Our travels are taking us around eastern Africa for about 11 weeks, and in our last blog, wrote about the start of a safari in Tanzania where we saw many animals in their natural environment. This blog is about the next part of that safari. It was in Tanzania's Serengeti area where we saw lots more animals, including several big cats, especially lions – in fact we had 7 lion sightings over two days - it was incredible!
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| Lion seen at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania |
Seeing these amazing felines, meant that we had now seen the ‘Big-Five’ of animals, which is elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, and rhinoceros. On this trip, we also saw cheetah, but read on about that. After entering the Serengeti, 30,000 sq km of arid, windy and remote land in northern Tanzania, we headed to the National Park area, passing thorough many Maasai villages on the way.
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| Maasai woman and babe in the Serengeti, Tanzania |
The Maasai are warriors and herders. They have been moving their cattle around for thousands of years, and count their wealth in cattle and children. They are a proud and nomadic people and can still be seen wearing their traditional garments. But we saw dire poverty among the Maasai, and they seemed to be struggling to keep their traditions going in a touristic world.
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| Motorbikes, homes, traditional with western clothes of the Maasai, Serengeti, Tanzania |
Government policy now restricts where the Maasai can roam and therefore where their cattle feed. So these days, instead of using the land for their cattle to graze, they are learning to farm the land, trade their crafts, and be guides, trackers and cooks in the tourism industry. Some Maasai now use cellphones, get around by motorbike, and can be seen with western clothes under their Maasai cloak; all things that can erode their traditional culture.
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| Maasai boy and Leigh beside our flat tyre, the Serengeti, Tanzania |
We met a Maasai in traditional clothing as we drove through the Serengeti. We blew a tyre on the rocky, rough, and dusty road, and while our guide/driver Noel was changing the tyre, a Maasai boy appeared out of the desert and watched us. He had absolutely no English or Swahili as there are no schools here. But in his language, he told Noel that he had hurt his back and was not minding the herd today.
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| Monkey up a tree with elephants below, Serengeti, Tanzania |
After that, we carried on with our game drive and spotted a funny arrangement of animals. There were several elephants below a tree and at the top of the tree, was a monkey. He was just sitting there not at all worried about the huge creatures below who are known for destroying trees. Over the next hour or so, we saw topi and eland antelopes, warthogs, ostrich, and ground hornbill birds.
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| Our first cheetah that was snoozing under a tree, Serengeti, Tanzania |
One of the animals we hadn’t seen in any of our safaris to date, was a cheetah. But that changed on this game drive, because we spotted two at different times. The first one had been sleeping in the shade of a tree and we almost missed him. The car must have woken him up because he popped his head above the grass for a look. But he was quite uninterested in us and soon flopped down and went back to sleep.
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| Our second cheetah, Serengeti, Tanzania |
We spotted our second cheetah later in the afternoon. He had also been snoozing but after seeing us, turned around a few times then walked away. Cheetahs are the fastest land animal on earth, able to run up to 98 km per hr. Their body is long and sleek, with long thin but powerful legs. Cheetahs are endangered; they have been poached, their environment is shrinking, and they are susceptible to diseases. We felt privileged to see two of them.
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| Sleeping juvenile lion, Serengeti, Tanzania |
Not much further on, we found a family of lions, with mum, dad and three juveniles. Mum was sleeping under a tree, and as we drove slowly closer, we spotted dad. Driving cautiously closer again, to our delight, we spotted three juveniles sleeping in a large hollow beside the tree. The juveniles were spaced out around the walls of the hollow, on their back with feet in the air. We watched for ages, and from time to time, they stirred, rolled over, or yawned like pussy cats. How lucky were we!
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| Very dusty road while on a game drive in Serengeti, Tanzania |
Between sightings, we had a very dusty ride on the long, sandy and rutted, road. But we were enjoying it, because as well as elephants and big cats, we saw giraffes, impalas, hippos, buzzards, warthogs, buffalos, zebras and wildebeest. But then we had another flat tyre. Having put one spare on after the first flat, Noel now tried the second spare, but it was damaged. So he pumped up the recent flat as best he could, then detoured to a nearby airfield where we waited while he found a village to have it repaired.
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| Our temporary tented campsite, Serengeti, Tanzania |
After a long day, we finally reached our accommodation for the night. It was a tented camp in the park. Permanent structures are not allowed in Serengeti National Park, so tented camps are set up for a few months in the safari season. Because none of the parks or reserves are fenced, wild animals can roam through the campsite at any time, so we had a guard take us between our sleeping tent and the meal tent. We did see wildebeest roaming around, but overall, it was a peaceful area and we slept well.
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| Wildebeest gathering on the cliff top and down toward the Mara River, Tanzania |
The next day, we drove to the Mara River hoping to see some of the 1.7 million wildebeest that cross the river on their annual migration, the largest animal migration on earth. We were in luck as there was a huge herd on the clifftop opposite us. They were just beginning to cross the river, but seemed so hesitant. And rightly so, as there are crocodiles in the river just waiting for this moment. Eventually, they began to cross and we had a ringside seat.
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| Wildebeest crossing the Mara River, Tanzania |
It was an amazing sight as hundreds of wildebeest, blindly following each other, stumbled down the cliff on one side of the Mara, thundered across the river, then climbed awkwardly up the cliff on our side, emerging right beside our vehicle. From our vantage point we could see crocodiles sunning themselves further up the river but they missed the moment, so no wildebeest were hurt during the filming of this event!
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| Very rugged road in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania |
Feeling like we’d had the best game drive ever, we left northern Serengeti and began our drive to the central Serengeti area, on a terrible road. Then the unthinkable happened - we had another flat tyre – our third in two days and the spare had not been repairable. This time, luckily, we weren’t far from a town, so Noel found us a lift into the town with another safari car, while he sorted the tyre.
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| Taking the flat tyre on a motorbike to get it fixed, Serengeti, Tanzania |
He convinced a motorcyclist to take him and the tyre into the town’s garage, and we were taken to the local bar/sports lounge. We waited for around 3-hours in that seedy bar, in a town that we didn’t know the name of, and opposite a dubious market, with no idea where Noel was and without his phone number. When he eventually found us, we have never been so please to see a man!
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| Lion with his kill in central Serengeti area, Tanzania |
We eventually reached our camp for that night, and it was another wonderful tented camp. The next morning, we headed out early for a game drive and very soon came across a huge lion that had just killed a wildebeest. He was gnawing away at it in the long grass. We felt a little sorry for the wildebeest, but it’s the law of nature so that’s that.
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| Lioness and cubs, central Serengeti area, Tanzania |
A couple of hours later, and to our delight, we spotted a nursery of lions. There were three lionesses and five cubs sitting on a bank in the shade of a tree. When a group of lionesses give birth within a few months of each other, they form a nursery to protect each other’s cubs, especially from hyena. Our vehicle was right beside the bank they were sitting on, and we had a wonderful but safe view through the pop-top roof.
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| Lionesses on sentry duty, central Serengeti area, Tanzania |
As well as being the primary caregiver of the cubs, a lioness is also the primary hunter in a pride, as she is more agile that a lion. Her role is to feed the whole pride. After watching the nursery antics for a while and admiring the other lionesses on sentry duty, we drove on and only a kilometre or so up the track, we saw three hyenas on the prowl. We hoped that they didn’t find the lion nursery!
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| Marg at a viewing point over the Ngorongoro Crater (UNESCO), Tanzania |
Later that day, we arrived at the huge bowl of land that is the Ngorongoro Crater, which sits within the wider Serengeti. It is the largest unfilled volcanic crater in the world at 260 sq km. The floor of the crater is home to over 30,000 animals, and because of its biodiversity and history ancient of civilisation, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The drive down to the crater floor was very steep and the views on the way were wonderful.
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| A distant black rhino in Ngorongoro Crater (UNESCO), Tanzania |
Reaching the floor of the crater, we spotted a black rhino in the distance. He was all by himself in the open savannah and looked lonely. It was quite special seeing him because poaching and hunting, have reduced rhino numbers almost to extinction. Driving on, we saw wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, ostrich, and elephant. The crater is known as having the biggest pride of lions per capita in the world, and we hoped to see some of them as well.
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| A lion couple taking a passive interest in nearby zebra, Ngorongoro Crater (UNESCO), Tanzania |
And we did! In fact we saw three, a male and female couple lying in the long grass quite close to the track, snoozing. They were so tired, that even when a herd of zebra walked past quite close to them, they looked up, but didn’t stalk them. As we watched, we saw the male wash the female, and perform other affectionate behaviours. It was lovely. On the other side of the track, there was a lioness sound asleep on a big rock.
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| Lion with his kill, Ngorongoro Crater (UNESCO), Tanzania |
After watching this trio for some time, we drove on, then 15-minutes later around the bend, we saw another huge lion. This one had just fed on a large wildebeest, which was lying rather naked-looking, on the track. We were able to get so close; it was amazing. A safari vehicle is much bigger than a lion and frequently seen, so as with an elephant, the lion does not see us as a threat.
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| Lion with great hairdo, Ngorongoro Crater (UNESCO), Tanzania |
What followed was another long period of watching and studying the lion. He was a beauty with a fabulous hairdo. Our final lion sighting was seeing three juveniles lying on their back with their paws in the air, sound asleep. They were so cute. Leaving the lions and the Ngorongoro Crater, we drove to our accommodation for the night, feeling fantastic about what we’d seen that day.
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| Village scenes driving back to Arusha, Tanzania |
The next morning, we drove back to Arusha city where our safari had begun, passing through lots of villages on the way. We had planned to visit Lake Maynard National Park first, but we’d heard from other safari-goers, that the lake had shrunk, and much of the wildlife had disappeared, so we pressed on to Arusha. But another surprise awaited us as we neared the city.
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| Elephant crossing the road near Arusha, Tanzania |
A giant elephant decided to cross the road right in front of the traffic. All vehicles came to a screeching halt while this mammoth animal lumbered casually across to the other side. Reaching Arusha and our safari at and end, we reflected on what a huge number of animals we’d seen. It’s been great. Our travels take us next, to the island of Zanzibar. But you can read about that in the next blog.
This blog is part of a series on our travels in eastern Africa. The first in this series is called Johannesburg, South Africa.