Wildebeest Migration
For the last two nights of our adventure in Kenya we stayed at the Mara Serena Safari Lodge. The lodge is located at the centre of the famous "Mara Triangle" of the world-renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve. The hotel was set high up a hill overlooking the savannah and the hippo-filled Mara River. This lodging has a ringside seat for the "greatest wildlife show on earth", the legendary migration of the wildebeest. No where in the world is there a movement of animals as immense as the wildebeest migration. Over two million animals migrate from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the greener pastures of the Maasai Mara National Reserve during July through October. Zebras and Wildebeest are often seen together. Although the principle players of the crossing are the wildebeest (around 1.5 million), Thomson's gazelle (350,000), zebra (200,000) and eland (12,000) also join in the show.The plan was to drive to the new lodge in the morning and head toward the river on our afternoon safari and hopefully watch the crossing. There is never a guarantee of seeing the show and it was approaching the end of the migration season.
So we started out early in the morning to travel from the Sarova Mara Game Camp lodge where we had been staying to our new lodging. One of the first sights of the day was a lion.
We came across more hyenas in the morning.
There is no other antelope like the wildebeest. It looks like it was assembled from spare parts- the forequarters could have come from an ox, the hindquarters from an antelope and the mane and tail from a horse.
The horns and shaggy mane led to the Afrikaans name 'wild beast' or 'wildebeest'. These animals weigh anywhere from 330 to 550 pounds (150 to 250 kg). They live around 20 years and they can run up to 80km/hour.
A yellow-billed stork looking for food. These birds have a fishing technique of using one foot to stir up the water to flush out prey. A quick muscular reflex in their neck enables these birds to catch almost all of their food in the water.
Frogs are part of their diet along with small fish, insects and worms.
The head of the wildebeest is large and box-like. Both males and females have curving horns that are close together at the base but curve outward, inward and slightly backward. The body looks disproportionate as the front end is heavily built, the hindquarters slender and the legs spindly.
We came across another family of hyenas.
After driving down the road we spotted this hyena trying to take a nap.
By this time in the day we were driving to the Mara River hoping to see the Wildebeest in action. On the way we came across this young beautiful giraffe. A couple of interesting facts that I read about giraffes is that their heart is 2 feet long and weights about 20 pounds. Also, their tongue is almost 2 feet long. Baby giraffes are about 6 feet tall and can reach an adult height of about 14 feet.
We finally made it to the Mara River and waited for the crossing. We waited and waited…. We spent at least an hour waiting for some action but unfortunately it was not to be. The animals did move back and forth and a couple of times we thought that they would cross but then at the last minute they would stop for no apparent reason and wander away from the water's edge. Probably they sensed a crocodile. Since the migration has to cross the Mara River, crocodiles will prey on the animals crossing. If you look closely in the picture you can see a zebra in front (on the right hand side). Often a zebra crosses first. The picture was taken quite far away where the vans were parked on a hill overlooking the river. When we first arrived we drove right to the river but the guides thought it would be better to be further away so not to scare or distract the animals.
We saw hippopotamuses lying beside the river. The name hippopotamus means 'river horse' and is often shortened to hippo. Although hippos appear to be a bit chubby they can easily outrun humans. Their lifespan is about 45 years.
A closer up view of the wildebeest thinking about crossing.
The vans heading away from the river since it didn't look like the crossing was going to happen any time soon. I was very sorry to have not seen the animals cross. The only positive thing is that I have an excuse to go back again to see what I missed. A friend told me that when you see the crossing in Tanzania you can actually get out of the car to watch. By now we were heading back to the lodging. No sunset tonight because it was pretty cloudy out.