Blue Wildebeest

Blue Wildebeest, Kruger National Park, South Africa

The Blue Wildebeest is, of course, the iconic African Migration animal, the one you see thundering off a stream bank in a mass of horns and hooves by the hundred as they move across the African bush in season…but most of the year this is how you see them, at least during the day. During the day the herds are dispersed in small groups as the grazing allows, generally in the company of similar small groups of Zebras. Zebra have a “you watch my back and I’ll watch yours” arrangement with Wildebeest. Come sundown, the Wildebeests (and the Zebras) reform in larger herds. One of our game viewers, on a day I was not in Kruger National Park, was stuck for 2 hours as herd of Wildebeest crossed the only road out of the park. The largest herd I saw, at sunset in Kruger, was maybe 200, and they crossed while we were parked at the gift shop/camp ground 7k inside the gates, stocking up on water for the drive home.

Sony RX10iii at 214mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *