The Serengeti together with Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Park form Africa’s most famous wildlife park. The image of acacia trees on an endless grass plain epitomises Africa for many, and then add a Masai warrior and some cattle to the picture and the conversation need go no further.

The annual wildebeest migration through the Serengeti and the Masai Mara is the largest mass movement of land mammals on the planet – with more than a million animals following the rains. But that is not where the game viewing ends; large prides of lions, elephants and giraffes in grasslands, gazelles and eland to mention but a few. 

The migration is linked to the amount the rainfall and is fairly predictable as the Wildebeest are looking for fresh water and grazing opportunities. The migration happens year around – it will depend on where you look!

The migration covers over 3,000 kilometres on the stage of the Serengeti and Masai Mara plains. It is a constant movement of 2.5 million animals. The migratory herds: 1.7 million wildebeest, the remainder being zebra, Thomson’s Gazelle and eland. The predators: As the herds travel they are pursued by the Big Cats – lion, leopard and cheetah who are in the main territorial. They also fall prey to hunting dog, hyena and jackal as well as crocodile lurking in the rivers. The Residents: Elephant, giraffe, black and white rhino, topi, impala, buffalo, Grant’s gazelle, buffalo, warthog, waterbuck, hippo, hartebeest and roan antelope can be found all year across the parks. Below is an approximate guide only. 

The herds spread out as the rains fall, then can be seen massing with their young. By Apr they are shifting slowly north into the central Serengeti. May finds them moving in columns into the Western Corridor whose grasslands are maintained by the flood waters of the Mbalageti and Grumeti Rivers. 

The nomadic herds are found on the well watered expanse of open and bushed grasslands of the Mara as these are usually the driest months in the Serengeti. The short rains are not far away.