Wildebeest on the Savanna

Aug. 12, 2003 — The wildebeest migration started about a month later than usual this year because of the tardy start of the rainy season and is threatened by major brush fires in the northwestern part of the Masai Mara.

The Sand River is too low for the crocodiles to hide in, and the lions on this day have stayed away.

In one of the world's most amazing animal spectacles, an immense herd of wildebeest (also called gnus) approaches cautiously, hesitates and finally stampedes across the ford from Tanzania's Serengeti National Park into the Kenyan nature reserve of Masai Mara.

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The same scene has been repeated every day since the beginning of August, in an annual, impressive and immutable migration of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebras moving from south to north in search of pastures.

But, because of the late start of the rainy season and the brush fires, the animal trek this year is not quite like all the others.

So far, said Bernard Ngure, a researcher for the Kenya Wildlife Service, "the migration of the gnus has not been affected by these brush fires, which have only killed the odd stray animal, and which are in the western part of Mara, opposite to the zone where the migration begins.

"But the more these fires gain ground, the more they will disrupt the migration by depriving the gnus of their pastures."

He said guards and county officials had mounted a coordinated plan of attack against the fires, which, although they have ravaged vast extents of grassland, have not yet menaced the many tourist camps established in the national park.

The migration of the wildebeest is one of the attractions that draw people here. They come from all over the world to watch the classic crossing of the crocodile-infested Mara River.

This year, according to travel agents' blurb, was supposed to have been the biggest animal migration for 100 years, with some tourist brochures speaking of two million animals. "Some figures are nothing more than speculation," said Ngugi Gechaga, spokesman for the National Wildlife Service.

But some tourists came away extremely disappointed that they hadn't been able to see the wildebeest after all. For some reason, the animals avoided their normal crossing point at the Mara River and instead forded the remote Sand River at the extreme southwestern point of the nature reserve.

Perhaps the zebra knows something. With their quivering nostrils and ears cocked for danger, the zebras act as guides for the wildebeest.

"The zebras are smart. They've got excellent long-range vision. The gnus see only the ground in front of them and they are idiots," said David, a tour guide.

But the crocodile with its jaws locked around the head of a zebra that made the mistake of stopping for a drink shows that even long-range vision has its limits.

The annual migration of the wildebeest, with their clumsy air, their large bearded heads and their long manes, is an important attraction in Kenya, which is trying to rebuild its tourist industry in the face of terrorist threats.