The annual wildebeest migration is well known as one of Africa’s most impressive spectacles. Over 1.5 million wildebeest migrate between the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Masai Mara in Kenya, making this the largest mass-movement of land mammals anywhere on Earth. In order to find fresh grazing pastures, the wildebeest are forced to cross the Mara River.
Our trip took place in September, when the wildebeest were beginning to travel south into the Serengeti again. We have put together a simple migration map showing the route and approximate timings of the wildebeest’s 3,000km round trip.
Whenever we cover something that has already been well documented by other photographers, we try to come up with an original way to portray it. The result is the short film below which we hope conveys to you the magnitude and drama of this incredible migration.
This film is a combination of telephoto video clips and wide-angle time-lapse sequences that speed up the motion by around 25 times. Before this, we have never seen a time-lapse of a wildebeest river crossing – perhaps this is the first time it has been done. Among other things, the clips show the wildebeest being pulled downstream by the current and swarming up the far banks of the river.
Of course we also took plenty of photographs of the wildebeest river crossings (there are more than 70 in our wildebeest galleries). Below we have included a few of our favourites.
When the wildebeest reach the banks of the Mara River, they gather in vast herds as they summon up the courage to make the crossing. Eventually, it takes one brave individual to venture into the water and then all the other animals rush to follow. We often spent many frustrating hours waiting for a dithering herd to start crossing!
A couple of the crossings we witnessed had upwards of 10,000 individuals swim across the river in just half an hour. It is hard to describe the mayhem and noise that accompanies one of these epic crossings.
The crossing is very perilous, with wildebeest frequently drowning, breaking legs after jumping down cliffs or falling victim to the river’s well-fed crocodiles.
In order to capture the scale of one of the crossings, we took over 30 overlapping images which we then stitched together to create a 300 megapixel panorama. If you click on the preview below you can explore a high-resolution version of this panorama (it has been shrunk to around 50% of the original size but is still over 16 thousand pixels wide!).
The influx of animals into the region provides a valuable opportunity for predators and scavengers. We saw cheetahs, lions, hyenas and vultures all feasting on wildebeest kills.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the great migration has been one of the most incredible spectacles we’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing. On occasion we found it hard to hold our cameras steady as the adrenaline was making us shake so much!
For more of our wildebeest photographs, please checkout our Wildebeest Migration page. You may also want to read about the rare pink hippo that we photographed during the same trip.
A very enjoyable read with some lovely shots, my favourite being the final slow shutter image. The pano is also incredible and I bet would look amazing printed and framed somewhere, large!
Top marks for the video too, love the little title sequence, really helps set the tone 😀
Thanks Richard. Yes I would love to print the pano nice and large!
We were interviewed by the BBC about our time-lapse footage. You can see the full interview here: http://www.vimeo.com/20853723
Imagine the noise…..
Congrats on this great post!
The photos are great, the panoramic is just amazing, and so is the video, I’m sharing it right now with my friends!
Keep up with this excellent work!
I’m gonna watch the BBC interview now 🙂
That video is stunning guys! Wish I had known you were coming to Australia s it would have been great to meet you both.
Stunning shots and video, i am glad i see this video!
Lucky me. Thanks guys!
Regards
Mawa
Amazing stuff guys, you’ve captured every essence of one of the worlds most monumental natural events, well done! 🙂
Have shared it with all my friends, and makes me want to go back to Africa!!
Fantastic…. and yes … still jealous
Amazing video…a new dimension to migration story. Really wonderful. Thanks for sharing
Amazing footage. Love the music … I should imagine it was awesome to watch.
Makes me wonder how do you stay safe in amongst such a large herd?
While the “circle of Life” can be cruel, it is also incredibly amazing!
Thanks for sharing.
Simply stunning ….. photography and movies that really give you a sense of the mayhem that forms a large part of this migration – especially at key river crossings.
With todays technology the ability to meld photos with video allows you to tell a much more vivid story … I must have watched that video about 10 times so far (the volume button at 10)
Great work guys – instant RSS subscribe …. Can’t wait for your next project …
Nigel
Wow, I wish to take images like this
Congrats on this great post, stunning video. This is wildlife ….
Best regards from Germany.
I like these images, So wonderful and meaningful.
Thanks for this great post, stunning video. This is wildlife ….
Best regards..
wow amazing work! well done!
Am very jealous of your spectacular experience! I wish to do the same in the future
Excellent guys. You have a great sequence of time lapses love the way you got the wide angle to move too. Great powerful anthem to match the spectacle. Your slow shutter image is also one of my favourites. well done. Alex
Great footage, have spent so many hours sitting waiting for them to cross, sometimes you dream about a speeding up process, and there you have it!!
Stunning work guys…really feeling the intensity with the video clip, and well done in making it a timescape-shortclip combo which works very well.