No doubt, one of the natural wonders of the world, Africa’s great migration offers a unique wildlife experience that no photos or words can do justice to. The key players in this almost 2000-kilometer odyssey are the wildebeest — around 1.5 million of them, along with gazelles and zebra traversing the veld of eastern Africa every year. These massive herds constitute the largest land mammal migration on Earth.  

The incredible event takes place across acres of woodlands, open plains, and a wilderness that includes Tanzania ‘s famous Serengeti national park and Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve. Picture the breathtaking spectacle of hundreds of thousands of animals kicking up a dusty trail across endless rolling hills and crocodile-infested rivers.

From afar, the migration looks like ink seeping slowly across the parched savannah. Up close, it’s a gruelling drama, with endless animals trudging in single file through the dust and heat. The main player is the blue wildebeest, an ungainly antelope with the head of an ox and the hindquarters of a gazelle. Amongst the wildebeest horde, stream groups of zebra and gazelle.

Danger is everywhere: lions, hyena and other predators pick off stragglers. The swollen water of the Mara and Grumeti Rivers claim countless causalities – drowned, crushed or pulled under by crocodiles.

Yet the reward outweighs the risks; the lush grazing, fuelled by fresh rain on volcanic soils, fattens a generation of youngsters. Born into this rich environment, suckle on these life-sustaining nutrients and can run with the herd within a matter of hours.