Because the movements of the vast wildebeest herds are dictated by rainfall and the new growth it brings, the timing and areas covered vary from year to year. However, in recent decades a general triangular pattern has emerged. Since the quest for food is continuous, there is no real beginning and end in the wildebeest migration - except for the beginning and end of life.
Between January and March, the wildebeest [V 004 / graze] and give birth on the short grass plains around the Gol and Barafu Kopjes, Kakesio and Ol Bal Bal Plains in the southwest near the Crater Highlands and the Lake Lagarja region. As the grasses begin to wither and water sources dry up, the wildebeest herds begin to move off of the plains through the Simba and [P 001 / Moru Kopjes]. Mating takes place as the herds migrate west in mid-May and early June.
Some herds move directly north through the Loliondo Controlled Area outside the park. The rest migrate northwest to the plains of the Western Corridor and Duma country. They spread out and graze on the Ndoha, Dutwa, Ndabaka, Musabi and Ruana plains in the early dry season. Some herds stay in the Western Corridor and migrate back to the plains when the rains begin to fall in November. The majority move northeast across the Sabora Plains into the Northern Extension in mid-July and early August.
More recently, the growing settlements northwest of the park have forced the herds to follow the Grumeti River east then migrate due north. In late August and early September they [P 012 & P013 / cross the Mara River] and spread out across the Lamai Wedge, Mara Triangle and into the Masai Mara Game Reserve. In recent years over 1 million wildebeest every year push into the Mara and thousands pour over the northern boundary of the Mara onto [P 009 & P021 / Masai pastures].
As the short rains begin in October and November, signaling the return journey to the ancestral calving grounds, hundreds of thousands recross the Mara River and migrate southeast. Others avoid the Mara by moving towards the Talek area then south through the Loliondo Controlled Area. The growing agricultural settlement and wheat farms on the Loita Plains have limited the wildebeest's movements in this area. The vast migrating herds arrive on the plains through late November and December in time to [V 006 / give birth to another generation of wildebeest].
