Top 5 Animal Migrations Worth Planning an Entire Trip Around

Nature's biggest commutes, ranked by how hard they make you rethink your own complaints about traffic.

1. 1

   Great Wildebeest Migration — Serengeti and Maasai Mara

   Over a million wildebeest crossing crocodile-filled rivers is the closest thing Earth has to a live-action epic, and it ruins every documentary afterward.

2. 2

   Monarch Butterflies — Michoacán, Mexico

   Watching whole fir forests turn orange and start fluttering is so unreal that you'll wonder whether the altitude is getting to you.

3. 3

   Sandhill Cranes — Platte River, Nebraska

   Half a million prehistoric-sounding birds land at dusk, and suddenly Nebraska in March is the hottest ticket in the country.

4. 4

   Red Crab Migration — Christmas Island, Australia

   Roads close and the island goes red as millions of crabs head for the sea, which makes it the only traffic jam worth flying to.

5. 5

   Salmon Run at Brooks Falls — Katmai National Park, Alaska

   Brown bears catching leaping salmon midair is pure spectacle, and Fat Bear Week proves the internet agrees.