It's called one of the last large migrations on our planet. We are talking about the great wildebeest migration in Eastern Africa, the topic of today's post. Yearly, about 1,5 million wildebeest make their journey through the savannah plains of the Serengeti and Maasai Mara ecosystems. This unique pilgrimage already exists for God knows how long. Driven by their constant search for food and water, they follow a kind of oval route of about 3000 kilometers in a clockwise direction. They reach the plains of the Maasai Mara between August and October. Before my trip to Kenya, I had conceived how it would feel like to be in the middle of such a wildlife spectacle .... to be surrounded by such an enormous amount of animals. Well, it exceeded my wildest imaginations and triggered all my senses. It felt special to stop in the middle of a large herd at sunrise and just listen to their constant cow-like sound and the rustle of their grazing. It felt special to enjoy a healthy bush breakfast in the middle of an endless procession of walking wildebeest. An hour or so later, the view is still the same despite thousands of them have passed in the meantime. But it is not all that romantic. I've never experienced so closely the battle of animals between life and death and their struggle to survive. One of the most remarkable experiences of the whole trip were the massive river crossings with thousands of wildebeest. All of you will remember those images from the famous wildlife movies. In the next post I will post some of the crossing photos.
See you,
Dirk-Jan
