Migration Months in Serengeti National Park.

Migration Months in Serengeti National Park.

Best time to visit Serengeti migration and month - Serengeti migration month

 

Serengeti migration month

Where the grasses greener every year more than 1.5million wildebeests, 600,000 zebras, gazelles, moving in gigantic herd, describe a huge oblong as they migrate from south east part of Serengeti national park, northern to Tanzania. This is annual migration is probably the greatest wild life spectacle on earth today. No one knows for sure what triggers the migration; its something the animal know far better than we do. What’s certain is that the herds know that the grass is greener on the other side, and they know when and where.


Migration months


 1.December to March

From early December ,the animals are on the short grass plains in the southeast ,around Ndutu and Naabi gate ,where calving will take  place from late January to early February .About 80 per cent of the wildebeest females give birth at the same time ;within a two -week span. this is ensure that most of the calves will survive since the number  of new born and weakened or disadvantaged mothers who perish  will be enough to keep predators satisfied with food, giving the other calves in the herd enough time to gain strength and adapt to the world .When the calves are just a few hours old, they can run as fast  as their parents and they start grazing before they are a week old .This means that there  is a sudden rise in the number of grazers, which quickly depletes the local food resources, forcing the herds to start looking for greener pasture in the north and west.   
 

From January through April

The waterholes still retain plentifully water from the shot rains of October/November into December. The plain are green and dotted with flowers. The old bones of predators' victims are obscured by hundred of thousands of migrating animals. The herds remain dispersed as individuals or family units in the southeast plains, moving back and forth within the long rains, which usually begin in March, come to and end in late May or early June. 


Camps Hotels and Lodges to stay

During this period, one can witness the grazing animals in their hundreds of thousands through game drives around Lake Ndutu, and between Ngorogoro crater and Naabi hill .Staging posts include Ndutu Tented camp, Serengeti Sopa Lodge, Seronera wildlife lodge, Serengeti Serena lodge, and the lodges on Ngorongoro Crater.


2.May to June

GOOD TIME FOR BALLOON SAFARI IT IS MASSIVE WHEN YOU DO IT!!!!!          

This is when the migration begins. As the dry season approaches in mid-May ,both the pasture and water in the southeastern Serengeti plain dry out .The animals respond to the new condition by forming into huge multitudes and beginning north and west ,toward the northern border and toward Lake Victoria...


The route varies little from year to year. First; the animals traverse the alkaline lake Ndutu, the pour out into three major columns, along Simiyu River, then northwest along the Mbalangeti River and Seronera valley. The animals move in long columns, often single file and usually following a leader, usually a mature bull. A file of these animals can be five to six kilometers long, an unforgettable memory for the observer. A wide lens camera is helpfully here. As the movement gain momentum annual rutting and mating takes place.


The adult Males establish territories perhaps only 30 meters across, by energetically scratching bare patches on the ground, and then defend them against other males. They try to keep a small group of females within their territories. The scene becomes confused as the survival imperative leads them toward grass and water while the productive imperative requires them to define individual territories and protect their reproductive rights within those territories. The one requires a mass movement, but the other tends toward the establishment of smaller groups, generally of individual males and their’ wives''.


General balloon flight www.balloonsafaris.com start and end at Soronera lodge at 6.00am to 3.30am for full time breakfast champagne and then picked up to continue with game drive.



 Camps, Hotels and Loges to stay 

The lodges and tented camps around Seronera and south of there.


 3. June to July

During this period more than half of the all animals have moved into the western corridor of Serengeti that part that stretches toward Lake Victoria -and the others are in north; wherever the tall grass is available in the Serengeti is room and board to this match of the Hoofed Grazers.


The herds there fore move through the vast scattered scrub toward the northern woodlands. Although this area is greener and have water, the woodlands are infested with tsetse fly which is harmfully to the wildebeests (gnu) and zebras, so they must avoid these areas.


The wildebeests are famous for the great speed at which they run and for their amusing antics along the way They push straight through, generally ignoring any danger or barriers along the way .For example, they plunge blindly down the steep banks and into the Gurumeti River, where many down or are killed by the thousands of crocodiles for can live all year on this feast alone.  


In fact, the migration is a blessing for the mighty reptiles, fish, and scavengers of the water courses, and the animals in their huge gatherings because relatively easy prey for the large number of land predators lion, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dog-and for the scavengers such as jackals and vultures. Usually the predators follow the herds from the end of the column's, where the tired, injured, and old ones lag behind. Without the annual migration, the carnivores would not survive the dry season. 

 Camps,Hotels and Loges to stay

The lodgers of Seronera,from which one follow the migration on the drive to the north and northwest, from Lobo Wildlife lodge in the north ,and on drives from Musoma or Mwanza on Lake Victoria.

4. August to September 

Camps,Hotels and Loges to stay

The lodgers of Seronera,from which one follow the migration on the drive to the north and northwest, from Lobo Wildlife lodge in the north ,and on drives from Musoma or Mwanza on Lake Victoria.

5.November to December   

When the November short rains start in north Serengeti, the wildebeests begin their trek back to the south. The herds leave the area by various routes in long columns, passing the Lobo area before arriving once again on the shorter grass plains that stretch from Seronera to the Ngorongoro highlands. The wildebeests arrive here in December when the long  rains are usually still on, and most of the females give birth here in late January and early February

 Book now your Serengeti Migration Safari with Kilimanjaro Brothers. Email at georgemtaki@gmail.com or brotherskilimanjaro@gmail.com