Jun
01
2012
Aug
31
2012
See the Game of Life Unfold During the Great Wildebeest Migration
Published by Kristin Cowles, Editor-in-Chief
Country: Tanzania, United Republic of 
The Experience
In the story of life, there is nothing as riveting as the great migration of the 1.5 million wildebeest as they cross the sprawling plains of the Serengeti. As the great migration heads north through Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, and ultimately east into Kenya's Masai Mara in search of greener pastures, the journey is not made without sacrifice. The Wildebeest are so in tune with the seasons and their dependency on water, that they will travel up to 30 miles away for thunderstorms they hear. Hunted continuously over the eight-month pilgrimage, the best time to view the dramatic climax of the great wildebeest migration is between June through August as they cross the final challenge in their trek: the Grumeti River. Some wildebeest cross the Grumeti gauntlet in shallow waters, while others unknowingly forge into deeper sections where they can become easy prey for crocodiles and other predators. Fortunately there is safety in numbers, and since the crocodiles can only take one prey at a time the rest making the crossing may go free.
Under British rule of Tanzania in 1921, a partial Game Reserve was begun in an area covering only 3.2 km². Seven years later, a full game reserve was established which later became the basis for the founding of the Serengeti National Park in 1951. The film "Serengeti Shall Not Die," produced around this time is considered to be a pre-runner for the many essential conservation documentaries that followed it in Africa.
During the creation and development of the Serengeti National Park in the early 1950s, the resident Masai people were moved to the Ngorongoro highlands. The move was apparently made to protect the wildlife within the Park, but there remains to this day a lot of controversy over this action.
Under British rule of Tanzania in 1921, a partial Game Reserve was begun in an area covering only 3.2 km². Seven years later, a full game reserve was established which later became the basis for the founding of the Serengeti National Park in 1951. The film "Serengeti Shall Not Die," produced around this time is considered to be a pre-runner for the many essential conservation documentaries that followed it in Africa.
During the creation and development of the Serengeti National Park in the early 1950s, the resident Masai people were moved to the Ngorongoro highlands. The move was apparently made to protect the wildlife within the Park, but there remains to this day a lot of controversy over this action.
When to Go to Wildebeest Migration
The Serengeti National Park is in the north of Tanzania and is surrounded on all sides by other game reserves. The Park is bordered on its northern perimeter by the Masai Mara National Reserve and the Loliondo Game Control Area. The Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves border to the west, and the Maswa Game Reserve borders the south-west of the Park.
There are several high-end Tanzania safari operators who fly-in tourists on guided tours of the great wildebeest migration, as well as all other Reserves. The Tanzania safaris are all-inclusive of accommodation, meals and extras like laundry, water sports gear and transfers between destinations (among other things). Expect to be paying around US$10,000+ for a 12-day tour.
There are several high-end Tanzania safari operators who fly-in tourists on guided tours of the great wildebeest migration, as well as all other Reserves. The Tanzania safaris are all-inclusive of accommodation, meals and extras like laundry, water sports gear and transfers between destinations (among other things). Expect to be paying around US$10,000+ for a 12-day tour.
Odds n' Ends
The Serengeti National Park is Tanzania's oldest national park and is the hub of tourism for the country's economy. The "Big Five" animals remain the key tourist attraction at the Park: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and buffalos. These were the five most hunted animals, and the Serengeti National Park also protects cheetahs, gazelles and giraffes; as well as many varieties of bird life.
Want a Guide?
- Tanzania Encompassed - GAP Adventures
- Unquestionably this is the trip of a lifetime. Summit Africa's highest peak, view wildlife in the vast plains of the Serengeti, camp under the big African sky while at the game parks, and be dazzled by the historic and alluring spice island of Zanzibar. This is Tanzania at its best!
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- It was late morning in Jinja, Uganda when our Nile River rafting guide first belted out “White Water Ahead!” Despite having just been taught a lesson in the dos and don’ts of white water rafting, my mind went completely blank, and my body completely numb. Up until this moment, the thought that we’d be riding down some of the worlds most hectic rapids Nile River rafting hadn’t even crossed my mind. Luckily I wasn’t alone, no one, other than the guide, had ever been down a river before. Our fear was intense, and before hitting the first rapids, the atmosphere ...128 miles away.
Carpe Diem! Book to do this experience now!
An abundance of wildlife is on offer at Maasai Mara Game Reserve ranging from the smallest of insects and reptiles, to the largest mammal walking ...
Starting from $443.75 per person.
Starting from $443.75 per person.
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Books and DVDs
- Africa's Wildlife Collection Predators and Hunters DVD - National Geographic
- Travel to the heartlands of Africa to witness amazing wildlife and stunning landscapes through the eyes of world-renowned National Geographic photographers and filmmakers. Through extraordinary close-up encounters, see first-hand how zebras, rhinos, crocodiles, elephants, gorillas, leopards, lions, and other African wildlife natives survive and thrive in their unforgiving habitats.
- Tanzania Travel Guide - Lonely Planet
- Want to see wildebeest migration? Fancy floating over the Serengeti in a hot air balloon? This authorative guide to Tanzania gives you the top-shelf experiences then guides you off the beaten track for a new-generation 'slow safari'.
- Serengeti: Natural Order on the African Plain (Hardcover)
- Serengeti National Park covers an area the size of Connecticut across the wilds of East Africa. Within its boundaries, millions of animals live and die, as they have for thousands of years. Consisting of about 300 photographs, this book presents one year on the African plain.
- Africa: The Serengeti [Blu-ray]
- This spectacular IMAX documentary has been meticulously transferred to provide one of the most stunning DVDs available, with image quality so vivid that it seems almost three-dimensional. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the images themselves are amazing, consisting of some of the finest nature cinematography you're ever likely to see, following a year of seasonal change in the "circle of life" of East Africa's Serengeti plain.
Elsewhere on the Web
- Serengeti National Park _ Official Site
- It was 1913 and great stretches of Africa were still unknown to the white man when Stewart Edward White, an American hunter, set out from Nairobi. Pushing south, he recorded: "We walked for miles over burnt out country... Then I saw the green trees of the river, walked two miles more and found myself in paradise."
- The Great Migration - Wild Watch.com
- The extraordinary annual Great Migration of wildebeest and other grazing herbivores across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of the greatest spectacles in the natural world. Over two million herbivores partake in this journey, with about 200 000 zebra and 500 000 Thomson's gazelle behind the main players... one-and-a-half million wildebeest!
- ULTIMATE AFRICA SAFARIS
- Wildebeest Migration Made Simple A month by month guide to lodges and tours giving you the best opportunity to witness the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth.
Media References
- SERENGETI'S LIVING LANDSCAPE - NY TImes.com (newspaper)
- A hard day's drive by Land-Rover from Mount Kilimanjaro, that ponderous, snowcapped stone giant that seems to weigh down the eastern horizon, lie the southern edges of the Serengeti National Park, the centerpiece of several magnificent wildlife areas scattered across northern Tanzania.
- Your Own Private Africa - NY Times.com (newspaper)
- It’s summer in northwestern Tanzania, two degrees south of the equator, and Lee Fuller, a tall, jubilant South African, has driven me into the heart of the migration. The herds glance sideways at us — and there is a lot of sideways to a line of passing wildebeests.
- Heart Break on the Serengeti - National Geographic.com (magazine)
- To the Maasai it's the place where the land runs on forever, but beyond the protected core of this iconic landscape, the land is running out.
- Serengeti - National Geographic.com (magazine)
- It is not a place but many places, linked in a vast natural ecosystem where great herds of wildlife have annual migrations, taking care of their feeding needs over the changing seasons.
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