Heavy rain in the past few weeks

There has been lots of rain over the past few weeks, with the Mara River filled to capacity. The migration is still in the southern Serengeti with some movement west and into the cenral Serengeti.

Game viewing is good, but can be very muddy in parts. A good safari vehicle is essential at this time of year. Some of the tracks are impassable. The best place to the migration is still around Ndutu and towards Kleins Camp.

News update: Migration still in the southern Serengeti

Ongoing rains in the Southern Serengeti have kept the grass lush enough to support the huge populations of wildebeest that are moving back and forth across the southern region of the Serengeti. We expect the rains to dissipate in the coming weeks and the migration will start moving north and west towards the Grumeti Private Reserve.

Rains in the southern Serengeti

The wildebeest herds are packed on the Ndutu Plains in the southern Serengeti. The rains have attracted them back to this fertile area where the short grasses are rich in nutrients. Foals are growing stronger in preparation to their long migration to the northern Serengeti and Masai Mara in the next couple of months.

Predators are everywhere, picking off the weak, young, old or isolated. The safari camps in the region have reported good sightings of lion, cheetah, leopard and hyena. As the wildebeest are mostly stationary (not migrating) at this time, a typical hunt is a patient wait, swift feet, quick acceleration and speed to capture their prey. Lions prides are masters at this, working together to ambush isolated wildebeest.

The best safari camps to be located at at this time of year are:
Serengeti under canvas - A luxury mobile camp that follows the annual migration around the Serengeti. They are currently located close to Ndutu, in the midst of the main herds.
Ndutu Lodge - Ndutu is a mid-range permanent lodge located at Lake Ndutu. It is a good place to be based to avoid the worst of the daily rains.

Migration spread across Southern Serengeti

The wildebeest herds are spread across a wide area of the Southern Serengeti, searching for decent grazing. They can be found from Ngorongoro, west towards Kusini Camp, south to Mazwa and centrally around Seronera. Rains still remain illusive.

Contact Sunsafaris to plan yout safari to Kenya or Tanzania to see the migration

Migration update 2012: Southern Serengeti

The rains have been very poor this year. Typically, the bulk of the herds would be around Lake Ndutu on the Ndutu Plains. This is where they prefer to calve, at the rich short grass plains.
However, this year the rains have been poor and the herds have had to split across the southern Serengeti looking for grazing. They are currently spread around the outer slopes of Ngorongoro, towards Maswa, around Kusini and north to the Seronera area (central Serengeti). Ndutu is only supporting a small percentage of the herds. They are waiting to calve at the first sign of rains and they will all congregate on Ndutu Plains to graze on the new shoots of grass.