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Michael Lorentz has been guiding photographers and nature lovers in Africa since 1985. He is an accomplished wildlife photographer with a longitudinal portfolio of subjects from elephants to head-standing beetles and everything in between. Michael can show you the best places to go at the best times of day for the most photogenic encounters with the wild, and how safaris can help save endangered species, preserve the environment and protect communities. Catch up with him in this blog from the great migration.
NEW LIFE, NEW HAZARDS:
WILDEBEEST CALVES IN THE SERENGETI
Cheetah in Serengeti, Tanzania
The short grass plains of the Serengeti are the best grazing in Africa. They're the food-basket of the migration: the verdant grass grows on rich soil laid down by volcanic ash.
Right now, the wildebeest are dropping their calves en masse, thousands of them. There's something very moving about sitting in the middle of these plains watching life begin.
Within ten minutes, the new calf is on its feet. Within half an hour it's running with the herd. If it can't do that, it's finished. An early lesson in survival of the fittest.
There is so much food around in the shape of baby wildebeest that predators are drawn to the calving like magnets. Hyenas might travel 3 or 4 days non-stop to take advantage of the bounty, covering hundreds of miles. And there is so much predation from cheetah and lion that carcasses litter the plains for vultures and jackals to fight over.
It sounds tough — but nature is entirely unsentimental.
The herds will move on with or without their new calves within days, following the sound of thunder that signals rain and new life elsewhere on the plains.
A PASSION FOR AFRICA: About Michael Lorentz
Michael Lorentz is passionate about wildlife and the wilderness. He started his life in the bush in South Africa's Timbavati Game reserve in 1985, then moved to Botswana as assistant general manager of Gametrackers safaris. In 1991 he met Randall Moore, who successfully returned elephants from zoos back to the wild, and formed Elephant Back Safaris on half a million acres in the Okavango Delta. After nine successful years, Michael moved back to South Africa and joined forces with Mike Kirkinis to develop Passage to Af
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