Zebra migration

A population of zebras surprised biologists by making a more than 300-mile beeline across parts of Namibia and Botswana—the longest big-mammal migration ever documented in Africa.

In the wilds of Africa, food and water come and go with the seasons, and animals follow. The Serengeti is the site of what most consider the most dramatic migration, with giant herds of millions of animals—some 750,000 zebras and 1.2 million wildebeests as well as gazelles and eland traveling from the Ngorongoro area in southern Tanzania to the Masai Mara in lower Kenya and returning as the rains dictate.

But when it comes to the longest hike endpoint to endpoint, Africa has a new record holder. As reported, the migration, which has now been observed in consecutive years, isn't on the scale of what goes down on the Serengeti. It involves just a few thousand Burchell's zebras (Equus quagga). But the animals cover more than 300 miles (500 kilometres) in a straight-line, there and back, journeying across Namibia and Botswana. (In the Serengeti the animals meander more before circling back, so their feet touch more ground, but the distance between the zebras' two destinations is greater.)

I wish this was something I knew about before I travelled across Botswana late December 2017. But this is another reason to visit Chobe National Park in Botswana all year round.

I was blessed to see many new born babies throughout my time in Africa, some are inquisitive and get very close, much to their mothers’ distaste.

The most remarkable feature of the Chobe National Park is its huge concentration of elephants. This park supports the largest surviving elephant population in the world, currently estimated to exceed 120,000. This population is dispersed throughout much of northern Botswana, as well as parts of north-western Zimbabwe.

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