The word ‘Serengeti’ is derived from a Maasai word meaning ‘endless plains’, a fitting title for Tanzania’s most famous national park. The landscape is open and grassy, interspersed with striking granite kopjes and areas of acacia woodland. The Great Wildebeest Migration, a natural phenomenon occurs annually across the vast plains of the Serengeti and into the Masai Mara in Kenya. Each year thousands and thousands of wildebeest and zebras make an epic journey through western Serengeti and then north to Kenya’s Masai Mara in search of lush, grassy plains which they reach by July. The spectacular crossings of the Mara river are often dangerous and animals can be attacked by crocodiles or are drowned. Although the exact timings and route can change each year the migration follows a similar path, mainly determined by the rainfall. Following the migration closely are the predators, the lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas and vultures circling overhead. Serengeti is also home to 35 species of plains-dwelling animals including the “Big Five” - elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. Birds commonly seen here include the Kori bustard, Africa’s heaviest flying bird, as well as ostrich, francolins and the exquisitely coloured lilac breasted roller.