In our popular imagination, the Serengeti is inseparable from the Great Migration, so we planned to be in position by late June to early July (the migration gets going somewhere between late April and early June). How much one gets to see is always a roll of the dice.
(Pictured above: afternoon break during the Great Migration, Serengeti National Park)
Blue wildebeest relaxing (while keeping a 360-degree watch)
(Serengeti National Park)
Maasai Mara or bust! Wildebeest on the move, on their way to Kenya (the line extends into the horizon).
(Serengeti National Park)
And we come to the first barrier, the Grumeti River (the one we see in the Nat Geo documentaries is usually the Mara River, farther north). Before they are allowed to cross, the lead wildebeest must come to the edge of the water and solve one riddle…
(Serengeti National Park)
The Great Migration, Wrong-Way Corrigan edition. Here we see this fellow headed back to the south bank (after having crossed the river at some earlier point). There is always one…
(Serengeti National Park)
The Crossing…
Around two million wildebeest take part in the migration, but a quarter will not make it
(Serengeti National Park)