WAYFARER
The Great Migration: reading the Mara and the Serengeti as one landscape
- Assam in the wet: the Hargila stork and the closed season at Kaziranga
- India's tiger forests, and why they close in the rains
- Sabah, Borneo: orangutans, a river and a plantation edge
- Bears at Brooks Falls; Europe's last primeval forest
Wildlife and Wilderness
There is a particular kind of silence in a safari vehicle when a herd is about to cross a river and nobody knows if it will. It is a good silence. It is also a reminder that wildlife is not a performance, and that those of us who watch have a duty to behave like guests.
This month's issue is built around that idea. We have written about the best-known spectacle in Africa, the migration of wildebeest between the Serengeti and the Mara, and we have tried to say plainly what is uncertain about it: the herd size, the dates, the weather. We have also written about places that close in August, because the best advice some months is to wait.
The profiles this month are about people who protect wildlife by changing how their neighbours think: a biologist in Assam, rangers in Kenya, a scientist in Sabah. They are drawn from published reporting and marked as such. We have not met them.
Read slowly. Keep your distance. Ask your guide what the animals are doing, not just what they look like.
— Gitanjali Gautam, Editor-in-Chief
This month's theme. August is when the savannah moves. Herds cross a river in the Mara, bears stand on a waterfall in Alaska, and in India the great national parks go quiet for the monsoon. This issue is about wild places and the people who keep them wild: a woman who organised thousands of neighbours around a stork, a team of young Maasai women on foot patrol, and the rules that make a good wildlife trip good for the animals.
Contents
Cover storyThe Great Escape
Northeast India · AssamNortheast India: Beyond the Familiar
India · Madhya PradeshIndia: Beyond the Usual
Asia · Malaysia (Sabah, Borneo)Asia: A Continent of Experiences
Around the WorldAround the World
- Alaska: Brooks Falls and the bears that eat the riverIn July and September, brown bears gather at a waterfall in Katmai National Park to catch jumping salmon. The rules for watching them are strict, and for good reason.RESEARCHED
- Białowieża: Europe's bison forestA primeval forest on the Poland–Belarus border, with a guide-only strict reserve and a herd of free-roaming bison.RESEARCHED
Real stories from the roadPeople & Places
- The Hargila Army: how a biologist in Assam turned neighbours into stork guardiansA wildlife biologist and thousands of village women are protecting the world's rarest stork nests.PROFILE · FROM PUBLISHED REPORTING · NOT INTERVIEWED BY WAYFARER
- On foot and unarmed: the women rangers of AmboseliTeam Lioness, an all-women unit of Maasai community rangers, patrols the land around Kenya's Amboseli National Park.PROFILE · FROM PUBLISHED REPORTING · NOT INTERVIEWED BY WAYFARER
- The scientist who counts orangutans in the plantationMarc Ancrenaz has spent years on Sabah's Kinabatangan river, working out how orangutans live in a fragmented landscape.PROFILE · FROM PUBLISHED REPORTING · NOT INTERVIEWED BY WAYFARER
- Sepilok, where orangutans learn to be wild againA government-run centre in Sabah has rehabilitated orphaned orangutans since 1964. A place profile.PROFILE · FROM PUBLISHED REPORTING · NOT INTERVIEWED BY WAYFARER
Reader and contributor briefsBe part of Wayfarer
Food, heritage and natureTaste, Heritage & Nature
- The Taste of Travel: an Assamese meal, in orderKhar first, tamul last, and a sour fish curry in between.RESEARCHED
- Heritage Without Borders: Olduvai GorgeA 48-km ravine in the Tanzanian plains where early human ancestors were found.RESEARCHED
- The Natural Calendar: AugustWhat to look for, where, and how sure we are.RESEARCHED
- Responsible Travel: how to be a good guest on safariFive habits that matter more than the vehicle you choose.RESEARCHED
Practical toolkitTravel Smart
CommunityReaders' Pages
- The Traveller's Lexicon: safariA Swahili word that travelled.LEXICON
- Travel Quiz — AugustFive questions. Answers appear in next month's issue.QUIZ
- Your turn: a wildlife encounter, and what you learntReader engagement idea for the next issue.READER INVITATION
- The Traveller's BookshelfThree books for the wild.RECOMMENDED READING
Festivals & events radar
Dates below come from our festival guide and are approximate. Always confirm with the official organiser before you book; lunar-calendar and annually announced events are provisional until confirmed.
Northeast India & India
| Event | Where | When (approx.) | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onam (Thiruvonam) | Kerala | 26 August 2026 verify | Kerala's harvest festival, with flower carpets and a vegetarian feast.. |
| Janmashtami | Across India | 4 September 2026 verify | Celebrates Krishna's birth with fasting, midnight prayers and curd-pot festivals.. |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | Mumbai, Pune and across India | 14 September 2026 (about ten days) verify | A ten-day festival of clay Ganesha idols ending with immersion processions.. |
| Ziro Festival of Music | Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh | 24–27 September 2026 verify | An outdoor indie music festival in a highland valley, with camping and a stress on eco-friendly practice.. |
| Mysuru Dasara | Mysuru, Karnataka | 11–21 October 2026 official | An eleven-day festival with a grand elephant procession on the final day.. |
| Durga Puja | Kolkata, West Bengal | 17–21 October 2026 (Shashthi to Dashami) verify | Kolkata's neighbourhood pandals compete in art and craft for five days.. |
Asia
| Event | Where | When (approx.) | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-Autumn Festival | China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam | 25 September 2026 verify | A moon-viewing and mooncake festival, with lantern displays in many cities.. |
Europe
| Event | Where | When (approx.) | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total solar eclipse | Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain | 12 August 2026 official | A rare total eclipse crossing Europe, visible in Spain shortly before sunset.. |
| Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Edinburgh, Scotland | 7–31 August 2026 official | The world's largest open-access arts festival, with thousands of shows.. |
| La Tomatina | Buñol, Valencia, Spain | 26 August 2026 verify | A tomato-throwing street fight held on the last Wednesday of August, with ticketed entry.. |
| Oktoberfest | Munich, Germany | 19 September–4 October 2026 official | The world's largest beer festival, held on the Theresienwiese.. |
Africa & the Americas
| Event | Where | When (approx.) | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mara River crossings (Great Migration) | Maasai Mara, Kenya | Usually July to October; peak often August–September verify | Wildebeest and zebra cross the Mara River on their circuit; timing depends on rain.. |
| Burning Man | Black Rock City, Nevada, USA | 30 August–7 September 2026 official | A temporary desert city of art and community; the Man burns on 5 September.. |
Oceania & international
| Event | Where | When (approx.) | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tasmanian Whisky Week | Tasmania, Australia | 1–9 August 2026 official | More than 40 distilleries take part with tours and tastings.. |
| Beaker Street Festival | Hobart, Tasmania | 6–17 August 2026 official | A science and arts festival over two weekends, with stargazing dinners.. |
Format example
Real developments up to 31 July 2026, each with a source. Check each one before you travel.
- IndiGo flew the first commercial flights from Noida International Airport on 15 June 2026, with domestic expansion continuing into July. Source: India Aviation Newsletter, 1 July 2026 (https://www.acumen.aero/blogs/-1-july-2026-india-aviation-newsletter).
- Kenya's Electronic Travel Authorisation: the official fee schedule lists a standard authorisation at USD 30 from 1 January 2025. Source: Kenya State Department for Immigration (https://borders.etakenya.go.ke/media/AIC_14.25.pdf).
- Core zones of six Madhya Pradesh tiger reserves (Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Panna and Sanjay-Dubri) are closed 1 July to 30 September in recent years, with buffer zones open. Source: Free Press Journal and Outlook reports (https://www.outlookindia.com/national/madhya-pradesh-six-tiger-reserves-to-re-open-on-oct-1-after-monsoon-shutdown-news-226705).
- Europe's Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026; ETIAS is scheduled for the last quarter of 2026. Source: European Commission (https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/main-differences-between-ees-and-etias-what-travellers-need-know-2026-04-28_en).
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