Kenya - Event

Characterising the struggle for survival in the great African plains' harsh environment, around 1.4 million wildebeest migrate clockwise from the Serengeti to the Mara, round and back again in a never-ending quest for fresh pastures. Hungry predators prowl, ready to pounce...

Gelled into dusty, snorting mass movement, the beasts leave the withering plains of the Serengeti in favour of the Mara's lush green grass. Arriving in July and August, they pour dramatically across the Sand River and into the eastern side of the reserve around Keekorok, where they gradually munch their way westwards in an unsettled mass, finally turning south again in October or November.

With them, of course, come the predators, the lions hunt the weak or unwary in prides while the spotted hyenas pick them off in packs. Zebras break the pattern of endless brown with flashes of black and white. Two out of three of the half a million wildebeest calves that are born before the migration perish without returning to the Serengeti.

Safaris are organised specifically around the migration and there are numerous camps and lodges that offer the chance to either observe in style or rough it in a tent. Heritage Management provides a migration update service that tracks and reports on the movement of the herds.