“The Great Migration in East Africa: A Wildlife Photographer’s Perspective”

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Every year between June and December, one of the largest and longest migrations in the animal kingdom in the world takes place in East Africa (watch the video above).

During it, more than 2 million wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and other creatures move up the Serengeti River to the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya, in search of greener pastures.

The focus of wildlife photographers

This event attracts many people on an annual basis, including the Kuwaiti photographer, Majed Sultan Al-Zaabi, who indicated in an interview with CNN in Arabic that people “spend a lot of money to reach these remote areas to document these moments.”

The Great Migration is the focus of attention for wildlife photographers because of its great diversity. There are many predators waiting for their prey from migratory animals, such as ferocious crocodiles in the river.

The risks do not disappear once the animals succeed in crossing, as the lions and leopards are waiting for them on the opposite side of the river.

And when their turn is over, the rest of the animals come to pick up their share of the abandoned carcasses, such as hyenas, then foxes, jackals, vultures, hungry crows, and even insects in an “exquisite chain of the circle of life,” according to Al Zaabi.

The photographer went to document the great migration in the Masai Mara Nature Reserve, Kenya, for the first time in 2010.

Between survival and falling victim to predation

The reserve in Kenya is usually very crowded during this period, with the number of safari vehicles at the site exceeding 100 vehicles.

People are waiting for the “great, exciting, and frightening scene, where moments do not end except with survival, falling, or predation.”

During the trip, which usually lasts a week, photographers visit the crossing points where wildebeests and zebras congregate in preparation for the crossing.

Speaking about these crucial moments, the photographer said: “The decision-making process to cross may take hours or days, until one of the buffaloes dares to do so, and the rest of the herds follow them madly, and dust is raised as if it were a battle between them and crocodiles.”

And the photographer confirmed: “We can hardly see what is around us sometimes because of the density of dust.”

Despite the lack of vision to a certain degree, the sounds of wildebeests can still be heard, most of which die due to stampede, as the photographer explained that they “trample on each other, until they die under the hooves, and become an easy meal for the predators around them in a terrible scene.”