AAC President Kent Redding traveled to Tanzania this summer and joins us on the blog to share his experiences. Welcome, Kent!
Though I tried, I can’t say exactly how many wildebeest I saw on my June safari to Tanzania. If I had to guess, I’d say 400,000 over five days. Even after seeing the Great Migration countless times over the past 30 years, it still impressed me. The sheer volume was overwhelming. The continuous grunts and bellows were mesmerizing. The moving herds raised dust clouds that covered the vehicle. On this trip we saw the most wildebeest, along with thousands of zebra, in the Serengeti’s Western Corridor. As expected in a normal year, they had moved up from the long grass plains in the central Serengeti and were headed in a northeasterly direction toward the northern Serengeti. Sometimes they were walking purposefully, especially when thirsty, but often they just ate and rested in loose groups. This year’s calves, born the previous February and about half the size of the adults, stuck close to their mothers.
Along with the dust from the herds, the sky was often filled with smoke as numerous fires burned the grasslands. Tanzania National Parks sets the prescribed burns annually – whether for fire prevention or to produce new green shoots to entice the wildebeest to stay in Tanzania longer. Whatever the reason, the wildebeest didn’t seem to mind. They grazed close to the slow-moving fire line as we passed. The fires burned in the hills behind our seasonal tented camp, creating a warm orange glow. One day, the fires crept closer to camp and jumped the road, but the camp staff easily put them down with flat shovels and brooms, barely missing a beat to get sundowner drinks ready for guests. The next day, the fires receded, leaving black soot covering the ground.
The Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) sets prescribed burns in Serengeti National Park and other national parks annually. Typically, TANAPA sets them from June to September to stimulate new vegetation growth, prevent wildfires and control invasive woody species. Many conservationists agree that prescribed burning is an effective, eco-friendly conservation tool, so it is unsurprising that TANAPA uses it in Tanzania.
For safety, TANAPA typically sets fires after the wet season, when the soil has enough moisture to prevent unwanted spreading, and introduces them in sections on a staggered timeline. TANAPA park rangers and firefighting forces closely monitor and manage the burns to prevent them from spreading beyond designated areas. They initiate burns only after large species have moved out of the area. Smaller species utilize burrows to stay clear of the fires.
Once we reached the Kogatende area of northern Serengeti, the fires were gone, but burn scars covered many square miles. While unappealing, just a bit of rainfall had turned many scars into bright green patches of new grass that the wildebeest love. Here, we didn’t see as many wildebeest as in the Western Corridor, but tens of thousands more arrived daily. Many wanted to drink from or cross the Mara River, so we positioned ourselves along the high, steep river banks, waiting for crossings while crocodiles sunned on the sandbanks or lurked in the murky water. With a little patience, we watched hundreds of wildebeest stampede, diving to swim to the opposite shore as hungry crocodiles attacked.
When mothers and their young crossed, they often got separated in the panic and crossed and recrossed several times trying to find each other. During one of these re-crossings, we witnessed a smaller crocodile take a young wildebeest mid-river. As the wildebeest paddled furiously, the crocodile gained ground and pulled it under with a lunge. The commotion attracted a larger crocodile, which joined in, and the two presumably had an underwater feast as the wildebeest calf never re-emerged.
Once the crocodiles had their fill, we explored the rolling hills and kopjes that dot the northern Serengeti and discovered lion prides, hyraxes, eagles, cheetahs and much more. From our comfortable accommodations at Lamai Camp, we enjoyed morning and afternoon game drives and spent midday swimming in the pool.
One sunny day, we crossed the Mara River to explore the famous Lamai Wedge, a triangular section of the park that abuts Kenya’s Masai Mara. Here, because of the limited number of camps in the area, we enjoyed a bit of the Serengeti to ourselves, including good lion, topi, giraffe and cheetah sightings.
Once our time was up, we made the short drive to Kogatende Airstrip to fly back to Arusha and on to our next adventure, the visions of another great wildebeest migration stamped in our memories forever.
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Photos courtesy AAC President Kent Redding and Lamai Camp