Eastern Serengeti

WHAT. A. DAY.  Our first day in Serengeti exceeded our wildest expectations.  Yesterday evening I told Charles I wanted to see a Cheetah.  We were joking that I was good luck, and that it would probably be the first animal we saw in the parks.  Halle said, “Cheetah with cubs.”  We all laughed and I said, “Don’t get greedy!”  

Guess what the first animal we saw was?  

Technically, we spotted this colorful little guy first as we were wandering around the entrance to Serengeti. So, I should say, first mammal.

Side note…We squeezed in a quick pit stop at Olduvai Gorge, widely known as the cradle of mankind and famous for its two-million-year-old record of human history. If you’re ever passing through the area, it is well worth a quick pause to look out over the canyon where our earliest ancestors once walked.”

And guess what we found after searching for about 1.5 hours.  Mama Cheetah and FOUR cubs.  Cheetah cub mortality is really high—90-95% don’t survive.  So, to see 4 healthy cubs was a miracle.  But, mom had a hurt foot and was limping a bit.  So we all hope is is ok and able to hunt to feed herself and all the cubs.  

We could have watched these animals forever.  They were so cute sleeping and nursing and playing with mom.  

Right before we found the Cheetahs, Rusty made a killer spot of two black backed jackals hiding by some rocks.  What a fun find!

Eventually we had to move on.  Mostly because we were hungry. We parked the jeep under an Acacia tree and had a Serengeti picnic.  We’ve had some pretty epic “picnic with a view” but this has to make the top of the list.  

After checking on the cheetah’s one more time, we went searching for Lions.  And we struck it rich.  We found a sleeping pride with FIFTEEN lions.  These were all female and juvenile males.  They were totally hidden in the grass and it’s a miracle we didn’t run them over!  They eventually woke up, started stretching and rolling around.  One started walking right at our jeep.  He went to the back where we were casting a shadow, and laid right down in our shade.  We said this brought a whole new meaning to “Shadows of Africa.,” and that they should use it in their marketing materials.  Soon another joined the shade.  Then another and another and another until we had a literal pile of lions right behind the jeep.  We couldn’t stop laughing.  We had to move, because it wasn’t really safe for them or us to be so close to the jeep.  It was a pretty epic moment.  

We drove away and said, “We’ll never top that.”  But, we did.  Not too long after, we saw a few elephants in the distance.  As we got closer, we saw it was not just a few elephants, but an entire herd.  At least 20.  They were all parading to the water hole.  And guess who was leading the elephant parade?  A big male lion.  I mean, come on.  This is the stuff dreams are made of.  

Soon, we were surrounded 360 degress by elephants.  Halle said, “This is the greatest day of my whole life.”  There were babies and juveniles and a couple of males too.  It’s rare to see them all together like that.  We LOVED watching the smallest baby try and use his trunk.  He tried feeding himself and only about 50% of the grass made it into his mouth.  At one point he was twirling his trunk like a propeller.  We were in stitches.  The elephants drank water, the juveniles played with each other, and the males eyed us suspiciously.  I think Halle would have stayed in that moment forever.  While we were at dinner that night, she looked at her watch, and her heart rate shot through the roof at the moment we spotted all those elephants.  

That evening we stayed in our very favorite camp, TamuTamu.  Which means yummy yummy.  And it lived up to its name!  We had a buffet of dishes, many of which had been cooked by a fire out back.  We had some fire bread that was to die for.  Back in our room (tent??) Halle was out on the porch shining her flashlight out into the bush.  She saw some glowing eyes, followed them down and saw several zebra chilling right off our patio.  We sat and watched them for awhile with the hyenas “a-whoop” in the background.  The zebras also added their barks to the mix.  What a magical, perfect day. 

A few more things to note:

-in the Masi language Serengeti means “Endless Plain.”  The certainly nailed that name!  

-I am endlessly fascinated by the giant supply trucks flying down these bumpy dirt roads.  The lodges and camps of the Serengeti are really a marvel.  So remote, yet you have everything you’d ever need. 

-ALT: Animal Looking Thing”. This is when you think you see a lion and it’s a termite mound, or an elephant that turns out to be a big boulder.  We had many ALT sightings on our trip. 

-Plural animal of the day: Business of Mongoose