There’s no denying it: the Great Migration ranks among Earth’s most awe-inspiring natural spectacles. Over a million wildebeest and zebras surge across the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem in a timeless rhythm of life and survival. Yet, in recent days, something old has become new again: an outcry over overcrowding, and rightly so. Last Week’s Viral Wake-Up Call - A video captured at the Kogatende crossing, a key point in Tanzania’s Serengeti, went viral, showing tourists stepping outside their vehicles, guides condoning the behaviour, and wildebeest panicking at the riverbank. Travel journalist Jennifer Flowers chronicled how a veteran guide watched over 150 vehicles collide in chaos around a crossing. Wildebeests were blocked, panicked, and even leaped from cliffs in desperation. His social media post reignited a hard conversation across the safari industry about overtourism, and whether our collective failure to manage it is risking the very future of the migration

This isn’t a fringe issue, it’s a turning point. Too many tourists, too many camps, too little enforcement. The questions are: how do we act responsibly in response? And how do we as African Born Safaris ensure an authentic migration experience? Because at African Born Safaris, we believe a migration safari should be transcendent, not transactional, and last week’s events underscore precisely why.

1. Because Conservation Begins With Respect: Lower vehicle density means less stress on wildlife. It means the difference between a herd’s instinctual journey and a spectacle controlled by crowds. Ethical tourism protects nature by allowing it to breathe.

2. Because Sustainable Tourism Is Rooted in Stewardship: Travel isn’t just about an experience, it’s an ecosystem. Fewer guests, smaller lodges, and stringent codes of conduct all help ensure that tourism sustains wildlife, community, and wilderness.

We've been taking our guests for years, and each year that they return they are in awe of this natural phenomenon. To avoid crowds we guide guests to Tanzania’s expansive Singita Grumeti private concession, a 350,000-acre sanctuary where exclusivity isn’t luxury, it’s also conservation in action. The main benefits include:

1. No overcrowding: Only lodge guests enter the concession, dramatically reducing vehicle traffic.

2. Twice the opportunity: Guests witness the migration’s southward and northward passages, without the crowds.

3. Tailored experience: With camps like Singita Explore Camp (private-use and mobile), experiences follow the herds, not the herd mentality.

We guide not for instant gratification, but for lasting impact, both in the eyes of our guests and in the eyes of the wild. The migration is truly a magnificent experience, one we would love to show you. Not as a staged spectacle of vehicles and crowds, but as it was always meant to be: vast herds moving instinctively across ancient pathways, undisturbed, unhurried, and unforgettable.

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www.africanbornsafaris.com