Sawubona adventurers! Today I come to tell you about a phenomenon that attracts thousands of visitors every year to Kenya, to witness how thousands of wildebeests risk their lives on a thousand-mile journey in search of fresh grass and water, The Great Migration of the Wildebeest. Approximately 1.5 million wild wildebeest, 350,000 Thomson gazelles; 200,000 zebras; thousands of elands and other ungulates (hoofed animals), will travel from the Masai Mara, Kenya to southern Tanzania near the Ngorongoro Crater, climbing up the Grumeti River west of the Serengeti reserve to cross the Mara River in search of the best places to feed. This strange team of different herbivores feeds on different heights of grasses, which makes coexistence more than acceptable.
Why and how? Experts believe that wildebeests know which way to go because they are governed by the weather, they follow the rains by reacting to lightning and thunderstorms, and can locate them more than 50km away; but they are also known to respond to levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the grasses, which change in response to rainfall. But fossil evidence also tells us that these animals have been roaming the plains of East Africa for at least a million years, so it may be mere instinct.
The migration month by month:
- December / January: At this time the wildebeest arrive at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which will give them the best conditions to give birth and raise the new calves on their nutritious pastures.
- February / March: Already near the plains north of Nogongoro Crater, about 400,000 calves will be born in a period of 2-3 weeks, almost 8,000 calves a day! This abundance of new life also attracts predators into action.
- April / May: During this period, the young are somewhat stronger and more agile so the first groups of wildebeests will start to move north, dragging with them groups of zebras and other antelopes. By the end of this period, the wildebeest will begin to congregate in the western corridor of the Serengeti, a remote and rarely explored area by tourists that stretches 80km from Seronera to almost Lake Victoria.
- June / July: The Serengeti corridor will take them to the Grumeti River, which, despite not being as impressive as the Mara River crossing, its crocodiles feast on it. And they will continue their way north towards the Mara River.
- August / September: By August the first will arrive to cross the great river Mara, the most impressive and dangerous crossing, they will congregate on the banks gathering courage, energy and motivation to cross for another year those crocodile-infested water. In years where the riverbed is larger, a lot of confusion and panic can be created, and with the predators lurking in the water and on the riverbanks, the number of lives lost is massive. There is no single crossing point, at some points we can see a few specimens, and at others we can see hundreds of animals crossing without stopping for hours. Although the crossing may seem chaotic and pointless, a total suicide, one study showed that they are systematically exploring, overcoming obstacles as a single unit.
- October / November: They have arrived, the chaos is over, the Masai Mara plains extend beyond the horizon rich in new and nutritious grasses, it has to be a paradise for them. But at the end of these months the rains accumulate elsewhere and completing the circle they will head south, following the last rains to the east of the Serengeti reserve.
This cycle will continue year after year, with wildebeests and other herbivores looking for the best spaces to feed, give birth and raise their offspring. Every year around 250,000 wildebeests die in this crusade, not only from predators but also from thirst, hunger, tiredness and disease. Nature does not understand justice, it is governed by the law of the fittest, the survival of the strongest. This is one of the last great migrations and one of the most impressive earthly spectacles, and as always it is up to us to take care of the ecosystem in which it occurs so that we can continue to enjoy it.
Impilo enh adventurers!
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