BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhuanet) -- For many years, hundreds of tourists converge in the Maasai Mara national park in Kenya for the great wildebeest migration. However, the journey is usually long for the wildebeest as it starts in the Serengeti national park in Tanzania. traces this journey in the following report.
It’s that time of the year again.
In just about three months, the world will witness yet another spectacle of the 8th wonder of the world when millions of wildebeest attempt to cross the Mara River in Kenya’s Maasai Mara national park.
It’s the great wildebeest migration. But every journey must have a beginning. And this great journey usually starts in the southern grass plains of Tanzania’s Serengeti national park.
Jonathan Cheres, Manager, Kirawira Camp, said, "There has always been a misconception that the migration is all about the wildebeest being eaten by crocodiles. But that’s not true.
It all starts between the months of February and March when one of the wildlife’s most amazing spectacles occurs. For about three or four weeks 90 percent of the female wildebeest give birth in what is referred to as the synchronized calving season, flooding the southern grass plains of the Serengeti national park with thousands of newborn calves every day.
They will stay here for some time, exploiting the short grass plains, where the grasses are rich in the minerals they need to rear their young ones.
But the plains dry up rapidly as soon as the rains stop, forcing the herds to migrate west and south of the Serengeti. By this time, the calves have grown big enough and stronger.
Ranger said, "These animals are in huge numbers. So they should get food and also get water. So rainfall and forage availability determines their movement."
So when the rains start in the western corridor of the Serengeti between the months of May and June, it marks the start of yet another great spectacle.
The wildebeest match in long, meandering lines that stretch for miles. These are the scenes that typify the great migration.
Jonathan Cheres, Manager, Kirawira, said, "The migration of the wildebeest is throughout the year. They are always on the move. It’s all about moving from one place to another one looking for greener pastures and again trying to follow the rain pattern."
In a typical year, the migration arrives in the western corridor of the Serengeti between the months of June and July. Before heading north and eventually crossing into the Maasai Mara in neighboring Kenya up to about the end of the year in December.
Unpredictable rain patterns in the past few years have however disrupted greatly the great wildebeest migration.
For example, it took longer than expected for the animals to cross into the Maasai Mara last year due to the unpredictable rains. This year however, experts here are hoping wildebeest migration will assume the normal pattern.
Ranger said, "For last year the rainfall was not that good. Therefore there movement was not very certain to know exactly where they are. But this year the rainfall seems to be good and we hope the migration will be taking the normal direction they usually move."
The big match has already started. And it sure is going to be a long journey.
Kofa Mrenje, CCTV correspondent, said, "It’s a cycle that never ends. All the around they are on the move, just like you can see behind me, where this rain is where exactly we can find them."
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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