The migratory Serengeti-Mara wildebeest population is the largest of four populations of wildebeest within the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, totaling approximately 1,300,000 animals. The three other populations either do not migrate or have ceased migrating. Seasonal rainfall drives the wildebeest migration.

Zebras in this region migrate between the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana and the Makgadikgadi National Park, which are over 200 km apart. The animals spend the dry season in the Okavango Delta, a unique wetland system that provides the zebra with forage and water throughout the dry season. Once the rainy season arrives, the zebras migrate to the grasslands surrounding the Makgadikgadi salt pans.

Cape buffalo rely on consistent access to large amounts of water, so they time their movements to stay close to water sources. In northern Botswana, rainfall is highly seasonal, falling between November and March. The rains fill ephemeral waterholes and promote the growth of annual, productive grasses.

In one of Africa’s longest-documented mammal migrations, plains zebra travel 250 km from their dry season ranges along the Chobe River in Namibia to reach areas in and around Nxai Pan National Park in northern Botswana. Zebra begin their trek at the beginning of the wet season, typically December.

More than 200,000 zebras migrate through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, constituting Africa’s largest zebra migration, according to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute. Zebras in the greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem migrate primarily in response to seasonal rains. During the wet season, family groups (usually a stallion plus two or three mares and their offspring) merge with others to form large herds and migrate to the southern grasslands.

More than 40,000 elephants roam Hwange National Park in the dry season, where they access artificial waterholes to survive seasonal drought. Elephants visit the waterholes every other day throughout the dry season but vanish when the rains arrive between October and December.