Serengeti strikes back (after Mara kicks sand in her face)

[pault]

Yes, definitely Sangeeta. Maybe we were a little lucky, but I think if you go with an old hand like Deo, they can keep you away from the crowds (except for lunch - both picnic sites are busy at lunch so there is nowhere to hide as the rules are very strict - you can only dismount at the picnic sites or for emergency bush breaks/ tyre changes). You might not see quite as much that way, but there is so much to see and the place itself is truly extraordinary. I'd try to avoid going during European or US school holidays I think.

[twaffle]

I am becoming the sort of person I despise, envious of everyone else's photos and always wishing that I'd got the shot. Yours especially. I really love the landscapes, you made the gloomy conditions look great and the zebras I loved. In fact all the photos ........

 

Just glad that you didn't end with a mind blowing sunset, that would have been too much!

 

I'm glad that your wife (who will always remain Mrs K to me) brought home the photos safely.

 

 

[johnkok]

Watch out! There are cougars about!

Crater cougars! Whatever next? Tanzanian tigers? Serengeti sea lions? Can't wait

Edited November 9, 2012 by johnkok

[twaffle]

Watch out! There are cougars about!

Crater cougars! Whatever next? Tanzanian tigers? Serengeti sea lions? Can't wait

 

Watch out Safaritalkers, we have 2 jokesters from the Far East!!!

[pault]

On 11/9/2012 at 12:13 PM, twaffle said:

I am becoming the sort of person I despise, envious of everyone else's photos and always wishing that I'd got the shot. Yours especially. I really love the landscapes, you made the gloomy conditions look great and the zebras I loved. In fact all the photos ........

 

Just glad that you didn't end with a mind blowing sunset, that would have been too much!

 

I'm glad that your wife (who will always remain Mrs K to me) brought home the photos safely.

 

Thank you. I think we are all a bit like that - still we can choose to let such silly thoughts eat us up, or ignore them. I think my wife can be Mrs K again, although it would be a bit confusing to people who don't know the history.... maybe they can catch on anyway, although she'll soon be taking a back seat to Mum!

 

No, I think he probably thought it was not a good idea to tell my wife that one on the first day - remember you were at the end of your trip, so he actually knew you..... telling it to the wrong person would be something he could regret unless he has a thing about checking out ladies toilets!

Edited January 6, 2019 by Tdgraves
a

[pault]

Oh, and the sunset was limp. but that doesn't mean there weren't a few moments of interest just before it.

 

 

Day 3

 

Although we weren't leaving until 7.15, and despite the wine, we woke up at 5.30 and packed our bags - a little more time consuming for me as I have to pack away all my unnecessary photo gear that I "might need" and rarely do. However, it only took a few minutes as we hadn't unpacked much, and so we had 30 minutes to kill before breakfast started. We took our last walk up the hill (puff, puff... must be because we haven't had a coffee yet) and then I was ordered to find some coffee, which I did by disturbing the morning coffeee of two guides - at Sopa it seems that when a guest approaches the coffee bar, guides are required to hurry off. I wanted to say something to them but they had already gulped the last of their coffee and gone, and my brain wasn't quick enough to work out what that something might be. Having ordered the coffee I went outside to admire the view, and since I just happened to have a tripod in my hand took a photo, although there wasn't much in the way of atmospheric fireworks and no sign of a sun. It was quite a bit brighter than the previous day, though, and it occurred to me that rain was looking less likely.

 

The best view of our stay - and the best I could do with it.

 

 

 

After breakfast we found Deo and got on our way. First we drove around the crater rim for an hour in the fog. I wanted to stop because the trees hidden by the fog were looking very beautiful, but Deo said we should get a move on as we had a way to go to Ndutu. "What kind of guide is that?" you may be wondering. "One who is speaking for my wife like a puppet on a string." say I. I tried not to sulk. We stopped to fill the tanks and for my wife to buy stamps for her postcards at Ngorongoro Post Office - stopping for that is okay apparently - and then began our descent.

 

Filling up in the fog

 

The fog was lifting and as we came around a corner we had a beautiful view of the plains below, with Maasai villages and cattle in a beautiful (but very dry) valley. Pretty as a picture I thought, but I knew today's agenda now, and kept quiet. We headed towards the Serengeti first, but soon veered off towards Ndutu on a short cut to Lake Masek that involved a road so corrugated that Deo headed off it and just drove across the plains. The dust was three inches thick on the ground and there was barely a blade of grass for miles here - a complete contrast with the Crater Highlands we had just descended from. There are few places this desolate, but still a few trees managed to survive. We concluded that no rain had yet fallen in this area and Ndutu "might be quite dry", and after another hour or two of desolation this was confirmed when Deo started slowing down and announced that we were at Lake Masek. Except that it wasn't Lake Masek right now. We started to see a few hardy animals (all the usual suspects) and there were certainly more, but it was very quiet and very, very dry, and we decided to save our gameviewing time for potentially more rewarding areas to come. To be honest, heat, dust, and corrugated roads don't make the happiest companions with a slight hangover.

 

 

Eventually we caught sight of what little was left of the lake and, at my request, got out of the vehicle for a little while to inspect the remains of wildebeest and other animals that had managed to drown in this desert. It was quite a surreal sight, and I pointed out to Deo that in another country this wildebeest graveyard of animals that drowned in an apparent desert would be a popular tourist attraction, but Tanzania just has so much to offer that nobody even thinks about it. Deo wasn't sure a few wildebeest bones were that worthy of comment, although he seemed at least pleased that I liked it.

 

The bed of Lake Masek

 

 

A unexploited tourist attraction? Hmmm...

 

 

We drove on a little further and saw a few flamingos from a distance. Shooting from 100m, through the heat haze and dust (I don't think I mentioned it was windy too) at nearly midday doesn't make for a classic flamingo picture, and even they seemed quite inactive.

 

 

 

We then headed away from the lake to the next water, a marsh. Now the area was beginning to look a little more like what I had seen in the documentaries, although still much more light brown than yellow and green. We had lunch under a tree by the marsh, watching some elephants and Secretary Birds coming down to drink, and Deo admitted that things were not looking very promising and perhaps we should try to exit at the ???? gate (don't remember the name) if they had a machine to process our electronic cards, and try our luck around the Moru Kopjes area. I said he knew best, so sure. We checked out Lake Ndutu on the way to the Ndutu ranger post and it had a little more water, but not much.

 

Elephants enjoying the marsh

 

Unfortunately, when we checked with the NCA rangers, they told us there was no working machine for the cards, and so we would have to detour via Naabi Gate to get into the Serengeti - bad news indeed as it meant a 90 minute detour and so we'd have to set off now (Deo had promised my wife we'd make camp before dark and of course we wanted to have a couple of hours to spare in case we saw something interesting). So off we went. I was a little disappointed, but glad to have seen Ndutu. It was really exceptionally dry at that time, and there is wildlife and some water there despite the time of year. Of course, we did not see a single other vehicle and with the offroading option, something to consider for hardier souls. We found lion and leopard tracks, but of course we did not have time to follow them (and they would have been fast asleep if we had - definitely a morning and evening place in the dry season).

 

 

However, an hour along the road to the Serengeti (I was thinking how many thousands had travelled this road during the calving season and now look at it - empty and rather grand) we saw a flurry of dust and then saw a hyena running, carrying a still kicking Thomson's Gazelle calf in its mouth, and then two jackals pursuing it and barking madly. We had driven right into a kill. At first we thought the hyena had caught the gazelle but then when we saw the way the jackals were harrying the hyena as it literally tore the gazelle to pieces, we realised that the jackals must have caught it and we'd seen the hyena stealing it, not catching it. The jackals managed to steal back a couple of small pieces, and really gave the hyena a hard time, but the meal was gone in under a minute.

 

Again, the pictures are not the best - far distance through dust and heat doesn't bring the best out of my camera - but this is a travel and not a photo forum, so no reason not to share.

 

Trying the "we're really small and insignificant" trick

 

 

Followed by the "look at me, look at me - I'm the danger and there are no other jackals about to steal meat from between your legs" strategy

 

 

Got you! (Both sides thinking)

 

And the "bark like mad" until they go technique.

 

 

Success at last

 

 

 

With the meal finished the jackals were able to harry the hyena off the crumbs and the drama seemed to be over. Then we saw a hare that had stood up to watch what was going on. Bad move - the jackals were after it, with one in pursuit (I thought hares would have a significant advantage in a footrace, but it was not the case - they were pretty evenly matched and the hare survived by being able to turn more sharply and being faster off the mark) and the other running to cut it off. The second one very nearly caught it - both jackal and hare ended up on their backs for a moment after particularly sharp turns - but the hare escaped. Not the cheetah chase we had hoped for, and certainly not as awe-inspiring as that, but very, very entertaining and quite fascinating. Drama over, the two jackals just trotted off looking for the next opportunity.

 

The gazelle got a bit concerned too

 

 

 

The rest of the drive was uneventful, with the Serengeti itself very dry ..... until we got to Serengeti Wilderness Camp.

Edited November 11, 2012 by pault

[12VMan]

Hi Paul - we just returned last night from 11 days with Deo (preceded by 5 nights overlapping w/ former member at MPC) so we heard a lot about your sightings. We only got the highlights so we're anxious to read the details. Since one of my kids kept seeing "jaguars", we heard about the cougars.

 

So many of your comments resonate perfectly with our experience with Deo. I can't wait to read more.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Tdgraves
A

[Jochen]

Seeing that pick nick site at the lake (where the black kites are) sure brings back good memories!

And the realisation that it's been soooo long since I've been there. The toilet buildings didn't look like that!

 

Pault, saying the view on the crater "wasn't that good", and then posting this:

 

You deserve a smack bottom!

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Paul, what's the story with the cheetahs from page 2? Image from the Crater?

[pault]

Paul, what's the story with the cheetahs from page 2? Image from the Crater?

 

No, they're from Central Serengeti. Sorry - story coming soon and all will be clear.

[pault]

 

 

You deserve a smack bottom!

 

 

Honestly, I forgot all about "God's fingers" until I got the rest of the photos back from my wife. I had a beer and pretty much ignored the sky and view but when I went to the pool toilet I took my camera just in case and as I came out of the toilet, the fingers came out of the sky. I thought "I might be able to do something with that" and took a couple of shots before returning to help my wife finish off a bottle of wine. They were gone within a minute and it was a really weak (by African standards) sunset after that. I really did forget about it.....

[Game Warden]

That is a wow pic...

[Jochen]

"I might be able to do something with that"

 

Well...mission accomplished!

[Atravelynn]

Where the zebras smell, but the "very clean toilets" do not. You've found paradise.

 

Until we get to the cougars, I am enjoying the jackal/hyena interaction. The hare/jackal/gazelle shot might be a one of a kind. How many people have fit all those 3 in a frame?

 

Great variety of photos. The word that comes to mind after seeing your crater photos is "sweeping."

[Sangeeta]

I'm voting for the scrub hare, jackal, impala, hyena action shots. Great captures, all. The jackal portrait is lovely.

[Swahealy 43]

Great Pictures Pault!! Pity you did not stay at Ndutu for long!! Even in the dry season it has much to offer although it may not look that way!! The offroading is the secret. But you need a few days and patience. Really enjoying the the trip report! I am off to Ndutu on Tuesday and it has rained and the migration may be early as there are Wildebeesdt there already. May not be the vanguard but the resident big cats are secure until they do arrive! Lots of Zebra as well...

[twaffle]

Most of us would kill for a sunset like that, gorgeous.

 

12vman, look forward to reading your report, however much you want to share ... and pictures would be lovely to see as well.

[pault]

Swanealy... That was originally the idea but I'm glad we saw the Crater and it was quite a harsh environment. But my conclusion is the same - staying there so as to get out in the morning and evening would be much more fruitful - especially with the offloading and a guide who can track a bit. It was certainly gloriously quiet - I don't think we saw another vehicle.

 

Thanks twAffle, a-Lynn, sangeeta.... Glad you liked the bunny chase and the startled gazelle.

[pault]

12wman.... Now it would not be fair if you know my secrets and I don't know yours, so full disclosure please -'and know that what is pictured is as important as the picture quality to us.

 

Did the wildebeest cross back to Kenya again?

[12VMan]

12wman.... Now it would not be fair if you know my secrets and I don't know yours, so full disclosure please -'and know that what is pictured is as important as the picture quality to us.

 

Did the wildebeest cross back to Kenya again?

 

Fair enough - I will get to it once I figure out what day and time it is.

 

We saw some wildies cross back at our 1st crossing. Crazy lot, those buggers.

[pault]

So, to return from my making merry all over the forum with "opining" ......

 

Now I have the photos ready for another day (well, just enough to tell most of the story).

 

We reached Wild Frontiers' (they are a South African based company I believe but they seem to be well-established locally and run quite Tanzanian-style) Serengeti Wilderness Camp at Turner Springs sometime after 5, which was more or less as planned. It's a nice, simple tented camp that is theoretically mobile but in practice seems to be based in Central Serengeti for nearly all of the year. 10 big tents with a bathroom annex containing a wash basin, bucket showers and chemical toilets. Nicely done and very comfable folding chairs for sitting or snoozing ouside the tent (if you have time for such). Tents are a little too close together, but you can't have everything. Well run, serves very good food (your guide eats with you rather than having a communal table hosted by the camp manager, which is unusual but very nice) and has a great location, in a game-rich area that is a good base for exploring the Central Serengeti but relatively quiet. Turner's Springs camp sites were famous for loud and close hyenas and lions through the night, and while it never got really loud, it was also never quiet at night (or so others said - I was sleeping angelically) so I'd say the reputation can stay for now, When Mum arrived she was a bit worried by it. In this case the fact that she is unable to identify different calls was a good thing - whereas normally people who do not know may imagine what they feel is "the worst" and stress about tbeing mauled to death by bush hyrax, bushbabies and zebras, in this case they were lions and they were very close, and that was a hyena scratching at her tent and she thought it was just her silly imagination. Mum had all the fun - not fair.

 

Anyway, my wife had the first use of the first bucket and then headed off to do something. I'd just got to the rinsing off stage when I her Deo and her calling me and saying there was a cheetah in the camp. I dried off the soap and pulled on the first trousers and t-shirt I could find. By the time I got to the staff camp (where Deo had spotted it from) it was gone, but we mounted the vehicle and found it again in a couple of minutres. Unfortunately it was not looking in the best of condition, with mange and a very lean look, so I am not going to share the photos (they wouldn't have been very good anyway as it was nearly dark). We let it be and returned to our tent and after a few minutes the tent man called to ask if we would like to see some elephants. We did and there was a small group of 6 or so feeding 30m away from the tent.

 

I'll post some pictures of the camp later. I took them on the "fried egg day" as otherwise we weren't really in camp very much during daylight.

 

I was really looking forward to my first full day in the Serengeti, ever. The sights and sounds of the night before were very promising. I am sure everyone knows what this part of the Serengeti looks like and everything else they would want to know, so I'll skip any generic descriptions. It was very dry, although the grass was long, giving the appearance of fields of wheat, which swayed in the strong breeze that whistled through the vehicle as we drove or when we stopped. It was also rather hot, but the wind would disguise that until later. We had plenty of good sightings there, while managing to avoid the majority of vehicles and certainly the traffic that we'd later see aling the Seronera River. Again, Deo was taking the slightly less travelled route again, and again possibly at the expense of some well attended sightings. I am pretty sure that he tried to hit the more popular spots and sightings at times when a lot of people were back at the lodge having breakfast or had already left the area for the next destination on their whirlwind tour. As a result I probably have an overly-positive impression of how quiet the area is. I'd certainly not hesitate to return as there is lots to see - and despite two aborted attempts, we never even made it to the Moru Kopjes area.

 

So first day we enjoyed the end of a lovely dawn. Almost straight out of camp we came across two hyenas who were running along with some apparent purpose in the morning light. Interested, we followed them for a while and they obliged by staying close to the road.

 

 

Unfortunately it seems they were just out for a morning run, as they slowed down and then stopped, without any apparent reason. We waited a minute but they had lost interest, and so we moved on. There were lots of zebras and gazelles - both Grants and Thomsons in large numbers, but spread out rather than being in big groups.

 

 

The area also has some hartebeest and we saw a few Eland. Of course there are some Impala and it would haredly be the Serengeti if there weren't willdebeest. That morning it was gazelles, zebras and warthogs though... and then five minutes or so after the hyenas, four jackal pups.

 

The pups were already half-grown and had found a really big toy thet they were trying their best to harry and annoy . They even looked quite fierce as they showed their teeth and barked, but the warthog was not even slightly interested. At a guess I'd say he was a neighbour and well used to this hooliganism.

 

 

 

 

Once they got bored of the warthog, they came over to check us out. - foiling my attempts to get a nice picture in the morning light by staying in the shodow of the vehicle and coming too close to it for a decent angle.

 

 

They then had a short rest in the long grass before jumping up and starting to play - mostly in the long grass but eventually in the road - which gives me an opportunity to show the environment in this part of the Serengeti:

 

We watched them play for quiite a while as we were supposed to pick Mum up from the airstrip just after 9 and so couldn't go far. Their mother returned at around 8 and they ran off into the long grass towards her, yelping .

 

Mum's plane had to do stops at Manyara and Tarangire (in that order) so it took her much longer than anticipated ( 1hr 40 from Arusha to Seronera). We were left waiting and hoping that every plane would be hers, but it wasn't. Eventually even super-cool Deo had to call his office and check what airline she was on so that wer wouldn't suffer the disappointment that follows false hope again. There was a large hard of zebra trying to cross the runway to get to the river (the only water it seemed) and someone was kept busy trying to clear the runway for planes, It's not like herding cats but zebras are not the most cooperative or regimented of creatures... he gave up doing a complete clearout and instead started just chasing them off the gravel when a plane did it's first pass over.

 

Finally the correct plane arrived and Mum's feet touched the Serengeti. She looked around, found what she was looking for and gave a big wave, then strolled vigorously towards her target. Can you spot her?

 

 

Unfortunately, she wasn't waving at us, but another couple who were waiting to leave. As she got close enough to see without her glasses she did a sharp right turn and finally heard my shouts of "Mum!"

 

It was clear, and hardly surprising, that she wanted tot alk, but we were really hungry by now, so I told her we could talk on the way to Park HQ down the road, where we would now be having a picnic brunch, made up of three breakfasts and four lunches. She'd woken up that morning and in trying to find her way out of the net at the Arusha Hotel had managed to split her head open on the bedside table, which for some reason is higher than the bed there.... it seems. She managed to stem the blood flow after 15 minutes and then self-medicated with iodine as we was scared she would miss her flight. After all that she had arrived at Arusha airport at 7.45 and it had taken her until 10.15 to get to Seronera. She wasn't very happy but felt 100 times better after a few zebras and a giraffe.

Edited November 15, 2012 by pault

[pault]

Seronera Park HQ is a strange place to visit with it's roaring lions (everybody pushes that button in the interactive display), the official "grumpiest shop clerk in Tanzania", tourists everywhere, the metal-covered picnic tables, and the hyraxes and dwarf mongooses running all over the place.... not to mention an unusual number of birds (not variety, just number). There are signs telling people not to feed the wildlife and why, but they do - at least in lower quantities than they would without the sign. Despite the free food on offer, most of the hyraxes and mongooses are pretty busy scratching around and eating the natural bounty that is there in abundance, as it is also an area that seems to get a bit of watering. So the green grass, shade, water and (I guess) relative safety from predators appear to be the bigger draws, although I am sure the table scraps don't hurt. How harsh the Serengeti must seem to the pampered animals that live in this oasis.

 

A little green grass... the caviar of the Serengeti in October

 

 

Overweight Dwarf Mongoose

 

 

 

 

 

After brunch we decided we should change our original plan of staying out all day and have a look at Mum's head wound. She was okay (well as okay as ever) but no point int aking a risk. So Deo gave her a quick tour of Seronera (lion, elephants and Sausage Tree in 30 minutes, thanks no doubt to a discussion with somone at HQ) and then we headed back to the camp. My wife said she'd take care of Mum's wound and take the opportunity to wash her hair, so i was given permission to head off with Deo on my own.

 

Mum's intro to Seronera

 

 

 

 

Wait a moment? DId I say Sausage Tree?

 

Deo found a leopard up a tree and as the area was completely clear of cars we stopped to admire it very slightly off the road. Mum looked up and nodded and took in the ambience. After 30 seconds "communing with the secretive leopard) she found her "normal glasses" and said... instead of "Marvellous" or "I can't believe this." or something else appropriate........ "Oh, a Sausage Tree!"

 

I thought she had rather got her priorities mixed up - we weren't there to admire bloody fruit, although of course each to their own. However, my wife grabbed her arm and pointed at the leopard - no, a leopard, Mum. There's a leopard.above your head - in the tree.

 

Mum claims she saw it all the time and was just speaking her thoughts our loud. My wife shakes her head affectionately at that story and would wink if that was her style. Officially I am "on the fence".

 

 

Strange fruit.....

 

 

Lesson of the day? Well for guides it would be to take absolutely nothing for granted. With certain guests you may need to point, say "leopard" and then follow up 30 seconds later with a "Do you see it?" And for us, we sort of understand that kind of annoying guide a little bit better now (just a little bit).

Edited November 15, 2012 by pault

[johnkok]

So that's why guides have to keep repeating "Do you see it?". But that's nothing like having a fellow traveler in the vehicle pointing out a crocodile carcass that we had just passed, asking multiple times of the rest of us "Did you see it?" until the guide turns the vehicle around to get back to it only to find it's a dead tree trunk

[Jochen]

Must not be a fun thing to have bad vision and then go on safari.

 

We met a woman during our trip in Namibia (this was in Etosha) who needed two pair of glasses. One "regular" pair (on her face the whole time), and another pair which she used to look at things a bit further away. Every time she needed the 2nd pair she had to dig into her purse.

 

At least a dozen times I found her peering in the wrong direction as to where the animal was. And a lot of times, even if you pointed in the right direction, she'd look but not see it and just give up. Sh then stared right in front of her, while all of us looked at the animal. At the end of the day me & Mira started summarizing all she did not see. "That rhino", "and the lions", "also the kestrel", "don't forget the giant eagle owl and the jackal". We really felt bad for her. The only time she produced a tiny camera from her purse was to photograph a giraffe that was right next to the road, eating accaccia leaves about 1m from her head. And even with this sighting it took a while for her to see the animal; she let out a surprised "oh" before grabbing for that camera as soon as she could.

[PT123]

That would be a bummer. I give her credit for going out on safari to try and enjoy the wildlife in their natural habitats.