Scientists are providing new evidence to answer the longstanding question about why zebras have stripes. It appears stripes make terrible landing strips, bamboozling the fierce blood-sucking flies that try to feast on zebras and carry deadly diseases.

The 40,000 sq km Serengeti-Mara plain that straddles the border of Kenya and Tanzania is famous for its abundant and diverse wildlife. It is also home to one of the wonders of the world: the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. Each year about two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelles migrate from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara in search of food and water.

Take, for example, the Cyclocephala nodanotherwon, which is a type of rhinoceros beetle in the scarab family that was described by Ratcliffe in 1992.

East Africa’s Great Migration is perhaps the most famous large mammal migration in the world, and for good reason, but few people realize that Africa is home to several smaller mammal migrations that are equally spectacular in their own way.

With their dazzling black and white stripes and familiar horse body language, zebras are a firm favourite among safari-goers, especially when seen in their thousands during migratory events.

For animals, reproduction is a biological imperative, an instinct to pass their genetics onto the next generation.

The best time to be at the Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock in the Eastern Cape Karoo is at dawn.

Carcasses of impala, kudu and wildebeest hang from a slaughterhouse rail, ready to be turned into steaks, sausages and burger patties of the kind South Africa wants to see more of on the dinner table.