UNTOLD TRACKS THE GREATEST TREK PART I
Posted by Stephen
Reading time: 7 minutes
After spending quite some time in the immense vastness of the Serengeti for our book ‘A Taste of Tanzania,’ it’s time to address the elephant in the room. Or better: the almost 2 million wildebeests and over 250.000 zebra in it. You simply can’t speak about the Serengeti without mentioning what is often called the most magnificent natural spectacle on the planet. We are, of course, talking about The Great Migration, that endless motion of hooves, horns, and hides towards greener pastures.
In the Serengeti chapter of our book, which fittingly is the biggest of the book, matching its maddening vastness in the number of pages, we take a very close look at this phenomenon. Because The Great Migration is quite simply an astonishing thing. A very long walk, spanning two countries filled with drama and hardship. Who hasn’t heard about those enormous masses of wildebeests ‘commuting’ between Tanzania and Kenya on their amazing graze? Raise your hand if you ever saw a documentary about this tiresome trek, depicting this undertaking in all its glory. Admit it, you suddenly hear Sir David Attenborough’s soothing voice, don’t you?
Immense numbers of wiry wildebeests and their striped zebra friends on an epic journey, shuffling through the dry plains, creating clouds of dust. Only motivated by one thing: finding fresh grass to graze. Fighting off attacks by famished felines all along the way. And the most grisly and dramatic episode in this seemingly endless endeavor: the crossings. Countless animals trying to make it to the other side. Wading through treacherous waters teeming with ravenous crocs (the reptile variety not the hideous footwear.) Like we said, we give this formidable force of nature all the attention it deserves in our book. We zoom in very tightly and, for instance, also explain the very close collaboration between wildebeests and zebras. And why this team is one of the most successful duos in the natural world. We review this spectacle and give you a front-row seat to admire it in all its glory.
Here, however, we’d like to zoom out. Revealing a few surprising nuggets of info about this majestic mass movement of beasts. And like always, advising you to take a chill pill. Because with The Great Migration, it is like with anything else when you want to enjoy the natural wonders to the fullest. Maybe even more so. Relax.
Here are some of the pretty remarkable facts we learned about the Great Migration. Let’s begin with a bombshell. It’s not a migration. Whut??? Yup. Strictly speaking, it is not a migration, since the animals make a continuous loop. Moving up to Kenya and making their way down to Tanzania back again. Or vice versa. But the Great Moving Back And Forth And Up and Down And Back Again just doesn’t have that same ring to it, probably.
Another misconception that seems to have seeped into our collective minds is that this phenomenon is as old as the planet is. That ages ago, the ancestors of the zebras and wildebeests, who were probably twice the size and had outrageously big fangs and woolly coats hanging to the ground, already made this journey. And walked the walk together with T-rexes and mammoths and what not. Nope. How magnificent this all may be and how timeless this tiresome trek might look, it actually only started in the late ’50s of the previous century. Huh. How about that. But it makes sense once you think about it. Before that time, there just weren’t that many wildebeests, and a devastating illness striking amongst their ranks certainly didn’t help increase their numbers. So, before around 1950, there was enough grass to graze for the wildebeests living in the Serengeti. And they didn’t have to pack up and leave to find some fresh and green shoots. But once the population grew and actually exploded, there was a shortage of food. And that is when the animals started to move. Creating what is now rightfully considered one of the most fascinating natural spectacles on earth.
Another myth we’d like to bust since we’re on a roll is actually based on what we thought happened on The Great Migration. When we first heard about those mad multitudes of animals moving towards new food sources, we imagined millions of animals moving in one huge pack. One single-minded, colossal herd of gnus and zebras making the ground tremble in one big stampede. It’s not, of course. The animals move in large clusters, groups of thousands and thousands of animals. And long lines of animals shuffling towards their destination between them.
Well, we hope we have enlightened you a little bit more about this greatest of migrations. Lifting the veil and sharing some pretty stunning stuff, we learned about The Great Migration. Next time, we will delve even further into this fantastic natural spectacle. And like always, we will give you advice you absolutely didn’t ask for.