Photos from Safari 2023

We did not see many wildebeest while we were on Safari in the Masai Mara. We did see this guy, though…

If you want to see the Great Migration (which sounds quite awesome!), July through November is traditionally considered to be the best time to see it. Of course, it depends on several weather-related factors that will be out of your control, but each year more than one million wildebeest will follow the seasonal rains, traveling in what is basically a circular pattern across the Serengeti Plains, and it would be an amazing sight to behold!

As we passed by this lone wildebeest, our tour guide quipped that, “He must have lost his passport. He wasn’t allowed to leave Kenya.” While that was a funny joke, it did make me wonder what actually caused this poor guy to be left behind.

Did you know:

• Wildebeests got their name from Dutch settlers in South Africa. The settlers named these very large antelope “wildebeest,” which means “wild beast,” due to its untamed appearance and vigorous nature.
• Another name for a wildebeest is “gnu”. This is what they were called by native Africans before the Dutch settlers moved in. 
• It is estimated that there are roughly 1.5 million wildebeest in existence. Roughly 250,000 will die each year during the Great Migration. 
• Female wildebeest give birth in the middle of the herd. This practice offers the most protection of both mother and baby. Amazingly, the newborn baby wildebeests will begin to walk within minutes of being born.
• An estimated 80 percent of females in a herd will give birth within the same two to three weeks. Up to half a million calves are born in February and March each year, at the beginning of the rainy season.