Started our morning game drive at 6:15am and headed into the Serengeti, the mother of all African national parks. The Serengeti forms the southern half of the protected wilderness area which includes the Masai Mara on the Kenya side of the border. This is where thousands of wildebeest, zebra, and antelope make their annual migration. The animals move in search of fresh grass for grazing and continuous water sources. At this time of the season, they are on their way out of the Serengeti and heading north up into the Mara. It is also here where the notorious Grumeti river crossing occurs. These migratory ungulates have to run the gauntlet and hope, by virtue of sheer numbers, that they are not chosen as a crocodile snack.
My first wildlife encounter in this legendary game park was witnessing four female lions hunting an impala. They began their stalk from about 100 yards and since the impala was just behind our vehicle, the lions were moving directly toward us. It was fascinating to watch. Three of the cats used our Landrover as cover while the fourth circled wide to ambush the antelope. At one point, the cats were within spitting distance of me. Some random noise stirred the impala and he looked up, knowing unseen eyes were upon him, and it moved off. This hunt was unsuccessful, as most lion attempts are. For every kill they make, there are roughly ten failures.
An hour later, we came upon two cheetahs lying on a rock outcropping. They were inactive and would look around occasionally before returning to their nap. Further on we came across another lone cheetah sitting and staring intently at a duck in a pond. We stayed with this cat for half hour and it didn’t take its eyes off that bird. A bit later we saw a lone male lion lying on a road. He was massive with a huge mane. Twenty yards away was a female finishing off the flesh of a freshly killed wildebeest. Waiting patiently in the wings were a jackal and a hyena, ready to scavenge any remaining morsels. An hour later, another lone cheetah, followed by three lionesses and their nine cubs lounging beside a river. We returned to our tented campsite at Seronera to escape the midday heat and have lunch. (Of course, I’m only mentioning the notable species. We obviously saw herds of giraffe, elephant, zebra, hartebeest, wildebeest, buffalo, gazelles, etc interspersed among the other sightings).
Our afternoon game drive began with seeing a Crown eagle clutching a guinea fowl. Further on, four more lions, moving languidly across the savannah, roaring occasionally. Then we saw an impressive display of two young male elephants fighting, their tusks not yet matured, vying for social position among the herd. To end the day, we saw three female lions lying and looking off at the distant horizon, almost as if they were there to enjoy the sunset over a Gin & Tonic and discussing dinner plans.
Drove back to camp and had dinner. Our cook did an amazing job of creating meals given the total lack of facilities. He had an infectious belly-jiggling laugh which tipped off his imminent arrival with food. Our group included a Dutch couple on honeymoon, an American couple, myself, a driver/guide, and the cook. During the evening after dinner, we all sat around a fire and talked about the days’ sightings. The Americans were boring and quickly annoyed me so I tried to engage in conversation primarily with the Dutch people. Eventually, everyone went to sleep in their tents while I remained, reflecting on the magnitude of being in the middle of the savannah at the Serengeti. A place, until now, I could only vicariously live through lying on my sofa at home watching Discovery documentaries while eating pints of coffee flavored Haagen Daaz. I tipped some Irish whiskey into a glass and saluted in two directions: first towards Switzerland for my old Botswana buddy, Gabriel, to honor our whiskey o’clock tradition while on safari and secondly to America, to honor my sisters’ birthday today.
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