One of the reasons for including Tanzania and Kenya in our safari vacation was to witness the Great Migration.  Normally, our timing should have had us viewing the animals at the peak of the migration, but Mother Nature fooled us!

The reason all these animals migrate all at the same time is because their food becomes more scarce as the rains stop and the vegetation dries out. This year, the rains lasted later than average, so the grasses remained green and the migration was delayed.

However, we did get to see the leading edge of the migration on an all-day drive into the southern sector of Tanzania.  The zebras and wildebeests were starting to gather in larger groups as they headed north.

Zebras are one of my favorite animals, but it was difficult to capture the long strings of animals with my cell phone.  You can see, though, that they didn’t hesitate to cross the road in-between our vehicles.  I guess not much deters them at this time.

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The wildebeest were a little easier for me to capture.  It was really amazing to sit in our vehicle while the herds swarmed around us!

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Aside from the migrating animals, here are some animal highlights from the central Serengeti.  

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There were some social highlights too, but I’ll save those for a separate post at the end of the vacation.  Next post will introduce you to our Kenyan experience in the Masai Mara.