THE 7TH WONDER OF THE WORLD:

THE GREATEST WILDLIFE SPECTACLE ON EARTH

The largest mass movement of land mammals on the planet and one of the most breathtaking events in the animal kingdom, The Great Migration involves millions of wildebeest, as they follow an annual circular route around the Serengeti in Tanzania into Masai Mara in Kenya deifying crocodile infested rivers and flocks of predators along the way.

A 500km round trip from the Southern Serengeti to the northern edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve, the Great Migration is probably Africa's greatest wildlife spectacle and one of the World's most exceptional natural phenomena.

These migrants include about 2,000,000  Wildebeest, almost half a million  Thomson's Gazelle, about a million  Zebra, and thousands of  Eland.  Along the way they find Lions, Hyenas, Elephants, Buffalos, Leopards, cheetahs among others.

The Maasai Mara (also spelled Masai Mara) is a large park reserve in south-western Kenya, which is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park game reserve in Tanzania. Named for the Maasai tribespeople (the traditional inhabitants of the area) and the Mara River which divides it, it is famous for its exceptional population of game and the annual migration of the wildebeest every September and October, a migration so immense to be called the Great Migration.

With an area of 1510 km² the Masai Mara is not the largest game park in Kenya, but it is probably the most famous. The entire area of the park is nestled within the enormous Great Rift Valley that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to South Africa. The terrain of the reserve is primarily open grassland, with clusters of the distinctive acacia tree in the south-east region. The western border is the Esoit Oloololo Escarpment of the Rift Valley, and wildlife tends to be most concentrated here, as the swampy ground means that access to water is always good and tourist disruption is minimal. The easternmost border is 224 km from Nairobi, and hence it is the eastern regions which are most visited by tourists.

Big Cat Week is a documentary film that has been running for ten years on BBC television. It started under the name Big Cat Diary but changed in 2004 to give the documentary a new image. The documentary is set in the Masai Mara and follows the adventures of big cats. Normally each year they have a lion pride, a cheetah and a leopard.

Big Cat Diary was first filmed in 1996 and shown on BBC One. Updates followed, and new characters were introduced every two years or so on BBC Two. In 2002, the two original presenters, Jonathan Scott and Simon King, were joined by Saba Douglas-Hamilton.
In 2004, there was a change of format for the fifth visit to the Mara. BBC One showed nightly programmes over the course of a week instead of over several months. In 2005, for the first time, they were able to put exclusive broadband footage on the website adding context and detail to the TV experience.

In 2006, there were new programmes with a BBC Three spin-off, Big Cat Uncut and a 10th anniversary special. The first video field reports from the 2006 filming trip were a new addition to the website. The show is expected to return next year.