Great Migration Special, Big cats, Small cat and Wild Dogs
Mara River Northern Serengeti, Ndutu in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Ngorongoro Crater
August/September 2019
This was a small group safari led by Nick Garbutt
on behalf of Wildlife Worldwide. The main target of the trip was to visit the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti, with the hope of seeing Wildebeest crossing the river. We were amazingly lucky, with thunderstorms most nights in the region just south of the river. This caused massive herds of wildebeests to leave the Masai Mara and come south for the fresh grazing - we saw in total 14 separate river crossings at various locations up and down the river, involving literally hundreds of thousands of wildebeests. These crossings are not for the faint-hearted, with wildebeests breaking limbs, drowning or taken by crocodiles. Whilst in reality only a tiny percentage didn't survive each crossing, it can be quite distressing to see. Although at some crossings there were quite a few vehicles, at others we had the whole thing pretty much to ourselves, making it my favourite place to see wildebeest crossings!
Prior to this main section of the safari, we also had great success in the Ngorongoro Crater with some wonderful Lion action and with a hunting Caracal. And at Ndutu, we enjoyed superb encounters with a Cheetah family and a pack of Wild Dogs.
My thanks to Nick Garbutt for expertly leading this amazing trip, and to Wildlife Worldwide for putting it all together.