Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti - 22nd October to 3rd November 2017

[Julian]

 

Day 10: Sun 29^th Oct – Transfer to Manyara airport, fly to Seronera, transfer to Namiri Plains camp

 

The journey by road from Highlands Camp to Lake Manyara airport took nearly 3 hours. Good luck remained with us until our coastal flight was ready, then we said our farewells and boarded the plane.  It was going to be a short flight as Seronera was the first stop.

 

I took a few photos on the flight – including a view of Lake Manyara and of the Ngorongoro Crater.

 

 

We landed at the Seronera airstrip just after 10.00am and were met by two Asilia staff in the small terminal building. Two more guests would be joining us for the transfer to Namiri when their plane arrived in about 20 minutes time.

 

 

After introductions we chatted with Gabe and Carmen, an Austrian couple, who joined us for this transfer. It turned out they had been on safari 17 times to Africa and several times to India, including about 8 times to Northern Tanzania (although they had never visited the Ngorongoro Crater).  We were pleased that they were clearly as enthusiastic as we were about wildlife and safaris as they were going to be sharing the vehicle with us on the game drives for the first 3 days of our 5 days stay at Namiri.  

 

Our guide’s name is Living but he will only be taking on this transfer drive and the late afternoon drive today. While at Highlands camp we had been told that one very large herd from the migration had already arrived in the Seronera valley area, and we had seen a few thousand wildebeest just before we landed. Therefore it was not surprising that we came across large numbers of wildebeest and some zebra just a few minutes after we started off, plus a solitary hyena.

 

 

 

Living said the transfer would take about 90 minutes, longer if we stopped on the way. It was becoming very warm and as it was around midday we didn’t come across much else other than more wildebeest and a few other grazers on the plains, until we approached one of the Kopjes where there was a pair of lions using it as their refuge from their pride for a few days while they were mating. 

 

 

After that Living said he would drive quickly to get us to the camp so we would be able to join the other guests for lunch. We were surprised at how long it actually took to get to camp and just how remote and isolated it is out on these eastern plains. We saw no other vehicles at all for the last hour of the journey.

 

 

[Julian]

 

Arriving in camp we were given a quick camp briefing by Diana, followed immediately by an excellent lunch which was served outside with all the guests round one long table. It was good to talk with the other guests, including one couple, Hank and Diane, who we had already met while at Highlands camp and they were now on their final day here.

 

It is a traditional style camp with typical bush tents, and also a tented main area with a lounge bar and a dining tent, which are very simple but stylish as well. They even have an additional toilet tent in this area with a very rustic style washbasin.

 

 

After lunch we were taken to our tent – number 8 – the furthest from the camp central area.

 

 

 

 

Although it is traditional and looks very basic, the tents are spacious and have a large comfortable bed, plus a plumbed in sink, toilet and shower, and additionally a second outside shower. All the tents face out towards an open area of bush with a small river nearby but it is very private as there are no driving tracks in that direction. 

 

 

 

We spent the next hour and a half getting settled, checking cameras, and having a shower by which time it was approaching 4.00pm and time for our afternoon game drive.  

 

 

[Julian]

 

Our guide Living suggested we begin the drive by looking for cheetahs, so we were feeling optimistic that some big cats might be seen on our first game drive here. It was a hot afternoon and the plains activity was very limited, but the endless open but hilly plains were broken up every so often by the beautiful kopjes that we regularly drove up to. The enormous size of the rocks always amazes me and they look so strange appearing at random on an otherwise mostly completely flat landscape.

 

 

Although most species seemed to have disappeared at this hot time of day there were a few small groups of hartebeest grazing, some with their young.   

 

 

We quickly began to realise that on game drives here you need to cover a lot of ground moving from one potential wildlife opportunity to the next, which means some relatively fast driving across the plains. Also as Living was only taking on this one game drive he was determined to find us something interesting and here at Namiri that usually means big cats.

 

However after nearly an hour of mostly fast driving, on the very dusty tracks (it was still the dry season at Namiri), we had not located any cheetahs, and Living was now hoping he could find us some lions.  We were not going to be disappointed.

 

 

[Julian]

 

As we approached a small waterhole we could see some small lion cubs in the foreground. Then we noticed behind the cubs were two adult females asleep together in some reeds, and an adult male also fast asleep, but on his own a few yards away from the others. However the six cubs, which were about 10 to 12 weeks old, were not asleep and were at first watching us, but then they started to play.

 

What followed was by far the best lion cubs interaction we have ever seen. They played non-stop and after about half an hour they decided to wake their mothers up.  It was amazing to watch the continuous play and often amusing as well.

 

After a while the two lionesses got up and moved out of the reeds and then the adult male woke up, but he certainly wasn’t going to play with them. Eventually the lions all started to move off by which time the sun had already set. We had forgotten about the time and we had been watching the lions for a whole hour. Therefore we had to race back the considerable distance to camp and by the time we actually arrived it was almost pitch dark.

 

(While watching these lions Rachel and I had taken nearly 500 photos and 4 video clips. Here is a selection of the best of those.)

 

 

 

 

 

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Ten minutes in our tent to freshen up and change and we ready to be escorted to the campfire area where drinks are served and we chatted with other guests and some staff. It was a very sociable atmosphere here and everyone joined in the conversations until we were called in to the dining tent for our dinner. 

 

As this was another Asilia camp we guessed the dinner format would be the same. First the meal is described then the wine selection is announced. Some staff and guides sit with the guests around one large table and the conversations continued throughout the excellent meal. It was a great start to our time here at Namiri Plains.

 

 

 

 

[Amylovescritters]

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Absolutely magical.

 

[Hads]

Papa lion is an impressive fella! Great cub interaction.

[michael-ibk]

Lovely lion cubs!

[Julian]

 

Day 11: Mon 30^th Oct – 2^nd day at Namiri Plains Camp

 

Our wakeup call with coffee and cookies came at 5.30am, for us to leave on our first morning game drive here at 6.15am. We had met our new guide – Noel – round the campfire yesterday evening and agreed the start time with the other couple sharing the vehicle with us. 

 

We heard one or more of the resident pride male lions roaring last night, sounded very close to our tent. This is a pride of lions that are headed by a formidable six brother coalition known as ‘the killers’. We hoped we would get to see them during our stay but most of their territory, although near the camp, is in an area where there are no tracks to drive on.

 

During the night it became really windy and the wind was blowing hard through the mesh on the tent, the canvas was constantly being pushed and pulled causing the furniture in the tent to wobble and sway, so our sleep was rather disrupted. By morning the wind had eased but once we were out on the open plains it picked up again, and for a long while it was very cold.

 

Noel was hoping to find us some cheetah this morning. However our first wildlife sighting was a group of three birds (possibly quails??) followed by another that I think was a yellow-necked spurfowl (not sure?).

 

 

Many wildebeest were in the area this morning, some large herds grazing others clearly passing through. There was one line of single file marching wildebeest that stretched for miles in either direction. Later in the day we came across several more lines of wildebeest moving through. Noel said they were most likely heading towards the Seronera valley where there had been a few showers in recent days, or further into the southern area of the Serengeti.

 

 

There were also many Thomsons gazelles on the plains as well as lots of zebra, and some hyenas and hartebeest, plus a few Eland.

 

 

 

We stopped for our ‘bush’ breakfast about 9.00am – which was in reality more like a ‘wind-swept plains’ breakfast as you can see from the photos.

 

 

 

Throughout the morning we had driven round the Kopjes we passed by, always likely locations for lions, but none were showing this morning. After covering a lot of ground we had not seen any signs of cheetah either, possibly the strong cold wind was the problem.

 

 

 

[Julian]

By about 11.00am the wind had dropped completely and the temperature soared in the bright sunshine. A while later we came across three female lions resting in the shade of a small tree. They were asleep but sat up as we approached.

 

 

Their attention was eventually drawn to the large numbers of wildebeest in the distance that were grazing or passing through but at this time of day they only wanted to go back to sleep, so we made our way steadily towards the direction of the camp as it would soon be lunchtime.

 

 

 

 

[Julian]

We had a nice leisurely lunch with the few guests who were staying today, and after a bit of a rest and shower it was time for our late afternoon game drive.  

 

After we set off we noticed there were still many wildebeest in the local area. Noel suggested that the three lions we found resting earlier may be taking more interest in the wildebeest by now. Surprisingly not long after we found two of them sitting in long grass about 10 to 15 yards in front of a small herd of wildebeest with a few hartebeest at the front.  We couldn’t see the third lion but Noel was convinced it was somewhere in the long grass even closer to the front of the herd. The wind was blowing in our direction directly away from the herd towards the lion so the herd would not have been able to smell the lions.

 

 

The hartebeest at the front were beginning to get a bit agitated – then suddenly the third lion, which had been hiding just a few yards from the front of the herd, launched itself at a hartebeest but missed. The herd stampeded in various directions, with dust clouds everywhere, but the three lions just stood there confused. It was all over in seconds. All the hartebeest and some of the wildebeest were now staring hard at the lions. A pity they were not successful as we had such a good close view.

 

 

We continued on our quest to find cheetah but none were showing. We did get our first close-up sighting of a topi since arriving at Namiri, plus we saw a couple more different birds – the first was a Hartlaubs bustard (I think?) and the second maybe also a bustard (any suggestions ?).

 

 

 

 

[Julian]

The sun was getting low and it was nearly 6.00pm as we approached another cluster of Kopjes – our last chance for a good sighting before we would need to return to camp. As we got close we spotted a lioness walking towards the Kopjes and she began to quietly call as she looked at the rocks – and then we realised why. Four very small young cubs appeared from among the rocks and rushed up to their mother. The cubs were only six weeks old and their mother was from the same pride that had the six cubs we observed yesterday.  

 

 

 

This turned into another beautiful interaction of lion cubs with their mother, but seemed even better than the ones yesterday as these cubs were so small.

 

 

 

[Julian]

 

 

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After nearly half an hour during which time the cubs had fed, played, and walked about with their mother, she started to climb down from the rocks. Somehow she had obviously indicated to them that they needed to go back into their hiding place in the kopjes. They watched her from on the rocks as she headed off across the plains – presumably to join the pride for a night of hunting.

 

It was now past sunset and Noel drove us fast back to the camp as darkness began to fall, drinking our sundowner on the way as we had obviously forgotten about drinks while watching the lions. (Yesterday we had our sundowner drinks while we were watching the six cubs).

 

Another sociable evening starting with drinks around the campfire and then an excellent communal meal with the other four guests, plus Diana the camp manager and Wilfred the trainee manager who also joined us for dinner. Still no cheetahs- but we have three more days here – maybe tomorrow.

 

 

 

[amybatt]

I've just read this all in one sitting, Julian, I've blown up your inbox with "Likes" I'm afraid.  What a wonderful safari so far, some amazing sightings.  The caracal was perfect for you, a nice gift as you left Ngorongoro.  And the lion cubs are so special, tweaks my heart strings!  Love the silhouette of the little one!!  So many good shots to choose from.  Namiri Plains has been good to you so far, I'll follow along with interest for your last three days!

[Julian]

Day 12: Tues 31^st Oct – 3^rd day at Namiri Plains Camp

 

It is Gabe and Carmen’s last day today so while at dinner last night Diana, the manager, asked what they were hoping to see on their last day and Gabe said that as we had seen no cheetahs at all he wanted to see four today, plus a leopard. Diana, in her usual exuberant style, said she would make sure that it will happen.  

 

Our wildlife viewing began incredibly promptly this morning as we saw a lioness and cub walking in the distance before we had even left camp, probably belonging to the resident pride that has the six brother coalition.  Soon after we set off we could see that huge numbers of wildebeest were still in the area with lines of marching wildebeest appearing in the far distance, but our first close-up wildlife were a couple of birds on the ground  - francolins ( I think? – but have no idea which type).

 

 

 

The light was good this morning for photography and, while we quickly covered lots of ground in our search for cheetahs, we passed around a number of Kopjes.

 

 

 

 

[Julian]

 

At one of the Kopjes we came upon a pair of mating lions and the male had a magnificent mane which looked splendid in the strong wind that was a regular feature every morning out on the plains.

 

 

 

 

 

[Julian]

 

We left the pair in peace to search out a nice location for some breakfast. We had just got out of the vehicle at a suitable place when Noel spotted a male lion nearby so we moved a short distance where there were no predators in sight. We had our breakfast out every morning so we ensured we left camp around 6.15am, and once again our excellent bush breakfast was a ‘wind-swept plains’ breakfast.   

 

 

 

 

[Julian]

 

As we departed we had travelled no more than 100 yards when we came across another male lion in the grass – realising we had just eaten breakfast with a lion probably watching us very close by. We presumed that this was the other lion of a pair – the first being the one Noel spotted at our original choice of breakfast locations.