Abba's Africa

The Serengeti

Our 45 min flight from Manyara to our airstrip in the Serengeti took us over the crater. Amazing to see it from above. Our new guide, Albert, met us at the airstrip and we headed out on a game drive before heading to camp.

Albert told us there was still some migration happening within Tanzania where the wildebeest were crossing the Mara River from south to north after which they could easily move into Kenya. We headed over to the river just to see what was happening and amazingly we were able to see a crossing. This one was fairly small, about 500 animals, but it was very impressive. Wildebeest are pretty timid about the crossing. Understandable really given that the crocs are in the river just waiting for them. There are a number of traditional crossing points. Large numbers of animals move to a crossing point and then they mill around waiting for instinct and the first brave soul to make a move. Even when the crossing started, it happened in about 3 waves as a group would cross and then for some reason they would stop and then another one would jump in and they would start again. When they do decide to go though, they go with gusto, leaping over each other, pushing and shoving to get into the river etc. We didn't see any croc activity at this crossing which we and the wildebeest were ok with. Once again we were late getting to camp for lunch (late arrivals have become something of a habit with us - but there is so much to see!).

During the afternoon game drive we saw a magnificent pride of lions lying on a huge rock. There were two males and 5 females. We had our sundowners watching the lions. What could possibly be better?

The northern Serengeti has different geography again. There is lots of savannah but there are also huge areas with massive granite rock formations - very similar looking to the Canadian Shield.

On our second day we didn't see any more crossings (although others at the camp did) but we saw lots and lots of wildlife including some magnificent birds. We did see some cats - a big male leopard having a nap on a rock and a female leopard up a tree with her prey. We couldn't see the prey as it was getting dark. Apparently leopards can drag prey twice their own body weight up into a tree. The guides know the animals and the female leopard we saw in the tree had young cubs who would have been well hidden somewhere while mom got something to eat. Amazingly to me, they stay hidden - they are born knowing they need to do this. We also saw a small pride of lions sleeping on a rock.

Just as we were getting ready to head up to the main tent for dinner escorted by our guard, the skies opened up and in addition to a torrential downpour we were treated to a magnificent thunder and lightening show.

We did another game walk our last day in camp. The Serengeti is a national park so once again we went our accompanied by a ranger, in addition to our guide. They both had high velocity weapons for protection. We walked from the camp to the river stopping along the way to learn about various flora and fauna. We saw some buffalo in the distance but we were far enough away that they didn't feel threatened however, the range kept a pretty close eye on them. We also saw wildebeest, zebra, eland and some gazelles. Our driving guide, Albert, met us at the river where we had coffee and biscuits and watched the hippos and birds at the river.

On our way back to camp to freshen up before our all day game drive we came upon another vehicle (from another camp) that was hopelessly stuck in the mud resulting from the rain from the night before. We tried to pull them out but our vehicle wasn't heavy enough. In the end we left them there and headed back to camp to send out a rescue vehicle. That wasn't the only vehicle to get stuck that day - fortunately, it didn't happen to us.

We started our game drive looking for cats. We found the same female leopard we had seen in the tree the night before asleep on the rocks. There was still no sign of the cubs. We went back to check out the tree where we had seen her and we were able to spot what what left of the kill, still up in the tree. It was a gazelle.

Around 1 pm Albert heard over the radio that there were large numbers of wildebeest gathering at crossing 3b. When we got there we saw around 1200 wildebeest milling around, waiting for a leader to step up. After milling around for a while, going down the bank to the river, backing away etc more and more wildebeest started to abandon the site and headed for crossing 3. We followed them and once again they milled around, toyed with the idea and eventually they all headed for crossing 2 and then subsequently crossing 1. By this time we had been watching them for about 2 1/2 hours. Finally, at crossing 1, after the usual indecision, they finally got up the nerve to cross. Once the decision was made, and the first few enter the water, it is chaos as they all try to be next to enter the river. The sound coming from the wildebeest is amazing. About 700 crossed before someone got cold feet and the rest of them moved away from the crossing. This time, there were crocs lying in wait and we did see one wildebeest get taken. The croc dragged it up river where it eventually drowned the struggling animal. It is amazing how quickly the animals disburse after crossing. Within a few minutes you would never know that 700 wildebeest had just crossed the river. Just as we were about to leave, 2 young wildebeest, who had been part of the crossing, came running back and plunged into the river to cross back to the other side. They were obviously looking for their mother but whether she had successfully made the crossing, was still on the other side, or was croc food there was no way to know. We never saw them reunited but at least they did make it safely to the other side. It was a real struggle for them making the crossing a second time. We were worried they wouldn't make it. We spent the rest of the game drive looking for cats and rhinos (unsuccessfully) but we did come across quite a large herd of elephants which was great. Rhinos are getting quite rare as a result of poaching. There are a few in the norther Serengeti and there had been a sighting earlier in the day but then they went into hiding.

Our guide Albert works out of the camp but aspires to work for the company out of Arusha the way that Victor does. This way he would be home with the family more often. Currently he works at the camp for 2 months and then is home for 2 weeks. Albert is married and has 3 children (14, 11 and 7). His wife has her own business (beading) and is quite successful as she has other women working for her. Albert inherited land near the crater but the family moved to Arusha so the children could attend school. They are saving for a house in Arusha which they will sell when the children are finished school at which point they hope to move back to the crater area and build a home on the land they own.

There are a lot of pictures to share from the Serengeti. I'll do 2 additional Serengeti posts of just pictures before moving on to our final stop - Cape Town.