Blog: Serengeti Migration 2015

The Long Rains have just arrived in East Africa and the wildebeest are certainly keeping safari-seekers on their toes this year. Just 2 weeks ago people were complaining about the dust in Serengeti, today there has been a huge U-turn and slippery tracks is now the main topic of conversation around the campfires. The main herds have reached Golini/Naabi and the plains are pumping with animals; the dust has finally turned to mud and eventually lovely green shoots.

Migrating herbivores stretch all the way from the Ndutu triangle, Naabi, Gol Kopjes and all the way down to Piyaya. There are still some zebra around Moru but the majority have gone from there, and sadly the Western Corridor is once again very empty. There are some splinter herds already up near Lobo and even Kogatende, but they are in smaller numbers.

Lemai is an area of lush, rolling grassland and tree-lined watercourses and is the hub around which the Serengeti migration circulates. During the dry season, the herds mass on both banks of the Mara River, frequently crossing – and braving the crocs – in response to local weather patterns that only they seem to understand. But even a brief visit to Lamai Serengeti at any time of year will show that it’s not all about the migration. Unlike the southern plains of the Serengeti that dry out, forcing all but the hardiest of species to leave, this area remains lush and green.

There’s a collective sigh of relief from the resident game when the one and a half million migrating wildebeest – and the madness that attends them – leave town for a few months.
And the resident game at Lamai Serengeti is spectacular. Plains game in the form of zebra, topi, gazelles, impala, buffalo and giraffe all frequent the area throughout the year. Lion are rarely far away and leopard, ever present, but always elusive, stalk the rocky kopjes and river lines.

For a map of the migration Migration Map

For ideas about Kenya: Kenya Safari Ideas

For ideas about Tanzania: Tanzania Safari Ideas