Exploring the Serengeti

Just as I'm falling asleep I can hear animals moving around the tents and I hear lions roaring in the distance. It takes a while but finally I get used to the outside noises and drift off to sleep. This morning we don't have to be up too early since we are leaving camp about 8am. We start to head north to a flat area of the Serengeti. Serengeti means endess plains I believe. The grass is fairly high hear so it's hard to spot the animals. Just as we hit the main road, we spot a hyena. After Naabi Hill Gate we start to see zebra and wildebeest in small numbers. There's plenty of gazelle but we also see a few elephants, hartebeest and topi. We start to drive by kopjes (copies) which are small rocky outcrops so I'm hoping to see leopard or lions on the rocks. Just as I have my head down looking at my camera, Jackson says there is a serval cat crossing the road. Unfortunately, I only get to get a quick glimpse of it as it enters the tall grass.

We head toward the west along a small river that is lined with trees and I see my 1st leopard thanks to the 4x4 stopped along the road. Up at least 30 feet in a tree is a leopard lounging along a branch. It's at least 100m off the road so pictures won't be great but I'll know it was a leopard. After watching it for about 10 minutes, it decides to get up. It hopes over to another branch then starts to climb down before it finally jumps off the tree at least 10 feet off the ground. Gradually it disappears into the tall grass. About 2km down the road a lioness is sleeping by herself under a tree. There's lots of giraffes in this area and we stop at a small pond to investigate. A small Nile crocodile is on one bank and a few hippos are along the opposite shore. 2 Fish eagles are at the top of one of the trees.

A few km's away there is about 15 4x4 stopped along the road so it must be something to see. Heading over there is 1 leopard in a tree. Still hoping to find baby leopards, cheetahs or lions today. There is a road on each side of this group of about 20 trees so we try each side checking out the best photo vantage point. I often wonder what animals think when they see all these tourists checking them out. Maybe they think, "is it time for a yawn or a stretch to get a reaction out of people", "what can I do to get a few oohs & aah out of them".

At Seronera there is a visitors centre and picnic area. They have an intrepet walk up and around one of the kopjes which is very interesting about the animals, birds, bugs, etc. There is a theatre showing nature films and I happened to see a male lion killing young cubs so the lioness would be able to breed again. Not exactly something you want to watch while you are having your lunch. The picnic area has lots of rock and tree hyrax and dwarf mongooses running around and there are all kinds of interesting birds looking for crumbs.

Leaving Seronera, we start to head back to camp and come upon a large herd of elephants with a new baby that is barely taller than the grass. All the usual animals are spotted along with quite a few giraffe. At Simba Rocks (simba is swahili for lion) we see a male and female lion sunbathing high up on a rock. Another moment when my video camera doesn't work, crap! The male lion gets up to move and it looks just like the scene from the Lion King movie. Nothing new to see the rest of the way home just hundreds of gazelle. Back at camp, it's a bit too cloudy so there isn't much of a sunset but plenty of lightening in the distance.

Early start this morning so we could be on the road by 615am so we could concentrate on the migrating animals (zebra and wildebeest). There's a pretty sunrise and we are driving around the Ngorongoro/Serengeti border area. Thousands of animals and lots of babies. The baby wildebeest are fun to watch as they chase each other in play. A baby wildebeest must be able to get up on it's feet within minutes of being born and within an hour they should be able to run and keep up with it's mother. I guess if they get separated they call out to each other but with all the noise I don't know how they can find each other amongst the thousands. We see a few carcasses or kill sites with lots of vultures and marabou stocks trying to get every last bit of meat on the bones. A few hyenas and jackals are also looking for a free meal.

The highlight of the day was seeing a female cheetah with 2 young cubs. They are still quite fluffy looking. We are able to spend quite a bit of time with them. We watch as the mother grooms one of the cubs and as she takes off, one cub seems to keep up while the other lags behind. At one time the cubs stayed in the tall grass so we thought maybe mom would be going off to hunt but eventually she called for them and they caught up to her.

Later we headed back to the marshy area we were at the previous day and the lions are still in the area. This time we only see the male, 1 female and 2 that are 1/2 grown. The female must be getting hot because she gets up and moves right over to our 4x4 and sits down in front of it to get out of the sun and wind. We have to back up to leave. Back at camp for brunch about 1230 then some free time to check out the photos and have a nap. Around 4pm we went on a guided walk with a ranger. He is armed with an AK47 and is tells us most rangers are ex-army guys. We see a dik dik, gazelle and zebra but not much but birds as we walk near the camp area. There's lots of footprints along the lake and I thinks some of them are hyena but he says lion. I still think I'm right since most lion prints don't show the claws and the shape looked more like a hyena. Tonight at camp, we are full with 4 Brits and 7 Spainards so there lots of new people to talk to around the campfire or at dinner. Sandra and Ken get in really late after their 4x4 was stuck in the mud for over an hour. Just before falling asleep I hear a stampede of animals stop right outside my tent. I take out my flash light but can't make out what they are. I can hear them eating the grass so I figure that they must be zebra.

Before flying out of the Serengeti back to Arusha, we have a short drive around the area. We went to another soda lake near Lake Nduto and saw dead wildebeest that had been stuck in the mud. Jackson, says that sometimes even the lions will get stuck when they try to go in looking for an easy meal. On the other side of the lake are about 16 hippos playing in the mud. We were able to get out of the 4x4 and watch them for a while before the leader decided it was time for deeper water and it was follow the leader as they left us. At the end of the lake, 2 lioness are sunbathing. I wonder if they could be the lions I heard roaring in the night and early morning hours. This morning we also saw impala, hartebeest, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and 3 jackals. I'm disappointed that we can't go over to the area where we have seen cheetahs in the past since my video camera seems to be working this morning. We end up just sitting at the dirt airstrip waiting for the plane. A 12 seater prop plane (nice and new looking) arrive and surprisingly it's a smooth take off. The flight is fairly smooth and we can see the sides of Ngorongoro Crater but clouds cover the top. We are a bit too high to see animals but the changing scenery is nice on the way to Arusha. Dave and Debbie are taking another flight to Zanzibar so I say my goodbyes and have my transfer waiting to take me into town. There's a buffet lunch at the New Arusha Hotel, a very nice hotel in the centre of town. A quick check of my emails and a stop to exchange some money before I'm taking to a day room at the Kia Lodge near Kilimanjaro Airport. Since I'm not flying out today I spend the time exploring the great gardens filled with birds and lizards. I plan on using the pool but end up watching tv in the room before I take the shuttle over to the airport. Anthony who helps out at the orphanage is waiting to pick me up and take me to Light in Africa.