Namiri Plains, Serengeti, Tanzania (Day 1 and 2)
Day 1 Serengeti: Elephants!
2°32'52.0"S 35°06'05.0"E (MAP)
Altitude 1670m (5,479 feet)
In the first 24 hours of arriving at Namiri Plains, I’ve been relatively close to elephants, cheetah and lions – superb! Leopards remain unseen.
Needless to say, the crazy travel days of last week disappeared when I arrived here at around 1pm. My driver/guide, Hatibu, was at Seronera Airport to meet me, and having climbed into his Toyota 4WD, fitted out for photographers, we chatted about what I wanted to see and photograph, and I learned about him and his photography.
Then we were off into the bush, and for the next five or so hours, we drove through wide open grassy plains with single and grouped acacia trees dotted about, the big sky of the Serengeti stretching in all directions, and little breeze. We drove over gentle hills, some with the characteristic kopjes – bundles of weather-smoothed rocks that sit above the grasses and provide hiding and also resting/sleeping places for animals. This is just how I’d imagined the Serengeti would be.
It’s the start of the migration in this part of Africa, and zebra and wildebeest were in large groups in various places. They move clockwise annually through Tanzania, going north into Kenya from the western areas of Tanzania, then circling back into the eastern areas later in the year. You might have seen footage of them crossing rivers with crocs lying in wait.
Our main search on afternoon 1 was for leopards. Instead we found elephants – a family of about eight including five mothers and three babies of various ages, led by one mother with very large tusks, possibly the matriarch of the group. Well behind them a large bull (male) followed their path. We stopped to watch as the bull came closer – would there be tussles or would he be accepted?
It seems he was welcomed in, and off they all went moving away from the track we were on.
Since it was getting close to 6pm and light was fading fast, we drove to the Namiri Plains lodge that I’m now staying at. It was time to meet the staff, unpack, and change into clean clothes for dinner.
What a beautiful place this is – great staff, yummy food and well designed “tents” with a comfy bed that I fell asleep on in about 3 minutes, dreaming of what I’d seen.
Day 2 Serengeti: Cheetah and Lions!
2°32'52.0"S 35°06'05.0"E (MAP)
Altitude 1670m (5,479 feet)
This morning Hatibu was outside my cabin at 6:30am, and we were off in search of leopards. About 10 minutes into the drive, he was on the radio speaking with two other drivers who’d left 15 minutes earlier. They’d found three cheetah – brothers that live and hunt as a group, also a “coalition”.
We bounced along the tracks and were soon seeing them – three gorgeous cheetah, quietly walking along a track that took them up a gentle slope.
We stayed with them for maybe an hour or more – time became irrelevant. They were walking with purpose, probably to get closer to prey further up the slope. They were happy with us being there, and it was fun photographing them.
Then Hatibu spotted a young male lion that had come across from another area. Further up the slope 3 lions (another coalition) were standing on the crest looking down towards us and the young single male. The lions became our focus.
The big male with a beautiful mane was the leader of that coalition (we’ll call him the alpha male). He knew what was to happen, and started walking down the slope, his eyes fixed on the young lion. The young one started to move away – quite slowly. Hatibu explained that the young single lion was probably wanting to challenge the big male, and that this was very likely to be unsuccessful.
We watched as the alpha male came closer and closer, and we noticed that one of the others from his coalition started to come closer to him quite quickly. Watching the alpha male was amazing – his eyes were fixed on the young lion and did not deviate, and his head remained relatively low.
The alpha male and his partner started moving more quickly, forcing the young male to pick up his pace. They passed us and were now heading away from us towards a crest of the rolling hills. Once they were over this, we wouldn’t be able to see them. And that’s where they went!
We turned the 4WD to see if there were any tracks that might take us to that area – but unfortunately we weren’t able to find any.
So we don’t know the outcome although Hatibu said that because of the size of the alpha male, and the presence of his partner, the young lion would not have survived.
At around 11am, we stopped for a yummy breakfast under a tree near a kopje and chatted about Hatibu’s work and his options for the future.
Soon after leaving, he received a call to say that a lion with two cubs was near a waterhole not too far away. Off we went! And as we arrived we could see her leading her cubs up a slope to a kopje, hotly pursued by a 4WD - definitely way too close. And this is just not ok.
We left the water hole and with some fun off-road driving were in a position to see the lioness and her family find their way in amongst the rocks. Hatibu really understands these animals, and so we drove around to the other side just as the mother walked purposefully up a high piece of rock, encouraging her babies to follow, and then moved to an even better location.
Despite their protests (we could hear the cubs making crying noises), they soon appeared and were ready to suckle. It was just beautiful watching their behaviours. And then we also noticed a sleeping male lion snoring away in a crevice below them.
What a fabulous day it had been: close sightings of cheetah and lions – amazing!