February 27 - Ndutu day two

Ndutu day 2
This morning we went in search of a Cheetah… one of the guests had told me that they saw one yesterday in a wide open field about 15 minutes from our lodge. Harry’s intel from one of the drivers was that there were Cheetahs down by a marsh… so we headed off in that direction.

After driving for about an hour we didn’t see anything but some birds and a deer hiding in the reeds… so we made our way back towards camp.

We stopped at the rangers station and used the washroom while Harry asked where the Cheetahs were. The toilets were 'lovely' holes in the cement floor… but beggars can’t be chosers!

The rangers told us to go 8km down a dirt path and we might see something. Eventually we came to a huge open grassy field and saw 3 jeeps in the distance… this was a good sign! When we got there we saw a large Cheetah and 4 cheeky kittens!! The mother started to head off into the distance towards two young impalas while we babysat her cubs.

She lowered her head and every move of her body had purpose. The impalas walked right past her… she let the first one walk by and as the second one walked only a few feet in front of her she sprang into action. The chase only lasted about 7 seconds… the impala zigged and zagged a few times but the Cheetah closed in with each stride… the end was very quick.

As soon as the impala was down… every jeep in the vicinity raced off towards the cheetah… I was worried that someone would run over the babies but thankfully that didn’t happen.

The mother dragged her kill nearer to the babies and then lay down in some taller grass to catch her breath. The 4 babies were about 100 feet away not once taking their eyes off their mother. She lay there for about 5 minutes before making two chirping sounds… at which the cubs ran straight towards her.

We watched for about 30 minites as she dragged her kill to try to find some shade. Each time she dropped it near a jeep… the jeep would start up and drive away from her. We watched her getting more frustrated and decided that after shooting our 2000 photos it would probably be best to drive away and try to give this little family a little bit more peace.

I believe that when I think of this trip, seeing this beautiful family of Cheetahs will probably remain as my most vivid memory of Africa.

February 26 - Serengeti , Mbalageti to Ndutu

The storm lasted less than 2 hours but as we left our camp this morning to make our way to Ndutu it quickly became evident that the one road in and out had turned into a 16km long mud bog.. we got stuck once but managed to get out after much backing up and lurching forward. I was slightly worried that the river might have become impassable… during heavy rains, the safari jeeps have to park on the one side of the river and guests have to cross the crocodile and hippo filled river using a rope bridge… then another jeep comes to take you the rest of the way. There was more water in the river than the night before but thankfully we were able to drive through! In the middle of the river we saw a Baboon trying to comfort her frightened little baby... the mother had a look on her face that must be universal amongst mothers.

Harry drove back through the central Serengeti and where we had seen a 50,000 wildebeest and zebra a few days earlier… all we saw was wide open empty grasslands. We could hear the drivers talking to each other over their radios asking, “Where is the migration!?! Our clients are complaining!” We were obviously very lucky to have been there to witness it earlier! Harry made his way to the leopard tree and we weren’t disappointed when we saw a leopard high in the branches with a fresh kill. After a few minutes he stood up and began walking across the branch and then down the trunk of the acacia tree. It sounded like machine gun fire as every camera in the 20 or so jeeps sprang into action… shutters were blazing! The big cat disappeared into the deep grass and we got ready to leave when Sandi shouted that he was on the road behind us! En mass… all the jeeps tried to get the best spots near his new tree. We stayed and got a few more shots but the leopard soon fell asleep on his branch and all you could see were his legs swaying in the breeze.

So Harry said, “Lets go find you some lions!” and away we went. We drove a fair distance, stopping once to take photos of a large bird with a poofy crown on his head (the name escapes me right now) and then drove until we saw the line of jeeps on a small hill. We got a good spot and could see a large male lion nearly completely hidden in the grass. We patiently waited and had our boxed lunches… hoping the smell of salami sandwiches and pasta salad would waken the slumbering beast. All of the sudden a female lion rose out of the grass and strode towards the male. He got up to meet her and after a short exchange she lay down in the grass and he mounted her and did what male lions do! Exhausted from his 10 seconds of lovemaking, he once again flopped down in the grass. We figured that this was the last we’d see of the pair so we began to drive away… but wait…. There was another male and female a little further down the road! While we were waiting for these two to show themselves… the first pair got up and started to head towards the road across the field. We sped to where they now were and got to see them in relatively short grass next to the road. What an amazing sight to see the large male with his long mane blowing in the wind only a few feet from us… it’s a picture I won’t soon forget!

We had to leave sooner than we had hoped because our permit to be in the Serengeti was going to expire in 1.5 hours.. so we had to make our way to Ndutu. We managed to get to the main gate and leave the Serengeti with about a minute to spare and then drove off onto a dirt road towards our new camp.

This area is overflowing with wildlife! We saw thousands of Thompson Gazelle with cute little newborn babies. There were huge Storks and the heaviest bird that can fly (a Kory Bustard or something like that..)

We passed two young and fuzzy hyenas…. Then an older and very pregnant looking hyena... the young ones are cute but the older one just looks nasty! We saw two young jackals…. they ran alongside our jeep and then crossed infront of us. There were Impalas and Grants Gazelles.. a few wildebeest and some zebras. Then in the distance we saw four jeeps grouped together which probably meant that there was another big cat. We went to join them and wow…. A pride of 8 lions fast asleep! The jeeps slowly drove around the cats… we were no more than 10 feet away from some of them with our windows wide open. But they couldn’t have cared less… nothing was going to wake them from their naps!

After getting a couple hundred shots of sleeping lions we drove on to our camp.

We passed a group of giraffes….. not 3 or 4 like we had seen elsewhere… rather 20 or 30! All sizes with many little babies. In the distance we saw a water buffalo.

As we turned into the parking area of our lodge we saw 4 little Dik diks…. Two adults and two young ones. For those who don’t know… a Dik dik is a very very small deer.. they’re only about 16 inches tall.

They welcomed us to the camp with delicious iced tea and then took us to our comfortable stone cottages overlooking Lake Masek. While we were talking on our verandah before dinner…. 3 more Dik diks walked by and then a golden bat flew out in front of us. I think we’ve hit the wildlife jackpot here in Ndutu.

When we entered the main building for dinner we saw two Genet Cats in the rafters… I guess they’ve become residents here and help to keep the rodent and bug population down. So we had a nice dinner of lamb while the Genets prowled overhead!

Time for bed now…. Tomorrow we’ll see what else Ndutu has in store for us… hopefully we’ll be able to spot a Cheetah!

February 25 - Serengeti , Mbalageti

Last night I decided to roll down one of the tent flaps covering the screen window. Since it was past 9pm, the generators were turned off and the only light in the room was from a small battery powered lantern, there was another flashlight on the desk. I undid the velcro and the flap came down really quickly and there was a loud thump on the floor. I grabbed the flashlight and shined it down around my feet and saw a very stunned mouse who was trying to figure out why one minute he was sleeping in his cozy little home and the next minute he was tumbled around several times and slammed into the ground. When I shone the light on him he ran behind the desk. Being a typical city slicker, the mouse kind of scared me.... thankfully I didn't scream... but I kept the flashlight trained on him and watched him run back and forth trying to find a hiding place. I eventually gave up and got ready for bed... after all... it was just a little mouse.

This morning at breakfast I told the manager, "There is a mouse in my room.... do you think someone could get rid of it?!?........" She gave me a funny look and said that she would see what they could do..... while I was eating breakfast I realized how dumb I must have sounded to her, this is Africa... we're living in tents surrounded by wildlife! Get over it!

We enjoyed a nice breakfast on the hillside verandah overlooking the Serengeti Plains. We watched the Zebra grazing and rolling in the wet grass.

Today we went on two game drives... we saw cheetah tracks but no cheetah. There are not as many Wildebeest here but we still saw lots of wildlife. On our way back to the camp after our afternoon game drive I got a nice shot of an African sunset.

We witnessed the full force of nature on our last night in the Serengeti at Mbalageti. While we ate dinner on a verandah overlooking a wide open valley we watched a huge thunder cloud approach from the west… the flashes of lightning lit up the night sky. Another storm was also coming in from the east. After we finished dinner we sat and spoke to the staff for a while and then decided that we should probably head back to our tents or risk getting soaked. I hadn’t even closed the door before the skies opened and it started to pour. As both of the storms started to converge the thunder and lightning became more and more violent… there were a few strikes that shook the mountain that our camp was on. I watched the flashes of lightning through my tent screen windows and then fell asleep under a warm and cozy duvet in my canopy bed.

February 24 - Serengeti , Mbuzu Mawe to Mbalageti

Today we drove out of the Central Serengeti towards our next stop at Mbalageti. Sandi spotted some Jackal pups and while we were photographing those, Tom spotted two lions resting on rock cliffs…. What an amazing sight! Lions seem to always be working hard on sleeping, I think that its safe to say that they sleep 22 hours of the day.

We saw many more animals… Water bucks, wildebeest, zebra, elephants, giraffe, gazelle, impala, water buffalo… and many more whose names I can’t remember. We saw a crocodile who must have just recently killed a zebra… he was still floating around in the water carrying the carcass in his jaws. I think I’ve taken about 20,000 photos so far… Harry laughs and says that it sounds like machine gun fire when Sandi and I are taking photos!

We hardly passed any jeeps on our way to Mbalageti… I thought that we were out in the middle of nowhere when we were at Mbuze Mawe but now we are really out in the middle of nowhere. Our camp is at the top of a hill… and you can see the Serengeti 360degrees around us. Our tents are absolutely beautiful again… here there is one rock wall and the other walls are canvas. Something just ran across the top of my tent, its dark outside so you can’t really see whats making all the sounds … I guess I better locate the whistle before the lights go out (They give you a whistle so that you can call the Maasai Warriors in case of emergency). Its probably just a small monkey or maybe a small baboon. We have real Maasai guards with sharp spears who are patrolling right outside so I feel safe.

Anyhow.. I better get to sleep… tomorrow will be another long day of game drives in this part of the Serengeti!

February 23 - Serengeti (Mbuzu Mawe)

So today... Sandi and Tom were woken up at 4am and on the road by 4:30 to go to the launch point of their Balloon Safari. Being a chicken has its advantages as I was able to sleep in until 6:30 before having to get ready for my game drive. Harry and I left to go pick up Sandi and Tom.. on the way we saw all the regular animals and some special ones as well.

Harry spotted two leopards near a river... it took me a while to figure out where they were.. but sure enough there was a mother and her yearling baby walking off through the grass. Then we came to a hippo pool and next to it was a pool with 3 crocodiles in it. One of the crocodiles was sunbathing in the sand... its mouth was wide open and you could see all its sharp teeth.

Around 10:30 we met up with our certified ballooners! Both Sandi and Tom were beaming! They saw a snaking line of the great migration from the sky. They had a few tense moments when their balloon crashed into the top of a tree.... but other than that they had a great time!

We drove to see the migration............ words cannot describe the scene that was laid out before us. There were probably 50,000 or more Wildebeest and Zebra stretched out for as far as the eye could see. They were moving in a steady, mindless forward motion... not even stopping to graze. As the heat of the day began to rise... the huge herd broke into smaller herds, each one grouping together under whatever shade tree they could find. No photo that I took could accurately show what we saw.

Prior to this trip I didn’t really know that the wildebeest and zebra travel together during the migration. The zebra are the smarter of the two creatures and they are supposed to be able to sense/smell the rains…. So they lead the way and the wildebeests follow.

We went back to were the leopard was yesterday and today we found him up in a tree. He was snoozing and occasionally moved to try to get more comfortable. He had stowed a dead impala in a tree a few 100 feet away.

Our final stop of the day was a giant hippo pool.... you can pretty much smell a hippo pool way before you see it. We got out a took photos of the gigantic beasts sleeping in the water... every now and then they would flip their tails and shoot out a stream of poop. The girl who sung that she wanted a hippopatumus for Christmas obviously didn't see and smell what we did!!

We're back at our beautiful camp now... we've all showered and are going to wander up to the dining hall for dinner.

We're all still doing good and enjoying every amazing sight, sound and smell (except for the smell of the hippo pools) here in Africa!

February 22 - Tarangire to Serengeti (Mbuzu Mawe)

Yesterday we drove from Tarangire to the middle of the Serengeti. With several detours to look for game it took us about 11 hours to get to our camp at Mbuzi Mawe. The Serengeti "Highway" is the bumpiest, dustiest road that I've ever been on.... its washboard surface is criss-crossed with deep ruts and strewn with sharp rocks. Luckily we didn't get a flat tire unlike many of the other vehicles at the side of the road.

Once we got nearer to our camp, Harry our driver, drove towards were he had heard that there was a leopard. We lined up with about 40 other jeeps and looked in the direction of a large Acacia tree... apparently the leopard had been there earlier but now he was hiding someplace in the deep grass.

We drove further and saw a herd of hippos sleeping in a muddy pool. There was a cute little baby who had crawled up onto his mothers neck and fallen asleep. One of the hippos was standing at the side of the pond and making loud angry hippo noises... we got a good look at the inside of his mouth, UGH! We passed many more animals... until we saw the highlight of the day. Near a watering hole there was a large pride of lions... between 13 and 18 of them... most of them were laying on their sides snoozing with a belly full of zebra. A couple of the lions were behind a bush fighting for a zebra leg... one of them let out a mighty roar that sent a chill up my spine. We stayed and watched them for about 45 minutes and then continued on to our camp.

We arrived here just after dark and were led up to reception and then on to our tents. The tents are amazing!! Tiled floors, granite vanity, marble shower... I want to move in and never leave! At night we're not allowed to exit our tents without an escort and from the baboons chattering on the rocks behind my tent I don't think I'll argue with that rule. There are also Cape Buffalo and Lions nearby... so we're all going to be careful.

Before dinner... Sandi surprised Tom and told him that she was taking him on a balloon safari over the Serengeti. Tom looked and us and kept saying, "you're kidding,.... you're kidding right?!" It took a few seconds for it to sink in that we weren't playing a cruel joke on him and he was actually going to fulfill a dream of going up in a hot air balloon... he was pretty over-whelmed and happy.

We were escorted up to the dining tents by our Maasai Warriors and had an amazing 3 course meal. While we were having dinner in the dining tent the skies opened up and we had a thunderous rainstorm, our beautiful tents stayed nice and dry.. and incredibly cozy.

February 21 - TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK day 2, TANZANIA

We had a good night sleep in the African wilderness... there were sounds all night just outside our tents. We got up early this morning to get an early start on safari.

We just got back from a hot full day of safari in Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is home to vast herds of elephants.... I'm sure we saw more than 200 or 300 elephants... from month old babies to large bulls with their long tusks!

The drivers were saying that there were lions near a dry river bed and our driver Harry managed to locate them. They were pretty far off but we saw 5 of them snoozing in the shade. Occasionaly one would raise his head and have a look at us but then they went right back to their nap.

There were about 4 jeeps under a tree and everyone was looking up at a nest with a python in it. YUCK! Don't they know that Pythons like to drop out of trees to kill their prey?! We stopped for a few pictures... **shudder**!

For lunch we stopped and had a picnic lunch overlooking the Tarangire River. The people who were leaving the table mentioned something about "look out for the monkey's they're going to steal your food". We looked around and wondered what they were talking about because there wasn't a monkey in sight. Tom went to the washroom and Sandi, Harry and I started to enjoy our lunch... from out of nowhere comes this devilish little monkey and grabs Tom's box lunch and turns to run... Sandi grabbed the box... the monkey grabbed the sandwich and away he went. As we left the table, we warned the next group of tourists about he monkey's... they probably looked around and wondered what we were talking about, I wonder if the monkey's got their sandwiches too!

Today we saw baboons, dik diks,

elephants, LIONS!, zebra, giraffe, python, a rare water deer, Thomson and Grant gazelles, monkeys, wildebeest, storks, lovebirds, belted mongoose, warthog and a million different types of birds... I'm sure that haven't even listed half of what we saw!

Tomorrow we'lll drive about 400 kms into the Serengeti for two days at our next lodge.