The Great Migration: A Complete Guide

The Great Migration is the year-round movement of around two million wildebeest, plains zebra and gazelle around the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem of Tanzania and Kenya, widely regarded as the greatest wildlife spectacle on Earth. Driven by rainfall and the flush of fresh grazing it brings, the herds trace a rough clockwise circuit through the year, trailed by lions, hyenas, cheetahs and crocodiles. Understanding that rhythm is the single best way to plan when and where to see it, because the migration is a moving target rather than a fixed event.

Key things to know

• ➜It is a continuous, year-round cycle, not a single event you can miss or catch on one date.
• ➜The herds follow the rains and fresh grazing in a broad clockwise loop across the Serengeti and Masai Mara.
• ➜Dramatic river crossings usually peak between July and October in the north.
• ➜Calving on the southern Serengeti short-grass plains peaks around late January and February.
• ➜Predators shadow the herds year-round, so big-cat action is a constant feature.
• ➜Exact timing shifts each year with the rains, so flexibility and local knowledge pay off.

References & further reading

1. Thirgood, S., et al. (2004). Can parks protect migratory ungulates? The case of the Serengeti wildebeest. Animal Conservation, 7(2), 113-120.
2. Holdo, R. M., Holt, R. D., & Fryxell, J. M. (2009). Opposing rainfall and plant nutritional gradients best explain the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti. The American Naturalist, 173(4), 431-445.
3. Sinclair, A. R. E., et al. (Eds.) (2015). Serengeti IV. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.