FAMILIES GO WILD

Travel companies are creating bespoke natural-science trips for parents and their kids, offering them the chance to encounter rare animals in their natural habitats, Xu Lin reports.

Clouds of dust swirl in the air as innumerable wildebeests throw themselves into the Mara River as they try to cross its surging waters without falling prey to crocodiles lurking under its surface. This is just one scene from the vast herds of the grazing antelopes' annual migration from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the greener pastures of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

"It's spectacular! My excitement is beyond words. It feels different to be here in person rather than to watch it in a documentary," says Beijinger Hou Yunsong, 14, who traveled to Kenya with his mother, Hou Jing, in August.