It is one of the most fabled sights in nature yet the thunderous river crossings actually only make up a tiny fraction of the wildebeests and zebras long journey. This is a pilgrimage for both ruminants and tourists alike as they seek their dry season Kenyan stronghold. The waiting is part of the spectacle and unsurprising the herds will look for any excuse rather than enter the water. They receive much preposterous advice from their admirers, all of it ignored.
Once in full progress very little will stop it, certainly not the rapacious crocs nor indeed indignant hippos. There is always that moment, often in the middle of the day, when the first shins step into the shallows. This bolder vanguard often flirts with the depths, unsure of the welcome but once they have plunged forward, eyes rolling in their heads, the feverish procession starts. It then becomes like a series of pumping veins as unending charcoal capillaries bisect the roiling chocolate waters. Intense and visceral, sobering and dramatic everyone should see it at least once.
‘Unique’ is a tired epithet, not in this case and it is happening right now. Thanks for the images Bush camp guest Mike Carter and Valley Camp guide, Bernard Soit, think you may have seen this more than once!
Wildebeests enjoying a sundowner after the migration maelstrom in Olare Motorogi Conservancy.
