For many when you mention the words wildebeest migration, the first thought is of river crossings and the drama surrounding that aspect of the migration. But the build up and journey the wildebeest undertake to get there is just as exciting.

On the plains and in the woodlands that spread out on either side of the main rivers such as the Grumeti and the Mara Rivers, there are hundreds of predator and prey interactions happening each day as the herds move. Apart from this, it’s also interesting for me to watch the herds react to any rain storms on the horizon and how the smell of rain turns thousands of animals in that direction as they know that by the next day a fresh flush of grass will be waiting there. One day a landscape can be almost empty of animals and the following day its wall to wall with snorting and bleating wildebeest.

To see the herds merging from all directions, then gain momentum as they near the rivers and with the ever present predators lurking, there really are few wildlife spectacles anywhere in the world that can compete both in size and intensity with the annual wildebeest migration of East Africa.