Migration safaris

The Serengeti Migration, also sometimes referred to as the Great Migration or the Wildebeest Migration, is an enormous year round movement of animals, in which close on 2.5 million herbivores munch their way along an 800 km route around the greater Serengeti area of northwest Tanzania, occasionally dipping into the Maasai Mara area of southwest Kenya.

The migration is accessible for most of the year, although you do very much have to plan your safari to be in the right places at the right times.

The three main highlights are the river crossings Jun-Oct, the calving season Dec-Mar, the rut Mar-May.

a remarkable year-round show

The northern region of Botswana used to experience a migration almost on the same scale as that in Serengeti, as recently as the 1970s.

Unfortunately the installation of endless cattle fences (designed to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease from wild animals to domestic stock) caused great disruption to the natural migration routes and led to the death of tens of thousands of animals in the first few years.

Although these cattle fences are still largely in place, many are now dilapidated and porous, enabling large herds of animals to once again migrate around the country.

The general movement is inwards to the floodplains of the Okavango Delta and Chobe Waterfront during the Jul-Oct dry season, dispersing outwards to the vast surrounding forests and deserts during the converse Nov-May green season.

A particular highlight of this migration is the gathering of large herds of zebras and wildebeest on the open grasslands of the Makgadikgadi area, where they come into calf usually Dec-Mar. This is a very similar spectacle to that in the Serengeti, at the same time of year.

a vast and underappreciated migration

Another area which experiences a huge green season clustering of wildebeest herds is the remote and little-visited Liuwa Plain in the west of Zambia, which also takes place during that Dec-Mar period.

This area is considerably less accessible than the previous two locations, which makes it all the more special. There is only one decent camp out here, so you should have the place virtually to yourselves.

a remote and precious wildlife spectacle