Matiti plains & twin hills Serengeti Tanzania —African gorilla tracking safari

Matiti plains & twin hills Serengeti Tanzania -The Great Wildebeest Migration safaris

Matiti plains & twin hills Serengeti Tanzania – The mountain stood higher and mightier than nearby Mount Kilimanjaro. Its summit scraped the ceiling of Africa and its slopes were so vast they directed their own weather patterns and water flow. All was well with this sleeping sentinel until one day the mountain woke up. Then it fell down.

The volcano erupted with a blast so ferocious that it caved in on itself, an implosion creating a caldera spanning a hundred square miles: 12 miles wide and 2,000 feet deep. What had once claimed the highest peak on the continent was now a mere impression, inverse to its former glory.

But the glory returned. Over the course of a few million years this geologic divot filled with life. First, it caught pockets of fresh water. Second, lush vegetation developed, and third—you guessed it—the wild ones arrived.

Abundant water and grasses attracted ungulates, large predators, and countless bird species. Because of its enclosed topography, animals would descend into this bowl-shaped place and never leave.

Matiti plain and Twin hills Serengeti Tanzania.

The marvelous Matiti Plains surround the Twin Hills. Between February and March, female wildebeests gather here to give birth to their cubs when the migration stops by in Southern Serengeti.

Unlike many other herbivores seeking shelter before a delivery, wildebeests give birth in the open, unprotected.

These cubs are very precocious. A few minutes after the birth they are already standing on their legs and little after this they can already run.

Especially in times of birth, many predators are easy to spot, cheetahs, hyenas and lions in particular, waiting for the right moment to take a mother by surprise and snatch her new-born.

There is an extremely high concentration of animals from December to April, and it is a really beautiful sight to behold. Other animals found in the area are: Grant gazelles, Thomson gazelles, giraffes, leopards, caracals, bat-eared foxes and steenboks.