The Best an Animal Migrations to Emulate

Looking for trip ideas? Consider advice from animals around the world

Animals have been traveling for hundreds of years so today we have decided to use their centuries of travel expertise for our own travels.

We shall start our list with the Basking Shark. This shark is a clever aquatic animal that got its name after it was spotted playing the banjo for plankton next to an empty hat. It typically spends its summers in the warm northern Atlantic Ocean where tourist fish are more likely to tip, unless they are European.

Like most buskers, this shark makes its way south for the winter going as far south as the equator and even Brazil.

If you want to emulate this journey, then consider getting a sailboat and spend the summer between Eastern Canada and the UK. When winter arrives you must head south. Easy right?

The Basking Shark is still a bit mysterious to science, so your best option now is to put on goggles and try to see one from the side of the boat. Good luck.

Pacific Salmon journey from birth along the coastline of Alaska, to the Bering Sea and on to Japan and Russia. What's impressive is when they make it back for an end-of-life egg laying. The Sockeye salmon is known to travel the farthest of all salmon, swimming thousands of miles over the course of its life.

This is also a pretty rocking trip seeing as how the ones that make it will spend about 4 years swimming and traveling and probably meeting other fish that speak crazy different fish-languages. The sad part is that they die after they make it back to the river of their birth.

It's quite touching, really. Like a beautifully written Hollywood movie. The Salmon work all their life preparing for that one perfect shag, only to ironically find it at the very place of their birth. Sadly, however, they have expelled so much energy getting there and that is what kills them. That or the bears that feed on Salmon.

So, if you are wanting to emulate this journey, I recommend avoiding the ending. The part with the shag is great, not so much the bear. Start by taking 4 years out of your life. Go to the west coast in Canada or Alaska, and begin by making your way around the Aleutian Islands, to the east coast of Russia and check out Japan. Then make your way back to where you started, find a partner, and do what comes natural.

Great work, Sockeye!

It is estimated that 300,000 Zebras living in the grassy plains of Africa make an 1800 mile trek from the Serengeti across the Kenyan border to the Masai Mara National Reserve. These social animals travel in huge groups. They eat until the grasses turn brown and then they move on.

To put it in terms we can understand, it would be like making a cross country trip in the USA and eating burgers in each city. Then after the first city runs out of burgers you would move on to the next city and eat their burgers until that city runs out and so forth. So in a way, I think many people can relate to this zebra migration, if they haven't already emulated it in one way or another. But I digress...

Back to Africa.
To really emulate this trip you should bring flippers and goggles with you for the various river crossings. Just be careful as many of the zebras get chomped up by crocodiles and lions waiting for an easy meal.

Snow geese mean business when they travel. They begin their journey in the northern bits of North America, between Greenland and Alaska. Some red hot lovin' and a few goslings later, they take off for their trip to the Gulf States and Mexico in late summer.

They will migrate in large flocks of 100 to 1000, so you can imagine how boring conversations get after a few thousand miles. As well they have been known to fly 70 hours or 1700 miles in one shot. Impressive considering I can't drive more than 4 hours without a pee break.

If you're considering this trip, then start packing in late summer. Begin in the arctic regions and head south. You can't go wrong. You may want to bring a few empty bottles as these long haul travelers don't stop until they hit the Dakota's.

Essentially they are traveling south to get out the arctic cold, but this is debated in the science world. Sorry to all you hot-blooded lusty travelers, but the snow geese mate for life. You may be better off traveling with the Monarchs.

The monarch Butterfly makes a trek of up to 3000 miles, starting in northern US and Canada heading south to Michoacan in Central Mexico.

It is like one big sexy party as it's estimated that tens of millions of monarchs head south of the border looking for love and a good time. With a diet mainly consisting of milk ”weed”, you can be almost certain they are looking for a party.

If you want to join the monarchs for tequila and tacos, then it is best to get a vehicle and start in the northern midwest USA. You don't have to rush as it is estimated that monarchs travel a mere 50 miles a day. That leaves loads of time for you and your milkweed.

One more thing, monarchs make this 3000 mile trip to a small forest in Mexico without the use of maps or GPS. Good luck with that, techno-nerd.

And finally, we have the Christmas Island Red crabs which make their migration across this small Indian Ocean Island. Every year around October/November the Red Crab makes its way from the forest to the coast.

It is estimated that 120 million of them make this journey each year, covering everything on the island with red crabs.

Upon their arrival the crabs find a mate and waste no time getting busy. Females have tens of thousands of eggs within only a few weeks.

If this sounds like your kind of vacation, then waste no time. Most importantly, you must learn how to do the crab walk. After mastering this, get on the next flight to Christmas Island and start the journey in the woods. As you head down to the coast line watch out for moving vehicles. If you do get hit by a car, just be sure to puncture the tires.

When you finally make it to the coast, start giving her the business. Just be sure to use protection, because you don't want to get crabs. (If you didn't see that joke coming, then please, turn off the computer and move out of your mother's basement).

There you have it, our favorite animal migrations for you to emulate.

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Mike is the founder of Travel Droppings and has been traveling since 2005. Hobbies include staring at maps, drinking coffee and helping old ladies cross the street. Future trips include England and Australia.

Contact Mike