An Unexpected Surprise
There is no such thing as sleeping in on safari. 6 AM was go time. We had a long day of driving ahead. Name of the game today was to head north. When I had made arrangements for the trip and the safari I looked at the timing and it was prime to be able to catch the great migration. Mbuze Mawe is located in the Lobo area of the Serengeti. Which is north of the Seronera region where we have spent the past few days. The migration should be in the Lobo region around this time of year but unfortunately when Eric and I were game planning each day he said that the migration is ahead of schedule this year and they are much further north (about 3 hours) near the Mara River on the border of Tanzania and Kenya. So that dashed that idea and I settled on the idea of we would just spend some quality time with the big cats. However as we had a successful cat day the day before when chatting with Eric we decided we would make a push for it and head north to see if we would catch the migration. It would make for a long day of driving but we would see if we could get to see the last of the herds.
We saw this lioness with a full belly of breakfast and enjoyed a quiet moment with her until she moved off the road and then we saw the most special thing. These little lion cubs were tucked away on this rock. They were so new! Eric was gauging that they may be about 5-6 weeks old. They aren’t used to the noise of the vehicles yet so they were a little cautious. They were perched on this ledge, they watched for a moment and one wanted nothing to do with us so he launched himself off the wall to get close to mom who was waiting across the way. The two other littles wandered back and forth on the ledge and one had a lion king moment. He lost his balance and almost fell off the ledge. He was clinging to the edge but he was successful in pulling himself up. As all of this was going on one of the other lionesses in the pride was coming back from where they were feasting. She was not happy, not happy at all, that we found their cubs hiding spot. True they weren’t really well hidden sitting on top of a ledge mere feet from the road. She just roared and roared at us until she saw that we weren’t doing anything to interfere or harm the cubs. Then she relaxed and just hung out.
Continuing up the road we found the breakfast spot. They had taken down a zebra and one lioness was still feasting. It was golden hour and the light was perfect. There was a nearby jackal who was pacing waiting in the wings for his turn. She decided she had enough of her fill and decided to take some of her food to go so she drug the remaining parts of the zebra she wanted off to a more secure location and let the jackal to have his portion. Nothing goes to waste out here, the pecking order is real and the circle of life takes over. Case in point when we saw a group of scavengers out, the hyenas, vultures and storks all taking turns at cleaning up.
We stopped for breakfast in the valley of gardenia and took a little time out to sign natures guest book or as Eric calls it the loo with a view. Ha! There are no rest stops out here folks, pure nature and you do what you gotta do.
The Great Migration
We found the trail end of the migration. There are so many wildebeest! Also don’t forget the zebra. Over 2 million hoofed animals complete this loop every year. We followed them up the road and as they were milling about. We have reached the river and waited in the wings to see if we would see the treacherous river crossing. The wildebeest weren’t too interested in the crossing today, and rightfully so are a little skittish considering the perils that can await them in the water. Part of the process to get into a good spot to watch the river crossings is first you need to have all vehicles hang back until the crossings start, then you can drive to overlooks without disturbing the process. So we were hanging back driving around a bit to see if a crossing would start. We visited Hippo Island for awhile while learning more about the migration. Eric said people can wait days perched out there waiting for the river crossing but considering there is still enough to eat and minerals to enjoy to not need to travel across the river at the moment.
There was a moment where we thought it would happen. A few leaders of the herd went down to the banks, with some zebra following. Here’s the thing about zebra. They are very skittish. So while on the bank the zebras scared themselves and rushed off, the wildebeest sensing something was up clamored up the hill as well thinking something bad would come in the river.
After a spell we decided it was time, we had a drive back so we decided to head back as we were going back to the Seronera portion of the Serengeti. We figured on the way back we would see if we could spot a rhino, soon enough we ended up behind one of the park rangers who are out to protect the rhinos. There are a few huts on the upper portions of the hill to keep an eye out for those pesky poachers. I cannot believe anyone would want to hurt any of these precious animals but there are some who believe that the rhino horns are more potential than Viagra. So while we found a rhino we didn’t want to stay too long to draw attention. There are only 5,000 black rhino left in the world, and roughly 1,000 were poached in the past year. In the Serengeti there are less than 50. Conservation is a real need. I do know that the Serengeti is expensive on a daily rate basis but that is to support the parks infrastructure including the rangers who are out to protect the animals, remove any traps and hunt down the poachers.
Seronera
As we got back into the Seronera portion of the park we stumbled upon the area where earlier in the week we have seen some hippos and a few crocodiles. There was some additional activity going on in the water. Well it appears that a hippo had died a few days ago and was quite bloated and a crocodile was making a nice meal of it. Eric said due to the toughness of the skin they usually will stash the body somewhere to give it a few days to make it easier to bite into. It would take a nibble here and there then the death roll occurred so it could get off a bigger chunk.
The sun was starting to dip low in the sky so we started to make way to the next camp but on our way we saw a leopard on the hunt so we decided to hang out awhile but soon he dipped into a shadowed valley and disappeared. I was staying in the Kati Kati camp this evening, there are a different number of sites so this was different than the one I stayed in a few days ago. We arrived at the site to find out they were unexpectedly full and had made adjustments for the next camp which is in the same general vicinity. We arrived at the next site and I wasn’t the last tent. A different number and right in the middle. Before dinner we had a moment to enjoy Serengeti TV (the campfire) and I caught up with a few of the others who were staying in the camp.
Hyena do laugh! I was questioning if they actually did but they do sound like human laughter. So this is a big cat and hyena camp. We were warned to not leave anything, even your shoes outside of your tent, the hyenas will take anything that isn’t secured down.
The stars were putting on a show tonight and the Milky Way was popping. Eric said in about a few hours it would be a spectacular show. I was really tempted to do night photography but tangling with the lions and hyenas didn’t sound like a plan. It seems recently any time I am planning to do night photography there is usually a dangerous animal about so I don’t get adequate opportunities to get the shot. It seems I always forget a setting or two to get the shot. I tried a few photos but something about them just didn’t quite work the way I was hoping.