Migration Wildebeest

The Great Migration of East Africa is the largest movement of large mammals on Earth — approximately 1.5 million wildebeest (plus 200,000 zebras and 500,000 gazelles) move in a continuous clockwise circle across Tanzania's Serengeti and Kenya's Masai Mara, following the rains and fresh grass. The Mara River crossing — where wildebeest plunge into crocodile-infested waters — is one of nature's most dramatic events. The migration is driven entirely by grass and water availability, not a fixed seasonal schedule. Wildebeest give birth in a 3-week window in February — so many calves are born that predators are overwhelmed. The migration creates massive energy transfers — wildebeest bodies returning nutrients to the soil, supporting the predator populations of lions, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, and hundreds of vulture and eagle species.