On the plains of Africa...part 1

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June 18th 2010

Published: July 12th 2010

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shelaghandheather

Thompson gizelles

Day 3 - Serengeti

We began the day with a walk with a ranger with an AK47. Apparently that’s in case any of the buffalo that have come up from the crater in the night are still hanging around. The fog was very thick so we couldn’t see into the crater. The ground was damp and we got quite dirty with a combination of mud and various kinds of dung. It was nice to be out for a walk though.

Godwin picked us up and we began the long drive to Serengeti national park. Godwin always asked us in the mornings what we wanted to see and we always replied with a long and impossible list to tease him - which changed and got more specific and complicated every day - we used to be satisfied with Lions, now we wanted Lions killing or lions mating etc. Shiona also insisted that she wanted to see an Aardvark. Aardvarks do live around here but are completely nocturnal and Godwin has never ever seen one. Our list also included snakes. There are puff adders, cobras and green and black mambos around. But Godwin had told us that we wouldn’t see snakes,

Vulture

Lots of these in down town Calgary.

they’re too hard to find. Well, as we drove away from the crater what should be on the road but a Puff Adder! Godwin had outdone himself.

When we got to the park there were Thompsons everywhere and also Grants (which look like bigger versions of Thompsons). Later in the trip our group decided to start calling them Johnsons. So, if you hear that Johnsons have been spotted all across the Serengeti - that’s where it began. I don’t remember the numbers but there’s something like 3 million of these Thompsons in the park.

We saw some more hippos, vultures and came upon a large elephant family. Two of the young males were having a bit of a scrap and were pushing each other around. There are large rock piles around the Serengeti called kopjes (pronounced copies) and we came to one that had a family of baboons on it. They were, as you would expect, picking each others nits.

A classic image of the Serengeti is zebras standing with their heads on each others backs. They do it so that one is looking one way and the other is looking the opposite direction for safety. They

Elephant

You maybe get an idea of how big this tree is!

also sleep that way sometimes because then they can sleep standing up without having to hold up their heads. Some of the zebras, particularly the young ones are not completely black and white, the black is actually brown, and it’s not sleek flat hair but kind of fuzzy.

Giraffes were next up which allowed Shelagh to sing the rap she had written. It goes like this “The giraffes eat the leaves in the top of the trees” repeat. There are also actions. Please ask her to perform it for you next time you see her.

By the way, it’s hot in the Serengeti, and sunny. Heather has gotten smarter over the years and faithfully applied factor 60 and eventually emerged from Safari with no sunburn at all. Another issue in the Serengeti is bathroom facilities. Needless to say, the park isn’t filled with Tim Hortons at convenient intervals. Much of each day was spent needing to pee. Several members of our little group also had…lets call it tummy troubles during the trip and did a remarkable job of surviving with sparse facilities. And even when there are washrooms, they are of drastically differing quality.

Anyway, I digress.

Just rest your head on me

This allows zebras to rest and still look out for danger.

Next we came upon one of our favorite sightings of the trip. A Tree Lion. They are very similar to regular lions, just in trees. Another thing I learned on this trip is that lions often climb trees to just hang out and view the world. This particular fellow had obviously had dinner recently as his belly was hanging over the branch he was on.

At this point we basically lost count of lions because we came up to a rock on which a pride of two males and 3 or 4 females were lounging around.

On our way to our camp we saw a cheetah and two cubs hiding in the grass. They ran away as we got close…but that would not be the last time we saw them.

We arrived at the Maasai Wanderings camp. They have a semi-permanent camp in the Serengeti. It moves 3 times a year to different parts of the park depending on where the animals are during that season. Moving it must be an absolutely massive production. The sleeping tents again have 4 poster beds (mainly to hang the mosquito nets of course) and ensuite bathrooms. As we settled in

Big belly

Well fed lions wandered the Serengeti.

to this one I decided to roll down the flap between the bathroom and the rest of the tent. The rest of the camp heard my scream. Something had made a nest in the rolled up material and had come running out. In hindsight my scream may have been somewhat unnecessary as it was just a small rodent. There is discrepancy about exactly what it was with bush rat and dwarf mongoose being the leading contenders. We all had showers and then enjoyed drinks by the fire before dinner. Of all the food we have eaten in Tanzania we think the Chef at Maasai Wanderings camp has produced the best. Mr. Yum Yum is what our guide calls him.

Oh - cellphones work in the Serengetti. They don’t work in most of rural Canada and Jamie’s house in Scotland, but they work in the Serengeti. Go figure. The funniest site to me was the Massai dressed in their traditional robes complete with a cell phone attached to their robe.

Day 4 - Serengeti

This was to be a very long day. We headed out from camp at 6:30 am. The animals are rather inconvenient in that they

Look into my eyes

like to eat, mate, hunt, etc in the early morning and the evening and just lie around during the heat of the day. So off we went to see them at their best. And we did.

The first animals we came upon were several groups of hyenas, including cubs. The cubs are almost cute…almost. We then saw our cheetah and her two cubs again. But they were still shy and hid in the grass.

Next we found a male/female lion pair. Because they were off by themselves they must be mating. They lay there for a while as lions often do and eventually the male stood up, yawned (another common lion activity) and strode over to the female. He sniffed her and she promptly kicked him and went back to sleep. Sorry, not tonight big boy. More on this later.

Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras galore…And then…the holy grail, a leopard in a tree. We were giving a lift to a member of the camp staff who needed to go back to town and he spotted the leopard for us. We were able to see his face although he was trying to stay well hidden. Safari is about waiting

Big cats

Pride of lions on a rock.

patiently so we did and we were lucky. The leopard (Chui in Swahili) stood up and climbed out of the tree. Unfortunately he then disappeared into the tall grass.

We were watching a family of giraffes and Shelagh and Andy had taken some amazing photos. There were a few very close and we were able to get great shots of their faces. They have beautiful long eyelashes. As we sere sitting back down to drive off I asked something about the giraffes horns. Shelagh said “giraffes have horns?” apparently although she was taking pictures she wasn’t actually looking at the animals. So, FYI, giraffes have horns.

We stopped by another pair of lions, napping of course, but then they stood up and walked right through the group of trucks stopped there. We headed to a hippo pool where there were a bunch of hippos, more and more as you watched. The most impressive moment was when the hippos climbed out of the water onto the bank. They are not really an animal built for climbing! Godwin then took us to a spot that was the heart of the zebra and wildebeast migration. There were hundreds of zebras, many

Lioness in a rush.

Actually she needed to pee....you know how it is!

wildebeast, and even a few baboons. They were all making their way towards somewhere. The baby baboons were so cute and just jumped up on any adult that happened to be passing.

We had seen a small croc hiding in the water but our guide took us to a pool that is clearly home to a giant, hungry crocodile. He was probably 8 feet long from nose to tail and appeared to have a large animal in his belly. Even more impressive than the animal hiself was his environment. The area around him was absolutely littered with skeletons. I’m not sure what kind of zebra or Thompson would wander into that neighborhood when its littered with the skeletons of their relatives, but obviously they do cuz this guy was well fed.

On our wish list for Godwin for the day was to see a kill. We almost got our wish. We came upon a scene where a pride of lions had killed a zebra. It was a giant pride - we counted 4 males and 6 or 7 females and at least 6 cubs. The males get to eat first when there’s a kill so they were already

Sunrise over the Serengeti

Early morning rises had the advantage of seeing the very quick sunrises...

finished and napping in the sun. The females and cubs were polishing off the animal. In fact the cubs were practically crawling into the cavity of the animal to eat. Every once in a while there would be a little roar and a big paw would come down on a little cub. The cubs were definitely being kept in line and were told if they were trying to eat something that their mom wanted. The cubs are very cute little creatures but they are carnivores like their parents and staggered away from the zebra with puffed out bellies and blood on their faces. We watched this scene for quite a while and then headed happily back to camp.

When we went back to our tent after dinner two of the staff were in it and told us not to come in because there were “animals”. They came out a couple minutes later and handed us a large can of raid and said that “we need to get rid of the a(u)nties”. So, sorry to all you aunties out there, you’re not wanted in tents in the Serengeti. Apparently our tent had an ant infestation. As I found out the