Today, we aren’t going to wander too far. We are basically going to sit and wait at the river to see if the wildebeest and zebra will cross. This is after all, the Great Migration. Wildebeest and zebra hang out together and move ever closer to the Mara River. The traffic jam backs up behind them.
However, the ones in front see the grave danger of the river. Lurking in the waters, large crocodile are swimming just below the surface. You can see their tails barely sticking out above the water.
So we watch. They approach the river, peer in and run away. Walk back down to the water’s edge, and run away again. We sit and wait, batting away the occasional tsetse fly waiting for the first brave wildebeest to cross so the others will follow.
This is the one part of the trip that I wish I could have a do over on. My dad really wanted to see this river crossing….but the day we were watching it just didn’t happen. No one was hungry enough to make that brave leap into the crocodile infested waters. I wish I had booked an extra day here!
I can’t complain though. We really had a great day! We watched a bloat of hippos in the water…a couple of them got in quite a little tiff!
Angry hippo
While sitting and waiting, I saw this handsome Agama lizard sunning on a rock.
A handsome Agama lizard
On the way back to camp, we did see a beautiful sight. A very young zebra with his mother. Martin says he must only be a day or two old.
Mom and baby zebra with Lamala Mara camp in background
Lamala Mara is a beautiful camp. The people here are so wonderful. At night you can hear the lions in the distance and the hippos roaming the grasses. It’s so peaceful here.
Tomorrow we will head out and travel the long road back to the Ngorongoro Crater.
We started today early with Dad watching the sunrise from our tent at Kiota Camp. We grabbed breakfast to-go and headed out with Martin to explore the Serengeti to see what wonders we could find.
As we are driving away from camp we immediately start seeing animals; a lone hyena walking in the grass, a hartebeest (good looking cousin of the wildebeest) standing on a hill assessing the dangers of the plains and a lone hippopotamus walking in the field. You know it’s early when you see the hippos on the ground and not in the water. They come out at night and graze. During the day they are lazing in the mud pools to stay cool. Hippos are one of the reasons it’s very dangerous to go out at night in the Serengeti.
We see Fischer’s lovebirds scouring for food on the ground. Apparently, it is pretty rare to see this many of them at once and up close.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that Tanzania is a bird watcher’s paradise. Martin points out all the birds throughout the day but I can barely keep up! They are all exotic and incredible to see though…Lilac Breasted Rollers, Secretary birds, and my favorite Green Bee Eaters.
We are driving along and see a lone female lion off in the trees. We don’t have a great view of her so we move on a little bit down the road. There we see the most majestic male lion. He definitely knows she is close by as he puts his nose in the air and sniffs. It almost looks like he is smelling the flowers. He walks fearlessly towards our safari truck and passes right in front of us. Then he went to an Acacia tree (with very large spines) and gave himself a good back scratch before lying down.
He seems pretty confident that his lady will come around. I could sit and watch this big guy all day but we move on and our timing couldn’t have been better.
We drive along the dusty roads in the central Serengeti. The terrain is a little less prairie like here with more trees and little streams emptying into small pools of water. We see a giraffe crossing the road and it is just surreal to watch him gracefully glide to the other side.
Moving on down the road we found another large pride of lions. There were probably 16-20 lions of all ages resting in the trees. I have to laugh because they really are so similar to our cats at home…a little bit of action and a whole lot of sleeping!
We continue down the road for just a couple of minutes and find a large herd of zebras crossing back and forth across the road. To our left is water, to our right, grassy plains. One lone zebra is making a lot of noise. He is braying and very nervous. The other zebras seem unsure of what to do. They cross back and forth but they really want to get a drink of water. However, the town cryer is making them skittish. We have seen a fair amount of zebras at this point and this group’s behavior seems out of the ordinary. I look back behind us with my telephoto lens to see what the anxious zebra is braying about and I see her….a lone lioness stalking in the grass. My heart races! I set up my camera to point where the zebras are entering the water and put the mode ready for action.
Suddenly there is a rush of zebras leaving the water and the lioness charges. A young zebra zags at the right time and narrowly misses certain death. The lioness is left breathless and hungry.
A narrow escape
This reminds me that my dad has always talked about how nature doesn’t seem fair…and this is where we get into our spiritual debates. “Why” he asks, “does the lion have to kill the impala in front of its young so the lion’s young can eat?” Life is definitely hard on the Serengeti. I think we both appreciate this more now. It’s pretty easy for the zebra and the impala to eat but the big cats work hard for their meals. They fail more than they win. Later after our trip was done we would both be watching Big Cat Tales on Animal Planet to hear their Maasai guide Jackson Looseyia talk about the plight of the big cats. He said it beautifully…”the impala gives its life for their life”. Say what you will, it doesn’t get much more Christ like than that.
We drove what felt like forever on this second day on the Serengeti. We left the trees and headed back out on the golden plains. I was convinced that Martin was driving us to the end of the earth to drop us off….probably because dad was asking so many questions!
It was hot and dusty and I was getting a little cranky. We stopped for a quick lunch under the only tree we had seen in miles. We were really in the middle of nowhere in this vast golden grass. Every so often we would see a lone ostrich and it would remind me of the lone zombie walking in the field in the trailer to The Walking Dead. My goodness, where were we going?! Suddenly, Martin stopped and there were two cheetahs. They were so close I could hear them breathing. Tears welled up in my eyes at these magnificent creatures sitting in the grass. Our incredible guide had done it again! It was as if they had a pre-arranged date with us.
On the road back to Kiota Camp we saw a few safari vehicles off to a road on the right. We took a quick detour down there and saw about 10 lions taking a break on the road. I could’ve reached out my window and touched one they were so close.
After a long drive back, I was so excited to get back to Kiota Camp, take a shower, drink a beer and compare notes with our new friends. The couple from California had been able to see a zebra being born. What a miracle!
I have to say Dad and I were both physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted after this long safari day. It is really overwhelming to see the majesty of this place and these animals when every turn reveals more and more beauty.
I believe it was John Muir that said, “In every walk in with nature, one receives far more than they seek.” Today was full of abundance….a day I won’t soon forget.
Now when I said we went to our first tent camp in Quintessential Serengeti, I don’t mean your summer vacation tent that took your parents two hours to put up. I don’t mean long walks to the park bathrooms and showers either. Kiota Camp, this is truly camping in style!
Our tent was a double queen with extremely comfortable beds, writing desk, running water and toilet with a shower kind of tent. Now mind you when you are taking a shower, it’s from a gravity bucket mounted outside your tent. You have to schedule your shower and if you run out of water you just yell “more shower!” and the guys outside your tent go running for more water they are heating on the fire. You really couldn’t ask for more comfort out in the middle of nowhere.
The main tent had couches and chairs and a separate dining area. They had a campfire that you could also sit around as you watched the sun go down. When walking back to your tent at night you had a flashlight and a walkie talkie. We met wonderful people at Kiota. One couple from California was a life saver when he figured out where I lost my pictures on my computer!
The men of Kiota Camp are truly the most friendly and helpful! Every day when you roll into camp after a long day on the Serengeti plains they meet you with cool wet washcloths and a cold drink. They hurry to prepare your hot gravity shower so you can truly unwind for the evening. Only men work in these camps because the women stay home with the children. Working out here is no easy task…they carry water to tents, cut firewood with rudimentary tools, cook all the meals, and haul our heavy duffel bags.
My son owns his own forging business (Bravehawk Forge) and was actually on Forged in Fire last year. I decided I would bring one of his tomahawks in case we wanted to trade for something with a tribal chief. Imagine trying to figure out how you are going to bring a weapon of this sort into a foreign country. I wasn’t sure how it would go over! But the tomahawk made it and I didn’t go in for questioning!
One night at Kiota Camp, Dad and I were watching the men of Kiota Camp breaking branches with their hands, their feet and rudimentary tools…no chainsaw or other power tools….so I went down to the tent and brought up the tomahawk. I showed it to one of the men and told them I wanted them to have it. He was so excited…he went behind the main tent where they work and showed the other men…all talking spiritedly in Swahili. They came out with the tomahawk and asked if I would take pictures with them with it. They all lined up and took pictures individually and together with the tomahawk. Such a small gift to them makes such a big difference in their lives.
Saying goodbye at Kiota Camp
Of all the places we stayed in Africa, Kiota Camp was probably my favorite. I would return in a heartbeat!
At night, lying in the dark, you could hear animals crunching the grass nearby, the grunt of a Cape buffalo, the braying of zebras, the distant roar of a lion. I wished so badly that I had night vision goggles when I looked out the window of the tent! There were things that were so close that I could not make out in the pitch black darkness.
Early in the morning, Dad stands and looks across the Serengeti plains….we have a big safari day today and what we see will be incredible….
