In the heart of the Serengeti
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
January 02, 2016
We were able to sleep in until 6:45 today. The warriors showed us the footprints of the male lions that had joined us at camp last night. They slept a few feet away from where we normally board and depart from the vehicle each day. After a breakfast buffet we were on the trail at 8:00. We bade farewell to Gregory, Yoeself, and Kelvin as we were moving to a new camp 150 km away and were taking the scenic route along the way.
We headed toward the airport and saw some giraffe and a pair of secretary birds along the way. The male briefly displayed some mating behaviour for his lovely mate. We then drove along the bank of Lake Masek briefly and saw a new water bird, the black winged stilt Lions in the Camp - I Knew It.
We left our immediate area and began driving on a dirt road through the plains. There was lots of long grass on either side and not very many trees. Sadly there was not very many animals either. We did see sebras, several jackals, lots of birds and some hyenas.
For a while we were back on gravel road, then diverted onto another dirt road through the plains. For a while it was hilly, like dunes, then it was completely flat for miles with only a tree or two. It is like you can see forever. Occaisonally some volcanic rock formations would pop up called kopjes.
At one point we stopped on top of one hill and ate our boxed lunch. We had a bonus beer and cider too, thanks to Wolfgang! We had a solitary hartebeest that guarded our resting place for our entire meal. I was enjoying the variety of butterflies flitting around while we ate Secretary Bird.
After lunch we entered the Serengeti National Park. At the check point we climbed up the rock formation and took some photos of the serengeti and some agame lizards. We learned that the males are the colourful ones. I was also able to snap a good photo of the cordon blue, some flowers and speckled weaver (hopefully).
As we continued our drive we spotted a few herds of elephants and a couple of solitarty elephants. It was great to see the herds and there were several young ones who stuck close to their mothers.
When we arrived at the next check in point we were able to see a new antelope, topi. It has really different colouring, brown tinged with blue in some areas. Once we left the station we saw a few vehicles pulled over. They were viewing some female lions and a young male lion who were crowded under a couple of small bushes for some shade Dawn on the Serengetti.
As we neared our new camp, the landscape changed. There was a river and lots of trees which was a huge draw for several herds of elephants. This was the most elephants that we have seen in one place since we were in Botswana. They were eating grass and throny shrubs, drinking and splashing in the water, play fighting and mothers were nursing their young.
We arrived at the camp around 3:00. We relaxed in the common area which is twice as large as the last camp. We had some drinks and played a few games of hearts and I lost miserably! We finally checked into our rooms which are even nicer than the last camp, which is hard to imagine! We had popcorn and banana chips delivered to our room which managed to stop the grumbling tummy.
After our "talking" shower, we joined one American, one Parisian and one Russian in the dining room for dinner Another Great Theresa Bird Shot. By the campfire we learned that the Parision, Clemen and Russian, Elvira are recently married and this is their honeymoon!
We had a wonderful meal, despite the unwanted extra guests - moths. Karen was really not happy about the moths at all! At dinner we learned that the retired American lady has been traveling for the past three years. She has mostly spent her time in Australia and SE Asia.
We had a long day, so we packed it in early so we would be ready for our early wake up call.
New and noteworthy:
black winged stilt
white capped shrike
yellow throated sand grouse
white bellied bustard
golden jackal
sparrow hawk (flying)
speckled weaver
grassland pippet
ox pecker (on a giraffe)
European roller
Pallied harrier
widow bird (like a redwing blackbird)
hyrax
white headed buffalo weaver
African grey hornbill
cattle egret (in a tree, very unusual)
topistripped kingfisher
