Wildebeest Pictures

The black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu (Connochaetes gnou) is much less common and is found only on South African wildlife reserves and private game farms.

In the national parks of southern Africa, wildebeest can often be sighted, usually in small herds, which makes it fairly easy to photograph them while on safari there.

Wildebeest Pair Drinking from Waterhole

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Medium Telephoto Zoom When photographing groups of wildebeest, a medium telephoto zoom lens, around 70-200mm, will normally suffice. To get good shots of individual wildebeest, or close-ups of the head and shoulders, then you'll need a longer lens, in the 300mm to 400mm range. On the vast plains of East Africa, whether in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park or Kenya's Masai Mara, the annual wildebeest migration offers a totally different set of photographic opportunities and challenges. Massive Herds During the migration, the wildbeest congregate in herds of many thousands as they move in search of better grazing. While this is visually astounding and is recognized as one of the world's great wildlife spectacles, it's also extremely difficult to portray in static pictures. To accurately record the magnitude of the wildebeest migration, you need a wide angle lens to capture the spread of animals that can fill your viewfinder from corner to corner. To eliminate the wasted space above and below the main subject, it's a good idea to take a series of pictures and stitch them into a panorama. River Crossings For most wildlife photographers, the ultimate of course is to get shots of the famous wildebeest river crossings. Here the animals bunch in hordes before leaping into the treacherous Grumeti or Mara rivers where crocodiles and other predators lie in wait. It's impossible to predict where or when the nervous animals will cross, so there's a large amount of luck involved in taking pictures of the wildebeest river crossings. For those fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, a long lens works extremely well as it compresses the subject, showing the wildebeest closely bunched together on the banks and in the river. Return to Wildlife Galleries

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