Serengeti 2

Serengeti wake-up call: at 5:30 am a staff member is at our door with coffee and hot milk. ❤️ Half an hour later he’s back to escort us to breakfast, and then we’re off with Raja on an all-day game drive. Our butts were so sore yesterday that I couldn’t imagine what today’s bouncing would do . But by 9 am we had arrived at the Mara River and stayed for several hours. On the long drive there we saw giraffes, elephants, wildebeests and zebras, gazelles, baboons — and five hot air balloons, another way to view the huge herds here.

There are several migration crossing spots along the Mara, and the protocol is to sit and wait to see if the wildebeest are going to cross while you’re there. We watched as long lines of these creatures (1000s of them) paced along the riverbank’s edge. Sometimes walking, sometimes running. As they moved from one area to another, the safari trucks (many dozens of them) would often head there too, en masse at breakneck speed, to get the best viewing spot. They have to stay back a certain distance until the crossing has begun, then they’re allowed to drive right up to the edge to watch the procession. I can’t help but wonder, when I see so much dust thrown up and the sound of all these engines revving — we observers must be impacting them. A virtual stampede will be heading one direction, then suddenly reverse course. At one point where the river oxbows, the wildebeests were running madly in a circle — effectively blocking any of the trucks from getting through! Park rangers are always around, making sure everyone’s complying with the rules. But I’m not sure there are enough rules. ☹️

We caught the beginning of one crossing, until a crocodile grabbed one of the wildebeests and the rest stopped, returning back up the riverbank. A bit later there was a successful crossing — all wildebeest, no zebras or gazelles in this group, although they also migrate up to Kenya with the wildebeests. This is almost the end of the northern migration season, as the first of two rainy seasons will begin soon, increasing the amount of green grasses for them to feed on here on the Serengeti. They’ll stay up on the Masai Mara reserve until November, then begin their southern migration. (This map helped us understand the pattern: https://www.expertafrica.com/tanzania/info/sere…) I didn’t get a video of the large group going across the river, but you can easily watch the impressive event online. And I could only post the first two minutes of them running right by our truck — it went on much longer!

We got a taste of the rainy season. Around 1:00 we started hearing thunder, and by 2:00 a full deluge was upon us. We had seen enough, so began the long trek home. First Raja brought out the fleece-lined ponchos for us (very warm and cozy!) but when too much rain started blowing in we stopped and rolled down the canvas sides. So much rain fell that we encountered new creeks and many puddles on the route back. The area around our camp, however, was dry.Leia mais