Serengeti Migration Update

There is a big concentration of about a million wildebeest around Ndutu, towards Makao, Endulen and Naibartat. Also smaller herds seen all over the plains but mostly concentrated around the Ngorongoro side. Patchy rain but seems to be drying up generally.

Serengeti Migration Update

The migration can currenly be found from Kusini down towards Ndutu and in the NCAA; herds even seen moving towards Kakesio near Maswa. There is still widespread, and heavy, rains in the central Serengeti.

Nomad guide Ken had a 'first' sighting at the weekend - he saw 4 leopard in one tree (a mother and 4 grown-up cubs)

Serengeti Migration Update

Nomad guides report seeing the bulk of the herds down in the central Serengeti area; Kennedy says he's seen them scattered in smaller groups, between the Moru and Maasai Kopjes, rather than in one big herd. Good rains in the area means there is plenty of grazing around.

Serengeti MIgration Update

From Remtullah Nassary, Nomad Tanzania guide...

I've been staying at Lamai Serengeti for the last week; we are still seeing some herds crossing the Mara river north to south (these pictures taken 2 days ago) but I think these are amongst the last of the herds now and they will start heading south. The rain up here has been quite patchy this last week, and it appears to be raining a lot further south. Still, my guests were very happy to see this particular crossing.

Thanks to Rem for the update and images

Serengeti Migration - update

There are still big herds crossing and recrossing the Mara river in the northern Serengeti and there has been a lot of rain around Nyamalumbwa and Kogatende which provides them with good grazing. Our guides have seen rhinos with calves and quite a few cheetah chasing down young wildebeest.

Serengeti Migration Update

From Lamai Serengeti: we've had a lot of wildebeest around, our guests are seeing river crossings all the time. Because of the rain we've had here, it seems the big herds are all heading down and across the river again. We've even heard reports of herds near Ikoma. 

From Nomad guide Chediel: I've seen big herds from Nyamalumbwa to Kogatende, criss-crossing over the sand river. 

These great safari images are from Nomad guide Ken

Look carefully at the background, this is on the Kogatende airstrip...

Serengeti Migration Update from Ken

There is plenty of water in the Mara River, and with this lots of carcasses of drowned wildebeest, not such a good sight. There are still lots of wildebeest crossing over in both directions, but rising river levels because of the rain has meant they can't always cross.

It's very green and beautiful up in the northern Serengeti, around Kogatende and there has been good rains around Lobo and in northern Loliondo.

Word on the Migration..from Rowland

who has just stopped by after being out on safari at Serengeti Safari Camp with his guests.

"We were up by the Mara River, watching the crossings, Kogatende area...but I'm not telling you exactly where as it's a secret, as I can still take my guests there and not see any other cars!!!!"

Your secret is totally safe with me, I assured him.

"We saw about 300 wildebeest crossing, and I'm not exaggerating but at least 100 perished. Honestly. There were in such a panic to cross, there were lines of them trampling over other ones. It was very dramatic but not so easy to watch. We also saw a Tawny Eagle diving down, right next to where we were driving, and it grabbed a grass snake and took it back up to the tree; my guests were amazed it happened so close to the car".


And with that, he grabbed his next safari file and headed off out again with a smile.

Serengeti Migration Update

Chediel reports seeing loads of big wildebeest herds around the Nyamalumbwa area as well as frequent rhino sightings.

But his most exciting report:

"On arrival in Lobo on the way to Serengeti Safari Camp, we saw a Martial eagle flying really low. I stopped the car to watch, one of my guests was a keen birder, and then to our total suprise it went after and killed a young Thomson's Gazelle. I have never seen this before! It struggled to drag the kill away, but it wouldn't let go".

Serengeti Migration Update

The migration is en masse in the northern Serengeti areas of Nyamalumbwa to Kogatende. Our new lodge - Lamai Serengeti - is almost totally surrounded, as of this morning (the nights are noisy, with lots of predators moving in fast)! The weather is cool in the mornings and there has been some light rain.

From our Guides:

Emmanuel - spent the morning surrounded by about 500,000 wildebeest. What a sight! Yesterday I saw a rhino surrounded by 7 lion. The lion were stalking the rhion, but on noticing them suddenly he charged at them and chased them all away. An amazing scene to watch.

Ken - Seeing great Mara River crossings!

The latest on the migration

Our guide Ken  has just called in from the Serengeti to report big herds of wildebeest now being seen across the northern Serengeti. Particularly strong around Lobo / Bologonja and Nyamalumbwa, with increasing numbers coming into the Wogakuria & Lamai areas. 

Good groups still being seen in the Western Corridor, but the weather over the next few days will dictate whether they remain within easy reach of Grumeti or also start heading North. We’re keeping a very close daily eye on things and as always will react as fast and flexibly as required, to ensure that everyone gets within reach of some of these concentrations.

Latest from the Serengeti

Just back in from safari. The migration is very fragmented with herds still in the Western Corridor, sizeable herds being seen in Lobo, Togoro Plains and around Mbuzi Mawe.  There are also reports of trailblazing herds stretching from Kleins and up into Bologonja.

The afternoons have been rainy most days with spectacular thunderstorms at times. This unseasonable weather, for our dry season, explains why the migration is so broken up.

Cheers, Richard Knocker
Professional Safari Guide - Nomad 

Fantastic News!!!!

In a letter to the UN World Heritage Centre. the government of Tanzania has declared its intentions not to construct a commercial route across the Serengeti National Park.

Read more: http://www.savetheserengeti.org/general/highway-plans-tabled/#ixzz1QAllJdi4

Migration and the Grumeti River

From Felix and Jacob, our guides at Serengeti Safari Camp:

There has been some rain over these last days, around Lobo and Mbuzi Mawe and everything is starting to green up. We've seen the migration crossing the Grumeti River. There are plenty of herds around Togoro and Ikoma too.

Felix - I saw a crocodile 'in partnership' with a fish eagle, taking fish out of the water, which the fish eagle then ate. I also saw a cheetah with very young, about two month old, cubs.

Jacob - A first for me, seeing hippo mating in the Grumeti River, that and a poor old zebra getting taken down by a hippo whilst crossing the river.

Driving down through the Serengeti

I drove from Kogatende to Loliondo this morning. There is great game in the east and some herds of wildebeest, no doubt part of those that are being reported by the Mara operators.

No migration in Koga yet, but I'm told that the majority of the herds are in Grumeti and starting to move north so expect them up near Lamai Serengeti soon. 

Cheers, John Corse (MD, Nomad)

Western Corridor and crocs in pools

Slightly cooler weather at the moment is a bonus for those out game viewing. Most of the action is being seen around the Kirawira/Grumeti area of the Western Corridor. The Grumeti River is not that high, but there are many pools filled with water that the crocs are hiding in, waiting for the unsuspecting wildebeest to visit. Guests out now were just treated to that spectacle as they sat beside the pool. Leopards seem to be all around our Serengeti Safari Camp, currently in Musabi.

Migration in the western corridor. Update 7 June 11

Our guide Festo informs us that there was rain last night so the weather is cool. The migration is still in the western corridor around Grumeti and Nyasirori.

Serengeti Migration Update

From our Nomad guide in the field, Emmanuel Njawa

"There are many large groups of wildebeest around the Western Corridor and from Serengeti Safari Camp (currently in Musabi) we're getting great sightings every day. Over the last week I've seen over 60 lion, lionesses and cubs as well as 6 leopards and 5 cheetah. There are cats everywhere!!!

The weather is cool and cloudy, but no rain at the moment."

Migration Update - latest

Hearing from our guides in the field that the Migration is still around in the southern Moru area, but its rained in the central Serengeti (Rongai) for the last three days, so this might persuade the wildebeest to head north again. We'll keep you posted.

Journeying from Ndutu up to Moru Kopjes

Wednesday evening last week, the migration were en masse on the big open plains around Ndutu; thousands of them in every direction. We had one of those 'parting of the waves' moments...Cornelius drove us right into the midst and then for about an hour we watched them passing, an amazing site and rather on the noisy side!!

Thursday morning we woke early, packed up our Wilderness Mobile Camp and headed north and west up to Moru Kopjes; what an epic drive that was! We had a huge stormy black sky to our right and brilliant sunshine to our left. We left the southern grass plains way behind, they're drying up now as the long rains haven't been good to us this year, and arrived in the Kopjes around sunset.  The following morning, at sunrise, the migration arrived. Literally! I think I even saw the first wildebeest in the procession; a thick fat 'snake' of wildebeest and zebra pouring in below us.

Since then, our camp headman says they're still coming through, but due to only gentle rains in the evenings, they may well keep heading up north and west. This is unusually early, but then it's all about the rains and they've been somewhat lacking so far.

Where to find a million wildebeest

The word just in from the Serengeti - there's a large group of Wildebeest around Makao in the Ndutu area and then another large group seen heading towards Moru. It hasn't rained in Ndutu for several days now,  despite cloudy weather, and so it looks like that lot might be heading off to find greener pastures. Generally they all seem to be spread out in a wide area, some have been seen around Nasera and Olduvai; this is very normal behaviour at this time of year.

Lions lions everywhere....

Monday morning, this week, we watched the first of the migratory herds arriving back into the Ndutu area after several days of heavy rain. They had started to go north-west towards Moru and Maswa, as the southern grass plains were drying up. Now, with all this rain and the area greeing up nicely, they are heading back. By Tuesday morning the plains were filling up: lots of wildebeest and zebra and plenty of cats.

We spent a good hour with a small pride, a beautiful dark-maned lion and his three lionesses; fat and happy after a recent wildebeest kill. The next morning, Nomad guide Jacob, out even earlier than us, saw three cheetah take down an adult wildebeest. By the time we got there, the cheetah were sprawled in the mud (had been very rainy Monday night) next to the kill. Fantastic to see the southern grass plains teeming with activity.

What a sight!!

Serengeti Migration Update: there have been very good rains around Ndutu and the wildbeest are heading south from the Moru area, loads of calves with them and the usual bunch of cats following looking for an easy dinner!

Nomad guide Alikea saw a Marshall eagle engage in a spectacular aerial display against a Kori Bustard, diving at it over and over until he killed it. This is not something you see every day!!!

Halifa reported mating zebras, not quite at every turn, but seemed to be a lot of them – and plenty of wildebeest giving birth, and young calves.

Emmanuel and the Leopard

The wildebeest are concentrating around the Hidden Valley & Miti Mitatu area with some headed to Kusini due to lack of rains this past week around Ndutu. Nomad Tanzania guide, Emmanuel, has been seeing cats everywhere and a leopard that walked right in front of his car, stopping right on cue to pose for happy photographers in the vehicle, before climbing up a nearby tree.

He said it was one of the best close-up sightings he'd ever seen. Halifa has been seeing lots of newborn wildebeest and even a wildebeest giving birth. The guests with him, first-timers on safari, were suitably awed by it all.

"Like Moses parting the waves"

The wildebeest had started to divide up, some in the Hidden Valley area and then some starting to heads towards Maswa and the central Serengeti. However recent heavy rains in the Ndutu area, and the prospect of more rain coming, is expected to bring them all right back down again.

Nomad super-guide Richard Knocker, just back from a Serengeti Safari Camp safari, says “migration was fabulous and calving in full swing; big herds close by camp and game drives right into the middle of them, like Moses parting the waves. Also incredible cheetah sightings almost every day”.

Stacks of cats

Migration Update: big herds seen around Kusini & towards Maswa. Ndutu is currently dry and windy and generally there isn’t much rain around. All the guides report seeing stacks of cats and elephants whilst they’re out amongst the herds.

Lots of rain

Good rains in the southern Serengeti (around Ndutu especially) has meant that the migration is well scattered – Nomad safari guides reporting seeing big herds around Ndutu, Moru, Kusini and some in Piyaya. Our guide Halifa has had the most exciting week of all; seeing a buffalo giving birth and then fighting off a hyena, and a herd of wildebeest crossing Lake Ndutu. Rowland saw a honey badger and kept his distance!

They’re all reporting in from the field to say the general plains game sightings are great!! Our Serengeti Safari Camp is in Ndutu, well placed to catch all the action.