Serengeti - Day 4

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This was the best day in the Serengeti.  Gorgeous weather -- two different cheetah sightings, lots of lions, and we witnessed a huge river crossing (20-30,000 wildebeest).  Magical!

It was a long day though.  We left camp around 7:30am and we didn't return until 7:00pm.  But it was well worth it!

We had to wait two hours for the river crossing.  When we first arrived, it looked like they were going to cross immediately - and then they didn't.  More and more wildebeests showed up -- and still no crossing.  The jeeps all stay back from the wildebeest so as to not spook them -- although once one wildebeest decides to cross (and that's all it takes -- just one) -- nothing will stop them.

So we waited.  After two hours, we decided to return to camp (the wildebeest will only cross in the daylight).  Just as we started driving away -- the wildebeest decided to go for it -- and we quickly turned around and witnessed a fantastic crossing -- it really is an amazing experience.

One interesting study likened the wildebeest crossings to a type of 'swarm intelligence.'  From the outside, the crossings seem to be frenzied and un-calculated -- almost like mass suicide -- but eh animals are, in fact, systematically exploring and overcoming the obstacles as one single unit -- or swarm.

The Nile crocodile takes the medal as the deadliest predator during the migration.  When it comes to larger prey (like wildebeest), success depends on the crocodile's body power and weight to pull the prey down into the water, where it is either drowned or killed by sudden thrashes of the head or by tearing it into pieces with the help of other crocodiles.

Interesting facts about wildebeest (aka gnus)
  • Up to 400,000 calves are born in February and March each year, at the beginning of the rainy season.  Calves learn to walk within minutes of birth and within days are able to keep up with the herd.
  • Up to 250,000 wildebeest die each year during the Great Migration (predators, breaking legs, exhaustion, starvation, etc.)
  • Wildebeest can live to be 20 years old
Note:  although we only saw a couple of wildebeests go down during the crossing -- the next day, I was flying to Selous and the pilot said that he had to do some extra maneuvers to avoid all of the vultures hanging out over the Mara river -- so I would say that a lot of wildebeests didn't make it.

Video alerts:  none in the first one, crocodiles attacking wildebeest in the second one!

 Note:  There is a lot happening in the second video -- especially with the crocodiles.  I've marked the crocs with three red asterisks to make it easier to follow along.  



Location: Serengeti, Tanzania

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