Day 7

The Serengeti National Park

A first game expedition in the park –
On the track of the wildebeest annual migration

Destination Bilila Lodge

We reached our destination, where I will stay for the next 10 days: The Bilila Lodge Kempinski! It is a fascinating place and full of stories that I will tell you over the next days. The lodge itself is not yet officially open and there is still work going on, but the main buildings are finished. Few very fortunate and selected guests are staying here due to the “soft-opening” phase. I am the 123rd guest here - that’s exclusive, isn’t it?

The Serengeti National Park and the annual migration

But today we got around to seeing the surroundings of the Lodge. It is directly located in the Serengeti National Park. We had a game drive here and our goal was to see the annual migration of the wildebeest. Samuel Mmbaga is a professional guide in the Serengeti Park and explains how the migration works: Every year the wildebeest (and other hoofed animals like Zebras or Gazelles) move in herds thousands-strong from the south end of Serengeti towards Masai Mara (outside the Serengeti) in April/May and come back to Serengeti around November. The migration is caused by the lack of food. The herds start to move looking for fresh grass. The migration is not a constant move so it’s hard to predict on which location the animals will be when you are looking for them. It all depends on the rain and the available food. So we had an interesting time searching for the wildebeest.

Searching for the Wildebeest

We saw thousands of wildebeest at the horizon yesterday, so we headed towards this location. On the way we spotted again a vast variety of animals – the Serengeti is really fantastic.
We finally found the place and discovered … an empty plain. Not one wildebeest around! So we tried our luck by driving around. We were about to give up when at last we saw them: a widely-scattered but huge group of wildebeest! It was an impressive sight to see these creatures all over the place. Our wildebeest were having a rest when we reached them – but I will try to come back when they are on the move!