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Slideshow: The Great Migration on the Serengeti Plain

Lions, zebras, and elephants are not native to the Iowa landscape, but a lot can be learned from these African creatures and from the challenges they face.  

On this wildlife day edition of Talk of Iowa, Charity Nebbe sits down with wildlife biologist Jim Pease, who has just returned from a trip to Africa. His guide, Jim Heck, of Explorer’s World Travel, also joins the conversation to talk about their journey and what they saw, including an up close and personal encounter with the Great Migration.

Credit Jim Pease
Wildebeest and zebras migrate north together, grazing as they go.

“You know, you hear about this your whole life, particularly as a wildlife biologist, and to see it up close and personal is just amazing,” says Pease. “In front of us we would have lines of thousands of zebras, wildebeests…many of them with young, walking along, grazing as they went, and heading north. And there would be another line a kilometer or two away…with some elands and other gazelles. It’s absolutely amazing.”

They also discuss conservation, tourism, and development in Africa. Heck writes about his decades long experiences in Africa at africaanswerman.com.

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Wildlife DayEnvironment
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa