Southern, Mid or Northern Serengeti: where to go, to spot the migration?
As the great wildebeest migration continues to wheel through the Northern Serengeti, now is a good time to pause and look back on the last few months. Where has the migration been most visible and impressive?
Visitors always want to know when and where to visit, to catch sight of the most spectacular migratory herds and their river crossings. As we have just witnessed, there is a pattern – but no certainty.
This year, the herds were in the Southern Serengeti during March, with pioneers heading north in small groups, followed by vast numbers from April onwards. Having moved Roving Bushtops to the Seronara valley, we were able to watch each wave pass through.
The bonus was that our guests at Roving Bushtops enjoyed record sightings of attendant big cats, with up to 11 cheetah, 4 leopards and 5 lion prides slinking past within a single day.
By the middle of June, the first herds were thronging across the plains of the Northern Serengeti, heading towards Kenya and river crossings into the Masai Mara. By mid-July, the migration had flooded the border between Tanzania and Kenya, with wildebeest and accompanying zebra herds fording the Mara and Sand rivers, overcoming steep banks, unpredictable waters and patient yet ferocious crocodiles.
Multiple crossing points across the Northern Serengeti and Mara provided regular moments of high drama, with a constant guessing game being played by our rangers, trying to anticipate where and when sections of the migratory army would attempt a crossing. By August, these adventures were happening regularly, with some herds crossing then recrossing, as if determined to give the crocodiles a good chance of lunch.
Spectacular crossing at no 7 on 25.09.21 from Lamai wedge to Kogatende area (South of the Mara River), crossing lasted around twenty-five minutes.
Now that we are in September, we would normally expect the herds to be passing Serengeti Bushtops, on their return journey from the north to southern Serengeti. Yet the wildebeest are no respecters of human preconceptions. We now expect them in October (hint: what a great opportunity to book a visit!).
Yet all this talk of migration ignores one powerful truth: the migration is just one story among many. Whenever our guests visit our camps in the Mara and Serengeti, there are groups of elephant, buffalo, black rhino and giraffe to be found. Huge herds of antelope and magnificent birdlife are ever-present. At any time, the wonder of an eagle or vulture will be matched by hyenas at play, or warthogs setting out across the plains.
So yes, the migration is magnificent – but so is every day in the Bush!
