I could name 2020 the great Migration year.
In a Year were social distance is the most used word and measurement, being able to have witnessed 3 huge migratory spectacles and one of the most incredible gatherings of wildlife is quite controversy.
In January at the end of the Antarctica trip, we arrived to a very very and I repeat very special Island. South Georgia. Not only that tiny island in the middle of COLD-Nowhere has an historic importance but is home to one of the most beautiful and impressive gatherings in the world. The colonies of King Penguins on the shores of South Georgia.
In some parts of the island we saw over 200´000 breading couples. Don't ask me why the penguins get counted in breeding couples, that's what the experts told me when I asked the number.
So after I left this incredible, cold, very smelly Island in the middle of nowhere, the next month (February) I had the opportunity to visit a friend in Tanzania that had just opened a Tented Lodge in the middle of the Serengeti.
What was a few hours drive from the lodge of my friend? The Zebra migration!
The great Wildebeest migration that happens all year round, is also followed/led from/of
200´000 zebras.
Very special experience to be completely surrounded by zebras with their donkey like call.
But at that moment (February) there was no travel ban, no social distancing, nothing that has being the leading thing of the rest of the unfortunately famous 2020.
My travel plans then went all south, because like everyone else who had something booked planned, I had to cancel due to Covid and I couldn't travel to Ethiopia and Botswana in March.
Finally, many months later, some countries in Africa started to open borders in a shy way. Kenya decided to open on the first of August, so I started planning right away for a two and a half weeks trip to all the national parks I had not visit yet. Almost all to be precise, so the plan was Tsavo East and West, then Amboseli and finally 8 days in the Maasai Mara for the Great Wildebeest Migration. More precisely I wanted to see the Mara River Crossing, a very stressful moment for the Wildebeest and Zebras that creates chaos.
Wildebeest lining up in from of the Mara River.
Its a unpredictable/predictable moment, because the animals are all gathered in small to huge groups in the Mara plains grazing and they slowly move towards the river. So you could imagine when more or less they would be on the river shores and "decide" to cross.
But we had mixed moments, the first crossing we witnessed was in a matter of seconds. We rushed at noon towards the river because some local guides contacted my guide and said the animals are hectic and running towards the river. Why? No-one knows, and so it was, they came from pretty far away all running and started crossing without any hesitation.
Creating this chaotic, hectic, stressful, action packed moment... the pictures and videos I took were not great because I was overwhelmed by the moment, I was shaking and sweating. Almost like I was the one crossing.
Other 7 crossing happened in the next 3 days and some took us a lot of patience, because the wildebeest teased us on the shores of the river for 6-7 hours, running back and forth.
And the final and most unknown migration of the year I witness was pretty special.
In a small Zambian National Park on the border with DR-Congo over 10 million Bats decide to come and stay for over 3 months. The same patch of forest, every year.
Kasanka National Park is the place where all this happens, and they are doing an incredible job protecting this special patch of forest that not only host the BIGGEST MAMMAL MIGRATION in the world but also is a refuge for the rare and shy Sitatunga Antelope.
Between October and December every year different groups of straw-coloured fruit Bats fly from thousand of kms away to this particular forest in Zambia. It happens only here, and only during this period of the year.
The Bat can reach a wingspan of 1m!
In this year of isolation, social distancing, no gatherings, travel restrictions, borders closing... Wildlife showed me that there is nothing of that kind in the natural world... nothing stops what has to happen every year, just we, humans, can disrupt the balance in this happenings, that's why its so important to support and fund this places that keep this natural spectacles safe and, most important, alive for future generations.
Stay Hungry Stay Wildish
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