The Great Serengeti Migration
The great Migration of the Serengeti is considered one of “The Ten Wonders of The Natural World”, and one of the best events in Tanzania to witness. A truly awe-inspiring spectacle of “life and death“ in an expansive ecosystem ruled by rainfall and the urge for survival amongst the herbivores of the Serengeti plains. The journey for the key players in this circular great wildebeest migration is highly weather dependent and dynamic, it begins in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area of the southern Serengeti in Tanzania and loops in a clockwise direction through the Serengeti National Park and north towards the Masai Mara reserve in Kenya.
It is a favorite season for many of the seasoned Serengeti guides: the air during these months is full of new life and action. Predators like lions and hyenas are constantly hunting for babies, thousands and thousands of calves are born within a couple weeks of each other – a feast for the eyes of true wildlife enthusiasts.
Plan to Visit Tanzania?
As easy as ABC! Just drop us a line and our safari experts will help you to plan your holiday to Africa. We are here to make your dreams of an African safari come true!
Best time for Serengeti Migration?
January to March
All the vast herd of wildebeest herd give birth more or less simultaneously, usually over a period of three weeks sometime between January and March, when optimum grazing is available on the short grass plains around Ndutu on Serengeti side.
April to June
Typically, the wildebeest head north-west from the short grass plains to the Grumeti River in late April. This river is their first real obstacle and crocodiles are waiting eagerly. From Grumeti, in June or July the herds move north, often spilling over into the Klein’s Camp Concession, before moving north into the Maasai Mara.
July to November
As they enter Kenya they must cross the Mara river with huge losses to the waiting crocodiles. The surviving wildebeest then rest on the Mara grasslands until October or November. Then, as the storm clouds gather in the south, the vast herds begin their journey south to return to their breeding grounds which, by the time they arrive, are once again green and lush and the cycle begin again.