Tag: Kilimanjaro beer

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Quintessential Serengeti

Sixth in a series

The road to the Central Serengeti is a long dusty trek in the dry season. Many people bypass this part of the trip and opt to fly in to camp but I would not recommend this the first time you go on safari. You are missing the essence of the Serengeti by taking this shortcut in my opinion. I’m not sure I would have appreciated the vastness, the desolation, the ruggedness, the magnificence of this creation. Golden grass plains extend out as far as the eye can see. I feel like I’m in the middle of a golden sea. At 5700 square miles, it’s no wonder I feel like I’m lost in this ocean.

Almost as soon as we passed through the entrance to Serengeti National Park we found a grassy marsh area where we saw a large pride of lions laying in wait. I would imagine that this is the coolest place in the Serengeti right now. Water is sparse but they manage to find what’s left of the creeks. This is the only place I have seen anything green in hours.

Adolescent lions of the pride

It’s amazing to see the lions here. They are much closer than what we saw in Tarangire. They are lean. They are waiting. They are watchful. This is no time to get a sip of water if you are a nearby impala.

We finally move on after watching the pride for quite awhile. Martin is listening to the radio and quickly darts our vehicle off to a single nearby tree. We are amazed to drive up and see a fat leopard soundly sleeping on a branch above, her belly hanging over the branch. Several branches above are the remains of the impala.

Leopard napping after a good meal

We drive further into the Serengeti towards our camp. Off in the distance we see a herd of elephants marching across the plains. I have a flashback to the Disney movie Jungle Book with the patriarch Colonel Hathi marching his herd across the landscape. It is truly surreal to be here in this incredible place.

“Colonel Hathi” and the family marching

After an extremely long, dusty, and exhilarating day, we arrived to Kiota Camp, our tent camp for the next two nights. We were greeted with warm wet washcloths and cold Kilimanjaro beer. I promise you there is no better way to end the day on the quintessential Serengeti.

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King of the Hill

Fourth in the series

Goodbye Tarangire. Our time was short together but wonderful! Martin picked us up and we headed out of Tarangire National Park. As we were leaving we stopped by the spot where the evening before we had seen a zebra carcass with a lioness nearby. Now there are three lionesses there and no zebra carcass. The vultures look fat and happy in the trees nearby. Things don’t go to waste in the African wild. Every scrap is eaten by someone.

So we hit the highway and headed towards Lake Manyara, a small much less traveled park on the edge of the incredibly large Lake Manyara. Lake Manyara was most famous for tree climbing lions but now those lions are seen more frequently on the Serengeti. Lake Manyara has 13 separate ecosystems according to Martin. There are areas that remind you of a North American timber forest, then there are swampy marshes, jungles, dusty desert type flatlands, and of course a big beautiful lake to name a few. Lake Manyara is also know for having the largest troops of baboons.

We watched as the troop leader left his post on top of a termite hill. A little guy decided it was his turn to try out being king of the hill. So he climbed up and sat on the top, looking out very serious. No doubt he will be a future protector of the family! He wasn’t there long before a cousin came up and they tumbled around together and off the hill!

We then drove the swampy marsh and saw dozens of hippos. There was an area where we could safely get out and walk up on a wooden bridge and overlook the swampy area. My dad really enjoyed gazing out across the marsh, pointing out hippos and water buffalo.

We went to the picnic area of the park where Martin served us a wonderful lunch. Dad really loves talking to Martin and asking him millions of questions. Martin is so good with him and explains everything and even pulls out his field guide sometimes to show him things.

The highlight of our afternoon is when we came across two big male lions snoozing underneath a bush. This was the first we had seen of male lions. You cannot believe how big their heads are! Very intimidating!

Just chilling
Just chilling

As we were watching them and I was taking pictures, Dad suddenly sneezed a very loud sneeze! One of the male lions lunged out of his afternoon stupor and roared loudly. He was not happy to be woken from his slumber by that loud sneeze! I think that was the first time that Dad or I thought we may actually be the lunch while we were on our trip! The lions are the true King of the Hill in this neighborhood.

Ready for lunch

After a long day of safari we traveled to the top of the ridge overlooking Lake Manyara park and stayed at the beautiful Serena Lodge. The sunset was spectacular with hues of pink and purple. While we sipped on ice cold Kilimanjaro beer we watched a performance by some of the Masaii tribe with beautiful singing and acrobatics.

All along the way of this trip, one thing strikes me over and over again…people here are happy. They are incredibly poor but their hearts are full of love. I think of the smiles of the young Tanzanian children as they run up to our safari truck and we hand them apples, protein bars, or bottles of water. All the stupid things we worry about at home just melt into the background of the hot African plains. I’m so appreciative to be here, to experience this, to open my heart to it all. I know when I leave this place, I will leave part of myself behind.