Serengeti, Tanzania

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July 9, 10, 2008

Serengeti, Tanzania

This was a very long day in the car as we drove over 9 hours from Masai-Mara, south and through West Mara, and into Tanzania as we made our way to the Kensington Camp in the Serengeti ( Masai for “endless plain” ) for some more game viewing.

It would be hard to explain the road conditions for most of the trip !!! You wouldn’t believe it if I was able to explain anyway. ( and this is a main road ).

The Serengeti ecosystem includes the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Park in Tanzania. Serengeti Park is a very large National Park in Tanzania that covers over 14,000 sq. KM. The main migration of Wildebeest and Zebra travel between Serengeti and Masai Mara every year across the Mara River.( The scene we have all seen on TV where the Crocodiles are feasting as the Wildebeest cross the river ). Apparently the Zebras are a lot smarter as they wait for the Crocs to fill up on Wildebeest before they attempt the crossing.

On the way we had a game drive, as we went, as the main road ( or what they call a road ) passes through the park. We saw some more Lions, a Cheetah, Jackals ( with a fresh catch ), Hyenas and hundreds of thousands of Wildebeest and thousands of Zebras. (the annual migration). They estimate there are about 4 million Wildebeest and 2 million Zebras in the parks. Not all make the migration but most do. The lions are not afraid of humans and we had some right up at the side of the Land Cruiser. (close enough that we closed the windows).

We were very lucky with our timing as the annual migration started 3 weeks early this year, due to very dry conditions in the Serengeti, and most of the animals had crossed into the Masai Mara and West Mara when we were there. It is really hard to imagine the number of animals. Some of the predators follow at least part of the way.

Our first full day in Serengeti Park we took an early morning game drive and got some great photos of many birds, Hippos, Nile Crocodiles, more Elephants and Giraffes and the usual thousands of antelope, monkeys and baboons. This place is massive and looking for lions and cheetahs in the long grass and Leopards in the trees is like the proverbial looking for a needle in a haystack. We will go for another drive this evening and maybe get lucky enough to see a Leopard or some lions. Lots of elephants and giraffe here.

Our evening game drive was interesting with more wildlife and we got a very rare sighting of a Serval Cat up close, very close to our camp, on the way home.

Tomorrow we will leave the Serengeti camp and travel another long day through the Serengeti plains to Ngorongoro Park in the mountains and a day at the Ngorongoro Crater.

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