Blue Wildebeest Migration

Blue wildebeest migration is the greatest wildlife event that happens in the world. This is the period when millions of blue wildebeest cross the Mara River to Maasai Mara National Reserve. The wildebeest are the Stringy-haired beasts known as Gnus, sharing the same Genus with antelopes (even-toed ungulates), the same family, Bovidae, that includes cattle, goats, and sheep.

There are two types of wildebeest; these are:

The Black Wildebeest

The black wildebeest is also called the white-tailed gnu, mostly found in the Southern part of Africa, occupying the central grassland of the Northern Cape, Western Swaziland, Lesotho, and some areas of the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal.

The black wildebeest has an estimated population of around 12,000 only, though it’s not regarded as a threat to extinction.

Blue wildebeest

The Blue wildebeest is the most dominant and abundant wildebeest that covers most of the protected areas of East Africa. The blue wildebeest have a characteristic of communal or group grazing and moving with no team leader, even during their wildebeest migration.

Due to their overwhelming numbers, they graze over 1.5 tons of grass on a daily basis, hence making them shift almost on a monthly basis in search of new grass. The blue wildebeest like staying around water collection areas, and they eat in the morning and relax in the afternoon after quenching their thirst. They are nomadic breeders who breed in a certain period of the year, and they normally breed during the time of short rains around January.

In Serengeti National Park, the calving season has broken records where more than half a million calves are born daily. Their calves are always strong as soon as they are born. They start walking after just 2-3 minutes after birth and take a short period of time to get better and strong. This is one of the techniques behind their success in multiplying in numbers amidst a high concentration of predators in Serengeti National Park.

Blue wildebeest graze in a group alongside the Zebras that have high sensitivity to predators, hence creating an awareness to the wildebeests.

The blue wildebeest migration occurs in Serengeti annually as they cross to Maasai Mara National Reserve through the Tactic Mara River to look for fresh grass and water. Many of us just hear, read, or watch the wildebeest migration on different platforms just to increase our curiosity, but the most valuable and experiential is direct on-ground observation; you will be the eyewitness of the wildebeest migration. Below are some of the highlighted facts of the blue wildebeest migration:

The blue wildebeest migration is the largest animal migration on the planet Earth. It’s on record that over 2 million blue wildebeest annually cross the Mara River to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Seeing animals jump into the river other get scared and run back, while the courageous ones keep the scale moving as they move in a zigzag in the river.
No group leader

During the blue wildebeest migration, everyone is respected and is accountable for the migration, but there is no chosen group leader that other animals follow or protocols to be observed. The herd just starts from nowhere and starts the run, only leaving behind dust at all corners.

During the Calving season of the blue wildebeest in Ndutu, where they cross from Serengeti to the Northern sector of the Ngorongoro area, more than 500,000 newborn calves are born per day in the period of only three weeks; all the beasts would have given birth. It only takes two minutes for the newborn calf of the wildebeest to start running; this helps the majority of the newborn calves to survive the predators.
No migration, no Serengeti

is the home for the blue wildebeest migration, and it’s one of the most popular attractions in the park. If the wildebeest migration ceases in Serengeti, then there will be no more Serengeti, as researchers have proved that most of the low-season months of Serengeti are the rainy season when the wildebeest are just happily leaving around the center of Serengeti National Park.

Wildebeests belong to the group of Antelopes

The blue wildebeest, which is the most commonly seen in Serengeti National Park, has stringy-haired chests. There are only two types of wildebeest: the blue wildebeest found in Tanzania and the black wildebeest, which are found in South Africa.