In a landscape of savannah and tall grass dotted with a few parasol-shaped acacia trees, a dark mass stands out from the immensity. “They’re wildebeest!”exclaims Julieth Jones, guide and driver, one arm leaning on the window of the Jeep, the other holding her binoculars. They find more nutritious pasture here, because it has rained. » Easily recognizable by their white beards and their slightly inclined hindquarters, these herbivores graze, looking alert, ready to bolt at the slightest noise. In this protected area of Ikorongo, on the edge of the Serengeti Park, in northern Tanzania, the ruts filled with water in the middle of the dry season (from June to November) bear witness to a recent flood. “Normally, at this season, we should rather find the wildebeest north of the Serengeti and around the Masai-Mara reserve in Kenyaexplains Gadiel Tanapa, the park ecologist. The change in precipitation regime affects their behavior. »
Throughout the year, these wildebeest accompanied by zebras, Thomson’s gazelles and elands roam in their thousands the plains of the Serengeti before going up towards the Masai Mara, in the north (Kenya), in what constitutes the one of the largest land migrations in the world. A ritual which is carried out clockwise, guided by the quest for water and food, but which is altered by climate change. “The ecosystem has experienced severe recurring droughts, erratic and more intense rainfall and a temperature increase of 4.8 to 5.8°C over six decades”notes a study published in October in the scientific journal Plos Climate.
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