The Mountain of God

For the past 6 months, we have been surveying for wildlife in the region from Manyara Ranch up to the Northern Plains near Lake Natron. This is a critical area for the migration of wildebeest and zebra from Tarangire National Park, and it provides important habitat for resident animals like giraffe and another long-necked hoofed mammal, the gerenuk. The most numerous large animals we record (aside from cows and goats) are Grant's gazelles and plains (Burchell's) zebras, but we also regularly see giraffe, Thomson's gazelles, wildebeest, ostrich, gerenuk, dik dik, and impala. The landscape is truly magnificent, with sweeping views of several volcanoes, including the still-active Oldonyo Lengai, which means "Mountain of God" in the Maa language of the Maasai people who inhabit this area. The ash from Oldonyo Lengai makes the grasses in the surrounding area highly nutritious for herbivores, which is why ungulates migrate all the way from Tarangire National Park--a distance of over 100 kilometers--to give birth in the Northern Plains.

The magnificent Oldonyo Lengai, or Mountain of God, with Grant's gazelles in the foreground.