Reflections From the Serengeti

2°10’43”S 34°24’47”E (MAP)

Altitude 1260m (4,134 feet)

The Serengeti has always evoked rolling hills of grasses with groups of trees with their characteristic “half dome” shape, and lions, cheetah and giraffe moving from place to place.

When I started to write this post, I was sitting in my very large tent – it has canvas walls & roof, and pegs into the ground, so technically it’s a tent – with its veranda that looks across the Serengeti plains. My desk, near the King-sized bed, also looks across the plains. I’d sat outside for a while enjoying the view, but hadn’t seen any animals at that time, although I knew that lions had walked just outside during the night.

The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai, and means “endless plains”. The grass, yellow in some places, green in others, short where eaten and long and yummy in others, is food for many of the inhabitants including elephants, buffalo, wildebeest, impala, zebra and smaller herbivores.

The many types of trees and bush provide different things for different animals: for elephants to eat, push over or meander between them; for leopards to lie in or under the canopy; and for cheetah and lions to shelter under between long prowls in the grass.

Each camp had a similar daily routine. In the morning we were in the 4WD at around 6:15 or 6:30am having enjoyed a nice hot cup of tea and a muffin or cookie brought to my tent about 30 minutes earlier. Then we were off into the bush with a plan of where Hatibu (Namiri Plains) or Isack (Mila) wanted to start the search. Breakfast would come later. We would pull up under a tree at around 10ish and enjoy a hot cuppa and delicious food packed just for us.

Plans would change through the day as the guides chatted to each other, finding out where lions or cheetah or elephants, or masses of wildebeest and zebra were being seen. Depending on where and what they’re doing, we would meander to the area or go as quickly as possible across tracks and off road, often seeing other wonderful animals such as these ostrich (the pink colouring on the male tells females, below, that he’s looking for a mate).

Spending time with these animals can be very illuminating. Whether it’s the cheetah mum with 5 cubs that she’s “calling to” to keep them nearby, or a lion hunting another lion because its in the wrong territory, or a young male elephant munching grass by the side of the track, sticking its trunk out towards a 4WD, then retreating it very quickly before returning to eating the grass.

While we were watching the lions on Tuesday, we drove around to the other side of the line of bushes where a lioness was walking towards the same area, with two cubs in tow. Well not really “in tow”, one was bounding ahead of mum (probably a young male), while the other was dragging its feet keeping up (probably a female). We stopped to watch. The young male found a termite mound and ran around to the back of it, crouching down & getting in position to pounce. When his mother and sister came passed, he leapt out towards them giving his sister a fright. Mum was very cool – she knows that this is practice hunting for her son.

On my last day at Mila Tented Camp, everyone was out searching for leopards. Having seen lions and cheetah, guests were keen to see a leopard, as were our guides.

During the afternoon game drive, we went to a new (for me) area, with another Mila 4WD doing the same. A guide from another company told us that there was a cheetah “over there”, so off we went!

The grass was high, and Isack would drive and stop to look around with his binoculars, and then we’d move in a different direction and repeat. I was still looking for the occasional leg or tail hanging from a branch, indicating a leopard up a tree.

We were both starting to think that the other guide had told us about the cheetah just to keep us busy. Isack stopped the 4WD, looked around with the binocs, then turned to me as he put them down and said “there” pointing to my left.

In the deep long grass was a cheetah curled up trying to sleep. It was about 1-2 meters from us – we could have run over it! It looked at us, stood up and we could see it’s huge belly, probably filled with Impala.

The other Mila 4WD came over; we watched as the cheetah tried to move away, but it really wanted to sleep. So we let it be, moved away a little and watched the sun set.

This was my last evening in the Serengeti, at least on this trip. And what a beautiful sunset it was – the sun appeared to be captured by a tree.

Some thoughts as a close to this part of this trip. How fortunate I am to be able to have excellent, knowledgeable private guides who know the areas I’m visiting and have deep knowledge of the animals.

We frequently found animals going about their daily lives to ensure they survive and procreate, such as cheetah, elephants and herds of zebra and impala.

Then there are ostrich – what magnificent animals these are, the male with his huge black feathers that he keeps fluffing up with a flourish to attract his mate, and the female with her brown feathers that she flounces and preens, and that sit way up high to show plenty of leg.

Elephants living in families, with the young carefully protected by their mothers, aunts and grandmothers. Some males in musth when their hormones are raging (we stayed away from those).

And of course lions. They definitely are the “kings”, doing all that they can to protect their pride and territory. Watching their behaviours was fascinating – and this was only over a short period.

Each day unfolds based on where you search for what you’d like to see, and is then enhanced by what nature provides and enables us to see.