Zebras in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

The herd heads north. An endless journey

In May, the rainy season in the southern Serengeti ends, and herds of zebras numbering in the hundreds of thousands begin to migrate north across the plains from Tanzania up to the Maasai Mara region of Kenya. The herd in our photo today shows a small portion of the 250,000 zebras that will begin the northern leg of their year-long loop across the plains. Following hot on their hooves are 1.5 million blue wildebeest that follow the same migratory route. Not every zebra will survive the 500-mile journey. By July, the surviving herd will arrive in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, only to leave in November and return to Tanzania.