There is something slightly ridiculous about trying to make an appointment with a million wildebeest.

We spend an enormous amount of time planning our travellers’ journeys through Africa. We think about seasons, locations, camps, driving distances and the small details that can make the difference between a good safari and a wonderful one.

But every now and then, Africa provides a useful reminder about who is actually in charge.

The Great Migration is perhaps the finest example.

For all the maps, historical rainfall patterns, guide reports and accumulated knowledge that go into planning a Migration safari, the wildebeest themselves remain stubbornly uninterested in our arrangements. They move when grazing and water tell them to move. They split up, turn around, linger unexpectedly and occasionally appear somewhere nobody quite expected them to be.

And we rather like that.

Because while the Great Migration has become famous for one particularly dramatic moment – thousands of wildebeest plunging across a crocodile-filled river – the real story is much bigger, more complicated and, we think, considerably more interesting.

The Great Migration, taken by Compass Odyssey traveller, Peter

Most of us know the images. Wildebeest plunging down steep banks into churning water. Crocodiles waiting below. Thousands of animals massing behind them while those already committed to the crossing scramble for the opposite bank.

Witnessing a river crossing can be extraordinary. The noise, dust, confusion and sheer number of animals can be difficult to comprehend until you are sitting there watching it unfold.

But there is something important that often gets lost amongst those dramatic photographs.

Although the ‘official’ Great Migration season is generally considered to be from July to October, in actual fact it is a continual cycle of nomadic pasture-seeking, mating, calving and more pasture-seeking, that sees the majority of the herd on the move throughout the year.

Roughly a million wildebeest, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle, move through the Greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in response to something considerably less predictable than a calendar: rain.

In February and March, the southern Serengeti is the setting for one of the Migration’s great events when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest calves are born within the space of only a few weeks. As the southern plains dry, the herds gradually begin moving north and west in search of grazing and water.

By May and June they can be moving through the central and western Serengeti, with some encountering the Grumeti River. Later, generally between July and October, large numbers reach northern Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara, where the famous Mara River crossings may occur.

Then, as the short rains begin around November, the pull is southwards once more. Through November and December, the herds can spread along different routes through the Serengeti, gradually making their way towards the fresh, nutrient-rich grasses of the southern plains around Ndutu and the northern Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Here they will linger, feed and gather before the cycle of calving begins again.

Except, of course, it isn’t nearly as orderly as we’ve just made it sound.

The herds split. They regroup. They go north, south, forwards, backwards and sideways. They linger when grazing is good and move rapidly when it isn’t. One year can be quite different from the next.

Which is why any map showing a neat circle of wildebeest progressing politely around East Africa should be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion.

And then, occasionally, everything comes together.

A herd gathers at a river. More animals arrive. One wildebeest finally commits itself and suddenly hundreds or thousands follow.

What had been hours of waiting can become complete chaos within seconds.

The sound changes. Dust rises. Animals plunge into the water and scramble up the opposite bank. Others hesitate, turn around or follow another route. Predators may take advantage of the confusion.

Then, sometimes almost as suddenly as it began, it’s over.

Experiences like these explain why travellers from around the world hope to witness a river crossing. We completely understand the attraction – we’d like our travellers to see one too.

But there is another side to this popularity that deserves talking about.

Tom and Brad in the Serengeti with Nomad guide, James

In recent years, particular Migration crossing points have sometimes attracted large numbers of safari vehicles. The desire to secure the ‘best’ position can result in vehicles racing towards a crossing, crowding animals or putting pressure on guides to get their guests closer.

For us, no wildlife sighting is worth that.

The wildebeest aren’t performing for us. A river crossing isn’t an event scheduled for 10.30am that everybody has bought a ticket to attend. It is a moment in the lives of wild animals responding to circumstances we cannot control.

And we think that distinction matters.

It is one reason we are careful about the safari operators, camps and guides we work with in East Africa. Within the Masai Mara we have long valued our relationship with Peter and Wendy Twycross’ Sentinel Mara Camp and Masai legend Jackson Looseyia’s Tangulia Mara Camp, while across the Mara River we work with Nomad Tanzania, which was founded by a collection of elite local guides and operates a number of low-impact, off-grid camps in the Serengeti.

We are proud to be associated with these pioneers whose approach to guiding and experiencing the Migration reflects the principles that are important to us. This includes empowering their guides to avoid the crowded hotspots and if a sighting/crossing point looks too busy and the animals are under unnecessary pressure, they’ll explain why it’s no longer a good or responsible experience and they’ll take you elsewhere. If vehicle numbers start to build up beyond what feels sensible and respectful, they will step back. We trust their judgement completely, and we hope you will too.

Nomad produced a lovely short film, The Map Makers of the Serengeti, which takes you behind the scenes of one of their mobile camps as it follows the Migration. Rather than focusing only on the wildebeest, it introduces some of the people whose years of knowledge and experience make these safaris possible – including the guides and camp team who pack up, move and rebuild camp as the season changes. If you have 12 minutes to spare, it’s well worth watching.

And that experience and judgement really matter. A good guide knows when to move – but just as importantly, when not to.

They understand animal behaviour, communicate with other guides, read changing conditions and use their experience to put travellers in the best possible position without compromising the wildlife in order to get there.

Sometimes that requires patience.

Quite a lot of patience.

There are plenty of things we’re happy to meticulously organise for our travellers.

A wildebeest river crossing isn’t one of them.

We can choose an excellent camp in an area where the herds are historically likely to be. We can recommend travelling at an appropriate time of year. We can allow enough nights to improve your chances and, where appropriate, combine locations. We can arrange an experienced private guide and vehicle so there is greater flexibility in how you spend your days.

What we cannot do is tell a million wildebeest where we’d like them to be next Thursday.

Nor would we want to.

Sometimes travellers wait beside a river only for the herd to turn around. Sometimes the animals cross before you arrive. Sometimes they simply stand there, apparently contemplating life, while you eat your picnic lunch.

And sometimes you are fortunate enough to be there at exactly the right moment.

That’s wildlife.

New lives emerge during the calving season

Perhaps the biggest shame about our fascination with river crossings is that it can distract from everything else.

Imagine waking in a tented camp and hearing wildebeest calling somewhere out in the darkness.

Or cresting a rise to discover a line of animals stretching across the plains towards the horizon.

There are the southern Serengeti calving grounds, where an astonishing concentration of new life inevitably attracts lion, cheetah and hyena. There are zebra travelling amongst the wildebeest, predators shadowing the herds and great swathes of grassland being grazed and replenished as the animals pass through.

And even when the main herds have moved elsewhere, the Greater Serengeti-Mara remains one of Africa’s great wildlife areas, with substantial resident populations of lion, leopard, cheetah, giraffe, zebra and countless other species.

The Migration isn’t really a single spectacle at all.

It’s an enormous living system, unfolding every day of the year.

And perhaps that is the better reason to travel all that way to see it.

After more than 20 years of arranging journeys through Africa, we’ve learnt that meticulous planning certainly helps. Good timing helps. And having an exceptional local guide beside you helps enormously.

But Africa occasionally has other ideas.

Perhaps that is part of what keeps drawing us back too. There are still places where you can do all your homework, make all the right decisions and then have to sit quietly and see what happens next.

If the wildebeest cross the river in front of you, what a privilege to witness it. If they don’t, there will be another story unfolding somewhere nearby – and a good guide will usually help you find it.

For us, that’s what a safari should be. Not a collection of sightings to tick off, but time spent in a wild place, on its terms rather than ours.

We think a lot about our presence here. A Compass Odyssey safari can still be extraordinary and feel like it did 20 years ago and we strive for that.

Emily, John and Tyler with Jackson and his team at Tangulia Mara Camp

If the Migration has been sitting somewhere on your travel wish list, the first question doesn’t necessarily need to be “When should I go?” but rather “What would I most like to experience?”

The calving season on the southern Serengeti plains is very different from travelling with the herds as they move north, and different again from spending time in northern Serengeti or the Masai Mara during the river-crossing months. There isn’t one definitive ‘best’ Migration safari.

And if an end-of-year escape appeals, December can be a lovely time to be in the Serengeti. The returning herds, fresh grass following the short rains and the prospect of spending the festive season somewhere decidedly different make it a time of year worth considering.

If you’re curious about experiencing the Migration yourself – or simply want to understand it a little better – contact us and we’ll send you a copy of our Great Migration guide. It takes a closer look at the different seasons and areas, what you might experience at various times of year, and some of the practical considerations when planning a safari around the herds.

Should you decide to go, we’ll do everything we can to put you in the right place, with the right people, at the right time.

After that, the wildebeest get a vote.