A million wildebeest… each one driven by the same ancient rhythm,
fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a
frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival
of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through
crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the
species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000
calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again.
Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, also a world
heritage site and recently proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder, the
Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million
hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000
Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Yet even
when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most
scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller
groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland,
topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.
The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest
park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers.
Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River,
while a high density of cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost
uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here, alongside the
spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small predators, ranging from
the insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful serval cat.
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