#Headline Creation Challenge#This photo was published in National Geographic in 2014 and won the Extreme Creativity Award in the Extreme Photo Contest. Titled "Just to Meet You", creator Wu Jianhui.
The setting sun fades the wildness of the day in the East African steppe, the sunset silhouettes the grassland and large trees, and a majestic male lion and slender lioness freeze into graceful lines in the setting sun. The author photographed the Mara prairie in Maasai in Kenya in August 2011, where the sunset is truly dreamlike.
Every year starting in June, millions of wildebeests, hundreds of thousands of zebras and antelopes travel north from the Serengeti Reserve in Tanzania, trekking more than 3,000 kilometers to the Mara steppe in Kenya, and in July a large army of migrants crosses the Glumiti River, and in August they forcibly cross the Mara River into the Mara savannah in Kenya, and it is no exaggeration to say, The forced crossing of the Mara River by migrating armies is one of the most stunning natural landscapes on our planet at the moment, and there are almost no of them.
At this moment, the Mara River is deep and rapid, and thousands of crocodiles are in ambush, quietly waiting for their prey. And the wildebeest and antelope who were eager to go north to find tender grass had no way to retreat, and in this doomed fate gladiatorial arena, the two sides collided with each other.
If you want to observe this scene, you need a certain amount of patience, and the off-road vehicle has to ambush in the woods about 100 meters away from the Mara River, first check it with a telescope, and then wait quietly for an hour or two. If you are seen by a wildebeest, you may think it is a lion and will not cross the river. When the wildebeest are ready and the first lead horse begins to gallop at full strength, at this time the off-road vehicle slammed on the accelerator and rushed out, accelerating to the same speed as the wildebeest group, and more than a dozen off-road vehicles accompanied by hundreds of thousands of wildebeest horses galloping at a speed of about 100 miles, forcing the river to cross, that wild and magnificent, is a graded experience that everyone deserves to experience once in their life.
How about it, is there any heartbeat, after the epidemic, the mountains and rivers are unharmed, let's make a plan for a wild trip to East Africa.
The first choice is of course the Mara savannah we mentioned above in August in Kenya, go to the Mara River waiting for the migration army to cross the river, which requires arranging time to fly to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the Mara River is about 6 hours away from Nairobi, you can choose a reliable group in Nairobi, or you can find your own guide to rent a car (not recommended).
The second best time is the Mara River in October, when the migration army returns the same way, and still needs to cross the Mara River, the magnificent scene is no different from when they came, but for us we can catch the November Golden Week, maybe a better time choice.
If it's not July-November, it's recommended to head to the Serengeti in Tanzania, where the animal army stays. Especially in February, another spectacular scene on the planet takes place every February, when a million wildebeest give birth. In the short grassy plains of the southern Serengeti, ash from volcanic eruptions near Ndutu is rich in potassium. This makes it the most abundant pasture in Africa. The army of wildebeest is desperately eating and breeding at this time. This had to be done in six to eight weeks, and 8,000 young wildebeest were born almost every day. To arrive in the Serengeti, you must also fly to Nairobi, and from Nairobi then transfer to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Or find a suitable travel agency from Nairobi and go directly to the car with the group. By the way, Tanzania is the most ironclad country in Africa and China, equivalent to Africa's Pakistan Railway, where there are many of our engineering projects, so there are actually many Chinese there, and it is more convenient to travel.
The journey was not easy, the trek was extraordinary, the hardship was extraordinary, and the local conditions were very average. But we have crossed thousands of mountains and rivers, perhaps just to meet you.