Trip to Kenya and Tanzania - Part II - North Serengeti .

 William drove me to Isebania border, the Customs and Immigration post on Tanzanian side . I reached there around midday. Formalites were fast and I was out in 15-20 minutes.  Mweta of Lion King Adventures was waiting for me outside. My Serengeti and Ngorongoro trip was organised and managed by Lion King Adventures.

Mweta, quite fluent in English and a very jolly guy , introduced himself . Born at a Serengeti neighboring village his wildlife career had started early at the age of 12 years. His father was also a Serengeti Park employee and that helped. Mweta has been working as a Game Drive guide and driver for the last 25 years and knows Serengeti very well. He told me that I would reach  Heritage North Camp  , my first night stay and stopover in North Serengeti , in about four and half hours. 

For the second and third day in North serengeti I was  to stay at Acacia Migration Camp.

North Serengeti's main attraction is river crossing when thousands of Wildebeest and Zebra jump into river Mara waters to reach the other side. Many perish in this perilous short journey  due to huge Crocodiles which catch them in the waters and then by  Lions and other lesser felines which ambush them  when they step on terra firma on the other side. Though the reverse migration had already taken place this year but  some was left still. I was to witness such an event.

I had an early breakfast next day morning and started game drive around 7.45 A.M. . North Serengeti landscape is quite different from Masai Mara. Unlike vast rolling plains of Mara, North Serengeti is flat,  bushy,  woody and has small escarpments. Central Serengeti also is more like this except that it is much drier and has  hillocks called  "Kopje "in Swahili . We often see "Kopjes" in Discovery and National Geographic  images wherein Lion prides and other animal are depicted sitting high on rocks.  Umbrella Acacia tree and Ant mound are found all over the landscape.

Mweta kept briefing me about African wildlife while driving. I was was keen to see Cheetah and Mweta promised me that . I still had another 2 days in North Serengeti.

My safari vehicle radio blared in Swahili. Mweta told that concentration of Wildebeest has been observed at the river and crossing will take place. We moved towards that side . It was around 11 am.

A herd of around 2000 Wildebeest and some 50 Zebra had gathered on the opposite side of the river. Mweta parked the vehicle from where the sliding path reaching down to river waters  was perfectly in sight. He said that crossing will take place from that point only. He he was totally correct.

However the river crossing is a time taking and lengthy event. First a scout group of 3-4 Zebra and Wildebeest took  rounds examining all crossing paths from safety point as the river is infested with huge crocodiles. That went on for hours till the animals found it safe to cross from the path just opposite to where I was parked.

About 6-7 Wildebeest jumped in the river and started swimming in order to cross the river. The rest of the herd didn't follow the suit. Instead they kept watching the progress of the advance group.  Three of them  reached to the opposite side but found the bank too high to climb up . While they struggled to climb up , the Crocodiles saw them . The rest of the Wildebeest who were  in behind and were almost on the verge of finishing their crossing also saw the Crocodiles . They turned back swiftly  and swam back to their point of start on the other bank.. The trio that was struggling to climb up the high bank was unlucky. Crocodiles grabbed them all.

                                                                             

I decided to wait. Mweta said that animals will regroup , try again but crossing could be from some other  point along the river. I need to wait patiently. 

In the meantime many tourist vehicle had gathered to watch the event. The park rangers also arrived at the scene to maintain order . Finally after a wait of about 3 hours , crossing seemed to start at a distant point which was about a kilometer away from where I was parked. Mweta said not to worry and moved the vehicle in that direction.

Hundreds of Wildebeest were ready to jump in the river and had gathered down the bank near  flowing waters. I was ready with my camera to record the event but the frantic activity along the riverbank had caught attention of the Crocodiles and many of them appeared suddenly from nowhere. A pair of Hippopotamus also surfaced in the waters and that  spooked the Wildebeest. The herd quickly climbed back to high river bank. The crossing was abandoned.

The time was 4 P.M.  I already had a preview of the crossing. So I told Mweta to move on , There was much to explore in Northern Serengeti . 

I got up late on the second day morning and game drive started around 8.30 A.M. While driving to the game viewing area , the vehicle radio blared  and Mweta started clapping. He told me that Cheetah movement has been observed but that area is far off . It will take about 20 minutes to reach there. I was a bit skeptical. Finding a wandering Cheetah after 20 minutes or so in such a vast landscape ! Not possible.

But Mweta sounded very sure. He said that he would fulfill his promise made to me the other day. Since he knows the area like the palm of his hand , he would locate the animal for sure. I was still sceptical.

But Mweta was absolutely correct. He spotted the Cheetah and positioned the vehicle quite near to the animal so that I can take good shots.However the roof open safari vehicles have their limitations. You can not get eye level shot unless your object happens to be some big animal like an Elephant or a Giraffe. Window shots also suffer from the same limitation.

The Cheetah , a male , had made a kill short while ago and was in a hurry to devour its prey lest it was snatched away by Hyenas or Vultures swoop down upon it. It was a beautiful animal. I took shots and made a short video also. The blood stained uprooted grass in the front was telltale sign of the struggle that had ensued between the two

                                                                                

                                                                                     

 The third day  at Northern Serengeti  was the last . I finished game drive by noon. Came back to Camp, took bath and packed up . After lunch I was to proceed for Central Serengeti. Took shots of a sitting Giraffe - which is seldom seen sitting - a beautiful Hyena lying in a road and a mother Elephant with her year old calf , on the way.

                                                                                      

                                                                                     

                                                                                         

                                                                                      

              Central Serengeti and Ngorongoro in the next blog. Bye -bye till then and happy reading.

 

Trip to Kenya and Tanzania -- Part I - Masai Mara .

 Finally the day came for the long awaited trip to  Masai Mara and Serengeti  .   I took off on 29th September 2023 . I was to be there for 11 days.

The late night Indigo flight from Bombay landed at Nairobi at about 6 O'clock in the morning.  Millicent and William of Go Africa were there at the airport to receive me. William , a Masai , was  to be my driver and game guide for three days at Mara and then to drop me at Isebania immigration post  for crossing over to Tanzania.

Millicent gave me a small briefing of what to expect at Masai Mara.  She told me that reverse migration, from Masai Mara to Northern Serengeti ,   has taken place a bit early this year due to scant rains in Kenya.  Migration is totally dependent on rains but I was not to worry . Masai Mara  has  lots of wildlife to explore during my sojourn there. And  October being dry season there , visibility will be good with less number of tourists.  William , decked up in his traditional Masai attire , gave me a thumbs up with a broad smile. He spoke English.

Nairobi-Mara drive by  4x4 safari Land Cruiser took more than 8 hours including 2 midway stops at Rift Valley and Narok. The distance was only about 230kms but most of Kenya roads are dusty macadams which by modern standards are primitive . Therefore long drives are very uncomfortable.  Modern tar paved roads are few but maximum 50kmph rule is fallowed on them very strictly despite of scant road traffic. In a way it's good. Over speeding needs to be controlled.

My stay in Mara was at Mara Crossings luxury camp. This is the only permanent tented camp in Masai Mara right on river Mara. You can sit in the camp's lounge and watch Hippos and Crocodiles right below in the river. From  evening  six  to morning six , Masai guards escort you when you need to go anywhere in the premises . Its a safety protocol as the Camp is located in the forest.  Hyena and Hippo calls may disturb your sleep in the night..

                                                                                   

     Masai Mara is beautifully scenic. Miles and miles of green rolling plains mesmerize you. Lone           acacia trees standing in the middle add further to the scenic beauty. However photography from the Land Cruiser safari vehicle is a bit odd. One has to stand up in the seat and place the camera on the rails of the open roof of the safari vehicle . There is total loss of eye level unless one is happen to click large animals like Elephants or Giraffe. The side open safari vehicles , which are ideal for photography, are run only by Conservancies for their guests. Since they don't provide airport pickup , one has to either take a bush flight or taxi to reach them.

African wildlife parks allow game drives from morning six to evening six. But the morning and evening hours are the only good times for photography. The mid day hours are not suitable due to strong sunlight and atmospheric haze and dust. 

I was lucky to get a Lioness sitting on an earthen mound watching a group of Cape Buffalos across the road . My vehicle was in the middle so I could get shots of both by moving from one side to other.

                                                                              

The next day morning drive was beautiful. It had rained in the night which had a cleaning effect upon the entire area but with a light blue haze . However as the Sun rose , the haze was gone and it became picture perfect . I met a lone Tusker and a pair of Ostriches resting in the ground after having taken their dust bath.

I found  whole day game drives a bit tiring and moreover the best time for photography were  mornings and evenings . Therefore I decided to come back to Camp by 11.00 - 11.30 and then again go for drives in the evening around 4.00 p.m. And these drives proved to be best for photography as the animal movement was most during these hours. A Giraffe and a beautiful African Leopard were clicked.

Masai Mara is the place for appreciating natural beauty and enjoying the  abundance of its fantastic wildlife visually . One need to give his camera a rest for sometime and capture visuals from the eyes. It's equally enjoying. The sunsets are so beautiful that you get completely  mesmerized with the nature. It happened with me. I was lost enjoying a sunset and it was William who reminded me to pick up the camera and click it. Thanks to William . But for his remind I would have lost the shot.

Serengeti and Ngoro Goran in the next the blog which I will try to post soon.  Thanks in the meantime. And do put in your comments.