‘Awe-Inspiring’ Migration of 6 Million Antelope in South Sudan Is Largest Land Mammal Movement on Earth

An aerial survey conducted by wildlife NGO African Parks has revealed the largest land mammal migration on Earth.

The Great Nile Migration of six million antelope from the Boma-Badingilo Jonglei Landscape (BBJL) in South Sudan to Ethiopia’s Gambella National Park is more than twice the size of the annual “great migration” of two million zebras, wildebeest and gazelle from Tanzania’s Serengeti to Kenya, reported The Guardian.

“The migration in South Sudan blows any other migration we know of out the water,” said David Simpson, park manager for Boma and Badingilo national parks with African Parks, as The Guardian reported. “The estimates indicate the vast herds of antelope species… are almost three times larger than east Africa’s great migration. The scale is truly awe-inspiring.”

African Parks used two aircraft equipped with cameras that gathered detailed documentation of the migration by taking a picture every two seconds, producing 330,000 total images. Graduates of University of Juba then examined the photos and counted the wildlife using computer software.

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“Seeing these animals here at such scale is something I could have never fathomed still existed on the planet,” said Mike Fay, African Parks’ landscape coordinator for Boma and Badingilo, as reported by The Guardian. “From the air, it felt like I was watching what Earth might have been like millennia ago, when nature and humans still existed together in balance.”

The region’s animal species have survived alongside decades of instability and civil war in South Sudan.

From April 28 to May 15 of last year, the pilots flew the researchers over the entire 122,774 square kilometers of known antelope range in the BBJL. Some of the landscape they covered had never been surveyed before. In addition to antelope, they also documented lions, giraffes, buffalo, elephants and other species.

“The BBJL aerial survey is the first comprehensive survey of this region. This historic survey has highlighted the scale of the migration, and aided in informing strategic conservation efforts to ensure sustainability for both the wildlife and people who depend on the landscape,” a press release from African Parks said. “A comparison with surveys done in the 1980s shows that there have been declines in most sedentary species — such as elephant and giraffe — which need year-round access to water and which do not exhibit a migratory pattern, further highlighting the need for proper protection of the landscape outside Boma and Badingilo national parks.”

The animals in the Great Nile Migration are on the move year-round, likely driven by the availability of quality grazing conditions, The Guardian reported. The survey estimates included four species of antelope: five million white-eared kob, 350,000 Mongalla gazelle, a little less than 300,000 tiang and 160,000 bohor reedbuck.

The results surprised scientists, since despite wildlife decreasing in many parts of the planet due to climate change and human development, the Great Nile Migration has endured and expanded, reported CNN.

“If the numbers are right with these species, it looks like they’ve increased since 2007. It looks like they’ve increased since the 1980s even,” Fay said, as CNN reported.

Simpson said the findings of the survey are “a gamechanger for conservation efforts in South Sudan” and have the potential to be “one of the greatest conservation opportunities on the planet,” as reported by The Guardian.

Currently, South Sudan is not considered a safe destination for international tourists, but Simpson believes it has great potential.

“Having the world’s largest land mammal migration could put South Sudan on the map as a must-visit ecotourism destination. But the migration’s current critical value is food security for local communities,” Simpson said, as The Guardian reported.

Simpson pointed out that, in addition to demonstrating the vast numbers of wildlife in the world’s largest land mammal migration, the survey also exposed threats to the animals, including “the expansion of roads, agriculture, charcoal production, commercialisation.”

“These activities can lead to habitat loss, resource depletion and disruption of migration routes, ultimately threatening the survival of the migration and the livelihoods of local people,” Simpson said. “By ensuring the health of the ecosystems the migration depends on, the livelihoods of people across the migration landscape can be secured.”

For more than four decades, Fay has been exposed to magnificent wildlife while working on conservation projects in Africa, but when he saw the incredible display of antelope galloping together across the Nile floodplain, he was stunned, reported CNN.

“How is it even possible that there can be this many wild animals?” Fay said. “It’s not so much a sentimental thing for me, it’s more about the biological and ecological capacity of this land to produce so much wildlife. It’s truly phenomenal.”