THE GREAT MIGRATION! WILDEBEESTIES EVERYWHERE!

Today we have a full day game drive ... and we are determined to see what we came here to see - the Great Migration!
As someone else can explain it better than I ....

"The annual movement of wildebeest across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world. Originating on Tanzania’s short grass plains of the southeastern Serengeti, the dwindling of the available grass is the impetus for this primal trek. The horizon fills with 1.5 million wildebeest, 200, 000 zebra, 18, 000 eland and 500, 000 Thompson’s gazelle, relentlessly tracked by Africa’s great predators.  Essentially, the wildebeest are taking advantage of the strongly seasonal conditions, spending the wet season on the southeastern plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania, and the dry season in the woodlands of the Masai Mara. The wildebeest give birth between January and March on the short-grass plains.

The Migration is rarely the same in terms of precise timing and direction, as local conditions influence grass growth. The wildebeest may therefore move off the open plains earlier in some years, and remain in the northern woodlands for longer in others. Typically, they head slowly northwest towards the western corridor of the Serengeti and the Grumeti River. From there, the herds move north before crossing into the Masai Mara. Here, they must ford another river, this time the Mara. The Migration remains on the productive Mara grasslands until the storm clouds gather in the south, and they return to their breeding grounds."

It's common to wait for hours on end hoping to spot a river crossing on the Mara.  We luck out and almost as soon as we arrive we get to see a "small" crossing.  These wildebeest hem and haw and look like they want to cross and mill around - and finally one of them takes the lead and starts to cross and immediately hundreds and hundreds follow.  The chaos causes some of them to panic and they start flinging their bodies of the cliff and taking giant leaps into the river.

Incredible! I can't begin to convey the scale of it in photos.... A croc zooms in on one young wildebeest who is trying to cross  - the croc latches onto his back and the wildebeest fights to keep swimming and eventually hauls himself onto a rock and manages to lose the croc.  The 4 land rovers of human watchers are all cheering for the little wildebeest!

After the "small" crossing - we wait in the shade. And shortly thereafter starts a crossing down the river, we fire up the rover and bump along at top speed to catch it.  This is a huge crossing - there are thousands of wildebeest - and we just keep seeing more coming from as far as the eye can see.  They are hurling themselves over one another, leaping into the water, the line just keeps going and going .... they climb up the other bank, haul themselves out of the water right in front of our car, they are dripping wet, and continue to saunter along on their journey to find food.

After an amazing day, we head back to camp .... as we drive, the sky gets darker and darker until it starts to pour rain and then it starts to hail.  We finally get back to camp - and the rain has hit here even fiercer. All of the men are wearing wellies - and apparently the rain has torn through all the tents, and our beds are soaking wet.  Anything laying out on the bed (ie my clothes) are drenched too.  The staff tv, a food storage tent, and lanterns have all blown over.  

My mother and I decided to skip the late afternoon drive and stay at camp to relax.  My dad and Gavin head out for a short drive.  Well, they made the right decision.  They came across a hyena stalking a herd of wildebeest - and eventually he ran down a young one - and disembowels him within seconds.  I'm not entirely sure I would have wanted to see that, but witnessing a kill is one of the rarities of a safari trip.

While in the Serengeti we also get to see elan, oribe, impala, and a plethora of other animals and birds.  We see a pride of lions - 2 males (brothers) sleeping on rocks opposite one another - one of them snoring on his back - all 4 paws in the air!  And the 3 lionesses in the pride are dozing nearby .... the remnants of their most recent kill just around the corner where they can keep an eye on it to make sure scavengers like hyena and vultures do not descend upon it.  

I love the zebra - they are everywhere, and so elegant.  They wander into our camp to graze.  Surrounding my tent or the mess tent.  I want one.  But, I'm thinking a stuffed zebra will be as close as I can get to being the proud parent of a baby zebra.....