The tail end of the herd crosses the river from Kenya down into Tanzania, as thunderstorms begin in the north. Meanwhile, the bulk of the animals are moving back down into the Lobo Valley region and Grumeti Reserve, tracing their epic annual circle back south toward their calving grounds.
Marching ever onward, the herds have largely left the north and are passing through the Lobo region toward the central Serengeti. Rain is still scarce here, and the nutrition inherent in the grasslands is less than ideal. Interestingly, the reason the wildebeest can still share grazing land with zebra is because the two animals consume different parts of individual blades of grass.
The Great Migration is now dispersed across the central Serengeti, from as far north as Lobo, to the southern reaches of Ndutu. The rains catch up at last with the still-moving herds, and intense thunderstorms and localised showers are experienced across the region. The animals have returned to the more nutritious Pennisetum, Sporobolus, Andropogon, Cynodon and Themeda grasses, ready to calve in the south and begin the great cycle all over again.