In a bizarre mishap, about 10,000 wildebeest drowned at a bend in Kenya's Mara river in the last week of September. Conservationists say the deaths, which occurred over several days, have wiped out about one per cent of the total species population. Although wildebeests die in large numbers during their annual migration to Serengeti in Tanzania, this year the number is astoundingly high. The accident happened in Maasai Mara National Reserve in southern Kenya. Part of the herd attempted to cross the river at a particularly treacherous point and got swept away by the current and drowned, say conservationists working in the area. Some 2,000 animals drowned at the crossing in a single afternoon.