Serengeti

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The Serengeti in Tanzania is called the Masai Mara in Kenya. They are separated by the Mara river. The Serengeti is way bigger than the Mara and continues all the way to Lake Victoria.

We were surprised that the Gnu migration - ok ok ... most people call it the Wildebeest migration - was on. Wildebeest is Dutch for Wild Beast or Wild Cattle. The big herds of Wildebeest and Zebra were moving south and east towards the short grass open plains from the dry season watering areas around the Mara river in the north in Kenya.

Zebra and Wildebeest have a symbiotic relationship. The Zebra have good hearing and the Wildebeest have good eye sight. All the better to hear and see the big bad wolf ... oh wrong continental parable - the huge ferocious lions that is.

In recent years the herds have been waiting for late January or even February to begin the big migration, due to sparse rains. But this year we lucked out with an early migration. An unexpected bonus for us. The herds move surprisingly fast. One day the main herd was in the wooded bush area near our lodge and the next day the main herd was 50km further east heading towards the short grass plains. Think flat and open like Saskatchewan, but without the wild life all destroyed by the colonists. This is probably a similar spectacle to the Bison in the prairies before they were intentionally wiped out and the wild prairie invaded with large tract grain farming.

On our first day in the Serengeti, our driver/guide Eli spotted a cheetah sneaking up on some Thomson's Gazelles. We picked it out with the high powered zoom of our video camera. It crept closer and closer but did not lunge out at full speed. How come we wondered? Then the Tommies spooked and ran away ... and the stalking animal emerged ... Eli apologized to us saying, "sorry, it's a leopard, not a cheetah." What was he sorry about? For us, watching a leopard hunt was just as exciting as seeing a cheetah. He apologized for not spotting any cheetah for two whole days. All the drivers were talking on the radio in Swahili and what we heard was "blah blah blah cheetah blah blah cheetah blah blah" ... turned out they were all asking if anybody else had spotted a cheetah anytime anywhere that day.

In spite of the short rains arriving, there were plenty of animals to see everywhere. We saw lots of antelope, small and large prides of lions, at least four leopards, and on our last day there, we saw not just one but two leopards too! ... in the same rough area. All the carnivores, or in modern parlance, all those on an Atkins diet, had full bellies from recent feedings. The migration means lots of meat for all.

Talking about the Atkins diet, the Masai, who were moved out of this area to make the Serengeti a National Park in the 1950's are one of the original practitioners of the Atkins diet. They only consume meat, blood and milk from their animals. No gathering of fruits, vegetables or roots and certainly no agriculture whatsoever. They do keep bee hives to collect the honey and combs. The Masai didn't realize they would be denied access to their traditional grazing grounds when the National Park was established. So, when the area between the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater was also proposed as a National Park they got it changed to a National Conservation Area instead. This meant they can continue to graze their cattle, goats and camels as long as they don't interfere with the wild animals. Boys around age 5 are out all day tending the goats. Good thing the lions are scared of any Masai. Older boys, pre-teens to us, go out night and day with cattle. Sometimes for a month or two before returning home. The Tanzanian government has tried to get the young Masai to attend school and take up a less nomadic existence, all to no avail. They do run up to you and ask for money if they think you're going to try and photograph them, but other than that, they seem to be quite unaffected by all this tourism.

The Masai have a fearsome reputation, and not just to the lions. Many local people hire Masai as guards. They are thin and tall and carry a big spear. Their reputation as warriors was such that the Masai lands were the last "explored" by the British when the British were on their conquests of other people's land.

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Photos

Crested Crowned Crane
Uganda's National Bird

Buffalo
What you looking at?

Leopard
Let sleeping leopards lie

Leopard
Notice the alert Tommies in the background

see how close the lions are
We felt we could reach out and flick their tails ... well, kind of