The Great Migration isn't a single event — it's a year-round circuit of roughly two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle moving between Tanzania's Serengeti and Kenya's Maasai Mara in search of fresh grazing.
December to March, herds concentrate on the southern Serengeti's short-grass plains, where calving season sees around 500,000 wildebeest born within a few weeks — and predators follow closely behind.
April to June, the herds begin moving north and west through the central and western Serengeti corridor, with the Grumeti River crossings offering a smaller-scale preview of what's to come.
July to October is crossing season on the Mara River, the migration's most photographed chapter, as herds push north into Kenya's Maasai Mara before beginning the return journey south.
November brings the short rains and the start of the journey back to the southern Serengeti, completing a cycle that has repeated, largely unchanged, for thousands of years.
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