The great wanderers

This is a collection that is six years in the making. I started getting interest in documenting the wildebeest migration in 2020, but my luck had no star. Every time I went, I stayed for three or four days and I came up just short. Always getting messages and calls that they moved and crossed a river the day after I had left. At some point, terrible luck gets to you, and hopelessness creeps in, and I had all but given up on experiencing this wonder of the world, until this year. This was my final jab at it, and this time, the gods of Karuoth smiled on my fortunes.

The great wildebeest migration is a breathtaking spectacle of nature’s grandeur, a journey across the East African savannah, circling the Serengeti in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya. But you have to understand, to them there is no border. They do not care for the lines in the sand that human being drew up at the Berlin Conference. To them this whole vast expanse of land is their stage.

And so countless wildebeests, littered across the hills, driven by instinct and the changing seasons, embark on an ancient trek spanning, not just hundreds of kilometres, but also generations. It is a rite of passage that every gnu must take part in. A relentless pursuit for fresh grazing lands and water sources, weaving through endless plains, rivers, and escarpments, synchronised and rhythmic.

Alongside zebras and other wildlife, the wildebeests march, as though in a parade. An odyssey that begins with the first whispers of seasonal change, a subtle stir in the air that signals the start of a journey rooted in both survival and instinct. As the rains arrive, these restless creatures surge forward, their hooves pounding the earth and together with those unmistakable grunts, they create a thunderous rhythm that echoes across the land.

Part of the wonder is in how there is no conductor to this orchestra. The wildebeests and zebras move as one; connected, yet leaderless. It is the kind of pageantry that renews faith in God (or a god) in those who witness it, because there is no way this all happens by accident.

Even if it is just for a little while.