After a fabulous breakfast with more fresh fruit, we headed out to go “fishing” as our guide, Morgan, put it. He said game drives are like fishing for animals – sometimes you catch them, sometimes you don’t. Either way you just try to enjoy the view.
Being a good fishing family from Minnesota, we got a tug on our line very quickly. Morgan spotted a swarm of vultures, a sure sign of something nearby, and we headed into a little glade. What we found surprised even Morgan. We had stumbled upon five lions devouring a wildebeest likely killed the previous night. While gruesome, it was also fascinating, especially when the dominant male roared in the distance and all five perked up as if awaiting orders. They quickly went back to either eating or slipping into a food coma.
The rest of the morning was filled will wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles. All fabulous but eventually you start to think “Oh. More wildebeest. Awesome.” We struggled to get some good zebra photos but they were quite skittish and would run away from the truck. Many were visibly pregnant and we saw a lot of zebra babies which Morgan said were just days old.
I am typing this on Monday night from Peace House and we just lost power again. Thank goodness I charged my laptop earlier! Hope to get at least this draft done before losing battery. Life here is certainly unpredictable! Luckily, Mom brought tealights so I am typing by candlelight. It’s a bit like Abe Lincoln’s log cabin but with laptops and Fanta. So maybe not like that at all.
Back to day two in the Serengeti. Before we had to head back to camp for lunch, we spotted a big male lion perched on a rocky volcanic outcrop. These massive “kopjes” look like giant boulders but are apparently just the top of a much larger remnant of volcanic activity in the region. As he lounged with a lioness, Morgan spotted more lions coming from the distance and upon closer inspection we found four females and three cubs, likely about three months old. Their bellies were so full they almost dragged on the ground and they were a bit more scared of us than the adults.
Eventually the whole pride climbed up on the rocks, just in time for massive raindrops to start falling. After quickly putting the top back on the truck, we headed to lunch, spotting a few more repeat animals on the way.
This afternoon we took a different route back to the plains and went around the edge of Lake Ndutu. I was excited to see a few flamingos but apparently the real flamingo hot spot is Lake Manyara, which we will see on the end of our trip. We found an entire lion pride chilling out in a muddy marsh complete with one adult male, five females, and nine cubs about six months old. These lions give new meaning to the phrase “lazy lion” as they lounge away after a good meal. We pulled in about five feet from a female and she barely batted an eyelash.
I think the most interesting spot of the day was when we found another flock of vultures destroying a carcass. Two jackals were nearby and were desperately trying to get in for a bit of action but these vultures are big and mean. And they scream! Morgan assumed this was a lion kill at first but then said no, there was too much “meat” left on the bones. We figured it must have been a natural death but then we stumbled across two male cheetahs, both looking pretty full. Apparently cheetahs are quite timid and despite their speed and strength, they can often be forced away from their own kill before they are finished. It’s hard to imagine a vulture or jackal scaring a cheetah, but it happens.
Short game drive on Friday morning but it was hot and dry and the animals seemed to be on their own schedule. Having been so lucky the previous days, we really couldn’t complain. One interesting part of the game drive experience was that apparently in the southern parts of the park that get lass traffic, the vehicle is allowed to go off road. In the central park where it’s busier, that would just destroy the habitat but where we were, there is enough time after the busy migration season for the land to recover. However, we found out that the park service can change the boundaries for off-roading any time. We found this out when the game warden found us and took Morgan’s park pass away. When we asked him how they notified the drivers of these last minute changes, he said “By finding us and fining us.”
After a quick lunch we headed back towards the central park and the airstrip. We had to make a quick detour at the ranger station so Morgan could pay his fine and get his pass back. I say quick but nothing here is really quick. But he got it worked out and I got to scope out the flock of chickens the rangers keep. Yes, I was in the Serengeti and still got exciting about chickens. So sue me.
The drive back to the airport held a couple of surprises. Just before the park gate we found a big herd of elephants, including a little bitty baby. Well, as little bitty as a baby elephant can be. It was adorable. Heading further into the park we had time to take a side road that Morgan had a tip about. We had a slight traffic jam when a second group of elephants decided to hang out in the road for a little while. Sadly they were heading away from us but I did get a few photos of elephant butts.
The real highlight of the side road was the rarely seen leopard. Morgan had said they were hard to find and would only likely be found in the central park. But we had been very lucky so far so we crossed our fingers and toes – and it worked! Barely visible lounging in a tree was a sleeping leopard. It took us about ten minutes to even figure out where in the tree he was and if you blinked, you had to refocus. His camouflage works very very well. With the leopard under our belt, we had a pretty complete safari experience.
Now, just between you and I, I had one very cynical thought about the leopard. Morgan talked up our odds of seeing one so much that it just seemed crazy to find one hiding in a tree on an off road. The fact he seemed to know exactly where it was baffled me even more (though the guides do share tips on the radio). A little tiny part of me thought to myself “from this distance, and so hidden in that tree, that could totally be a fake leopard planted there by guides.” Isn’t that awful of me?
Crap, I am over my self-imposed thousand word limit. I guess I’ll have to save final reflections for another post!
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