebra and wildebeest form a synergistic relationship. Zebra are brighter than gnu. They have better tuned senses and can work out the direction of the rains and thus the growing grass. They can smell the rain.

The wildebeest's contribution to this pact is simply their huge numbers. And they make significantly easier prey to predators than the zebra.

They also eat different parts of the grass, making them the ideal companions.

Whilst on this enormous circulation, the zebra breed on the hoof. They have to be able to immediately jump up at birth, ready to run. This takes a finely tuned gestation. It does not always work out...

This one did better

 It's easier to drink than to graze...

So where are all these beasts? All these wildebeest? It takes a lot of space to hide over two million of them. 

The Serengeti, as previously noted, has a lot of space.

Whilst searching for the migration, we knew we were on the right track by the presence of flies. 

So. Many. Flies. 

So. Many. Irritating. Bloody. Flies. 

The closer we got, the more we were troubled by these useless creatures. Trying to keep still whilst photographing became immensely difficult. Being covered in flies is not conducive to good photography. At every click of the shutter I squished a fly.

The flies were increasing in number and their irritating annoyance. The migration was near. 

This open plain had wildebeest and zebra dotted here and there. This was but the vanguard. This was but a taste of what was to come.

 And so, very next day, this is what we saw...

No way is it possible to count them all. Before us was an unimaginable number of them. 

 And yet, the untold thousands here were but a small part of the whole migration.

 Everywhere you looked,

 an incredible number of butts.

Most grazed, walked laboriously or stood there chatting about the next Health & Safety committee meeting. Others could be seen frolicking around for no apparent reason.

 But there was good reason to run...

Because this migration, undertaken in a search for food, was in itself just a source of food for others. 

At least a quarter of a million wildebeest are killed off each year. That is a lot of meat.

Lions are everywhere, about three thousand of them in the Serengeti alone, but they are not the only predators there. 

Hyenas, for example.

A pack of hyenas can bring down an adult wildebeest.

And so will Cheetahs, as we shall see in the next chapter:

Sura ya Sita - Duma ya Serengeti

Chapter Six - Cheetahs of the Serengeti

Meanwhile - Dinner is Served.

Bon appetit.