day 3
central serengeti
post by scott
Walking to breakfast we discovered one of the cutest animals ever called the rock hyrax. These little furballs are something like a cross between a guinea pig and a wombat. As if not already charming enough, the babies would climb up onto the mums back and sit there, sometimes stacking two on top of each other on top of the mum! There were also some small mongooses lurking around with them but unfortunately no snakes were present to do battle.
It was a quiet morning to start with in the central Serengeti. All the safari vehicles driving around the park are in constant contact both through radio and verbal exchanges when passing each other. This means that if there is something big happening everyone gets to see it, however the radio was pretty quiet first thing today. After searching the open plains for a while we drove down to a waterhole and watched the a large group of hippos wallowing with a variety of birdlife looking on. There were beautiful yellow billed storks and grey herons poking around as well as huge vultures surveying the landscape looking for a feed. It seems like in Africa everything is bigger, and that certainly applies to a vast number of birds as well as mammals. The vultures are very imposing and we saw them again the following day in all their gruesome glory attacking an old carcass.
Going back to the open plains we were searching deliberately for cats because central Serengeti is the best place to find them. On one of the “hold up baby Simba” style rocky outcrops there was a majestic looking lioness lying right on top. Sometimes it seemed like the lionesses were deliberately posing for us by laying right on the peak of a rock, but I suppose when you are king (or queen) of the jungle you can put yourself right out in the open like that without fear. She was all alone up there and Louis sensed that she was looking for the rest of her pride.
After watching in silence for about 15 minutes Louis started to make some bizarre groaning noises. I thought for a moment he had gone bonkers but almost immediately the lioness started to reply with the same strange cry! It was not a roar, but a deep chesty moan through which she was calling out for her family. We were very impressed with Louis’s lion linguistics. (I will try and upload the video soon of the lions moan!) |
After a quick lunch back at the lodge we started the 100km drive to the ‘western corridor’ which is where we hoped the great wildebeest migration would still be located. Wildebeest are strange longfaced antelope with short curved horns, a stringy grey neck beard and a very muscular forequarter evolved for migrating long distances. Every year they follow the water sources around the Serengeti and up into Kenya’s Masai Mara NP in a great loop. They are joined on this migration by other herbivores like zebras, and being the most abundant antelope and a common delicacy for predators you also find many carnivores trailing the wildebeest.
As we drove west the numbers increased gradually until there were wildebeest covering the entire landscape! They were all walking westward in what seemed to be an orderly procession. It reminded me somewhat of a chaingang of prisoners being driven along by their captors because the majority would form a long orderly queue, often single file, with the occasional large dominant male running up and down the sides keeping them in line and chasing any animal he thought was not behaving appropriately. Most often the larger male would just have to run at another wildebeest to send them scurrying out of the way and back to subordination, but if there was a challenge they would face off and bang their horns together forcing the loser down to his knees. When we drove past we would witness these head banging foes stop their assault on each other and watch us curiously. In the time we took to pass they would seem to forget their differences and go back to munching grass or walking side by side!
As we drove west the numbers increased gradually until there were wildebeest covering the entire landscape! They were all walking westward in what seemed to be an orderly procession. It reminded me somewhat of a chaingang of prisoners being driven along by their captors because the majority would form a long orderly queue, often single file, with the occasional large dominant male running up and down the sides keeping them in line and chasing any animal he thought was not behaving appropriately. Most often the larger male would just have to run at another wildebeest to send them scurrying out of the way and back to subordination, but if there was a challenge they would face off and bang their horns together forcing the loser down to his knees. When we drove past we would witness these head banging foes stop their assault on each other and watch us curiously. In the time we took to pass they would seem to forget their differences and go back to munching grass or walking side by side!
This afternoon we saw our first carcass on the side of the road so we slammed on the brakes to investigate. All we could see was the remains of a wildebeest with its whole rear end missing but Louis knew immediately that Lions were the culprits (because they eat from the rear end forwards whereas leopards and other carnivores usually start at the front) and that they would still be nearby because there were no other scavengers attempting to steal the meat. We looked up and down the grass in vain for about 15 minutes with no trace of the lions until Allana turned round and spotted a tail whipping above the long grass on the other side of the road! We drove a little closer and could see mum, dad and their cub having a post lunch snooze. Amazing!
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On their quest for greener pastures the wildebeest have to make a few perilous river crossings through a gauntlet of crocodiles who have been patiently awaiting their arrival for the year. One of these rivers is the Grumeti which runs across the western Serengeti and drains into Lake Victoria. We arrived here in the late afternoon and saw straight away a number of huge and hungry looking crocodiles basking in the sun, but there were no other animals within cooee of the dangerous water (except for the brave storks who almost walk on top of the crocs when fishing). Louis told us that you have to be very lucky to see animals crossing and it only happens a few days every year. We crossed our fingers and hoped there would be more action tomorrow!
We drove back to camp full of excitement and hope for the next day, but it was hard not to be saddened by the cruel fate awaiting an adult wildebeest who we saw lying still in short grass on the side of the road. He didn’t attempt to run away even when the car pulled up close so we knew he must have injured a leg and couldn’t walk. Apart from the leg he was very much healthy and he eyed us remarkably calmly while he waited for the sun to set and his fate to come. Driving off we knew he would not be alive come morning.
Mbugani tented camp was our accommodation for the next two nights, set up in the middle of the savannah. It was managed by the gap-toothed (even bigger than Aunty Di!), smiling Barnabus and his lovely staff of six members who currently were looking after only the two of us in camp! Although we were sleeping in tents it was far from camping. They had fit two queen size beds inside as well as a table and chairs and a private bathroom with unlimited hot water. The solar power was sufficient to power lights 24hrs and even recharge our equipment. They set up a fire pit for us and we enjoyed a “Serengeti” beer while watching a beautiful sunset in the Serengeti. Over the two nights here we understandably fell in love with the place!