The vast grasslands of
Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara Game Reserve annually host the last,
great wildlife spectacle on earth, the circular migration of nearly two million
wildebeest, zebra and Thompson’s gazelle towards the distant rains.
This massive journey of survival beats with all the natural rhythms of
birth, life and death. To observe and photograph this out on the plains is to
forever record an unforgettable and exceptional tale.
Joerg Bondzio
Our “Migration Safaris” set out from the town of Arusha, situated at the foot of the 4565 metre high volcanic Mount Meru. It has traditionally outfitted all photographic and hunting safaris going into northern Tanzania and continues to do so today. En route to the Serengeti plains our “Migration Safari” will include a two-night stop at Tarangire National Park and Ngorogoro Conservation Area, which are regions of interest for their huge herds of elephant, culture and landscape.
Tarangire National Park
(2,600 sq km) is located in southern Maasailand. It is made up of wide areas of open acacia woodland and
grassy savannah with the Tarangire River running through it. From July to
October, the Tarangire River is the only water source for the whole of southern
Maasailand (20,000sq km), and attracts vast numbers of varied animal species to
its banks. It is the enormous
baobab trees and the huge herds of elephant that particularly characterise the
park. Fringe-eared oryx and
lesser kudu are the unique resident species.
Lions and other predators are often sighted.
The park is also of great ornithological interest as it has the highest
number of breeding birds in the world.
Close to Ngorogoro
Conservation Area lies Lake Eyasi, the southern shore of this salt lake is the
ancestral land of the Hadzabe, a hunter gatherer people. Their origins are
considered to be close to the Bushmen of the Kalahari, which is evident in their
click language.
Hunting is universally
controlled by the issue of licences and quotas in Tanzania with the exception of
the Hadzabe. The tribe is permitted
to hunt in their traditional way with bow and poison arrows. I enjoyed a day
hunting with the Hadzabe men, and witnessed them hitting a guinea fowl at an
impressive 50 metres. The men typically hunt game birds and gazelles, while
women forage for tubers.
Ngorogoro Crater is a
perfect caldera and one of the worlds biggest.
The crater floor is a haven to some of the country’s finest wildlife,
elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion.
The surrounding highlands offer superb trekking opportunities to the
Olmoti and Empakaai Craters.
At the foot of the Ngorogoro’s misty, lush rainforest highlands en route to the Serengeti is the dry, desert-like Oldupai Gorge. Laetoli is the site where Mary Leakey discovered fossilized footprints indicating that our earliest ancestors were walking upright some 3.6 million years ago. In the gorge’s eroding wall is a continuous record of human occupation dating back nearly two million years.
Serengeti means “endless
plains” in Maasai language. It is a World Heritage Site and International
Biosphere Reserve.
This vast high plateau
(14,763 square kilometres) of high open grass plains and acacia woodland, hills
and valleys, floodplains and rivers is the stage for much of the migration.
The alternating wet and dry season is the main mover of the migration.
The endless, flowing lines of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle stretching from one
horizon to another will cover a vast 500 kilometres to reach the distant rain,
while constantly providing a source of prey for ever watchful, opportunistic
predators. The flow of the
migration is punctuated by stops at rivers, the most notable being the Mara and
the Grumeti Rivers, where the animals drink and eventually cross. The river
scenes of the migration are perhaps the most dramatic as herds of panicked
beasts hurl themselves into the water in terror of predators lurking in and out
of the water. Two great events occur “on the road” in the
Serengeti, the annual wildebeest rut and the subsequent birth of hundred of
thousands of calves. The rut, which
takes place in the western woodland area of the Serengeti in May/June is a three
week period of indescribable noise and chaos. Eight and a half months later,
400, 000 female wildebeest drop their calves in January/February and provide a
time of plenty for predators.
Sporting Wilderness also
uses concession areas outside the national park for those who would like to
walk, as the national parks do not permit walking.
Maasai Mara Game Reserve
(1,500 sq km) is the northern end of the vast Maasai-Serengeti eco-system. This
great expanse of bushed grassland, riverine forest and occasional hills
stretches north of the Tanzania-Kenya border providing the dry weather grazing
grounds for the vast herds of migrating wildebeest, zebra and gazelle. In normal
years, when there is no El Nino or other unpredictable, freak weather patterns,
the migration is in the Mara from August to October. The short rains in October
turn the Mara’s plains into a verdant feast.
The momentum of the migration is most dramatically tested on its route
from the Maasai Mara to the Serengeti in the crossing of the Mara River.
The vast herds nervously drink at the water’s edge, while searching for
a safe, open crossing place. Their terror of predators in and out of the water
make them hurl themselves into the water surging forward in a frenzy of panic to
the opposite bank, often their fear is well founded.
The Maasai Mara is
especially noted for its large prides of lions, elephant herds as well as
leopard, cheetah, buffalo, hippo and large variety of plains game.
Sporting Wilderness also
uses concession areas bordering the Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
These areas permit guided walking, which is not allowed in the national
parks.
Lake Naivasha lies in the
Rift Valley, which splits the earth’s surface from Jordan in the Middle East
to Mozambique in southeast Africa. Lake Naivasha’s environmental importance
received world recognition, when its wetlands, mammals and incredible 475
species of birds became Kenya’s second Ramsar Site. The lake is surrounded by many game sanctuaries, which offer
some of the country’s finest horseback safaris, as well guided walking in
scenic locations. Notable mammals
the lake supports are hippo, buffalo, colobus monkey, plains game and leopard.
Sporting Wilderness has the
exclusive use of Ol Ngalau Lodge on the lakeshore and its specialised lake boats
for the exploration of this unique wetland eco-system.
Near Lake Nakuru, the
tumbling Malewa River offers opportunities for exploration of the river by raft
and canoe, animals regularly seen are buffalo, zebra, impala, eland, waterbuck,
reedbuck and leopard.
Lake Nakuru National Park
(188 sq km) surrounds a soda Rift Valley lake that is renowned for its huge
flocks of millions of greater and lesser flamingo that fringe its shores pink at
certain times of the year and was described as “the world’s greatest
ornithological spectacle” by Roger Tory Peterson, the great American
ornithologist. The park is not only famous for its bird life, but also as a
rhino sanctuary and home of the rare Rothschild’s giraffe.
Notable mammals are buffalo, lion, waterbuck, giraffe, plains game and
leopard. In recent years, leopards
have been frequently observed during the day.