Northern Serengeti 2nd Migration Crossing
We got up early this morning so we could have a couple of hours of safari time before we had to board our plane. We decided to try for see one more river crossing, and we’re so glad we did! We checked out one spot for a while but not much was happening, so we made our way to Crossing #2. We didn’t have to wait long! The herd that was already near the edge of the ridge looked pretty comfy. They were grazing and laying down to rest. But all of the sudden, a huge herd came galloping in, and they were on a mission! Usually, the wildebeest look, walk back to the grass, come to the edge of the ridge to look again, walk away to consult their friends, a few come down the ridge to test the water, and on and on. But these wildebeest just went full send over the ridge and into the river. And everyone else followed. As they were stampeding through the water, here comes a GIANT croc. Today we were on team wildebeest. Charles says watching a river crossing is like watching a football match. The tension! The drama! The excitement! A huge gasp would erupt every time the croc got close to the wildebeest. This one snapped a couple of times, but he didn’t catch anything. We were really worried about the ones at the very end of the line. The exit point was getting jammed up, so some had to stand in the water for a bit. We were sure one of them was going to be a goner. But, the croc didn’t even try! He sat by and watched them all get out. This water was much more shallow than the first crossing we watched, and we wondered if it was more work for the croc to make the kill if he couldn’t drown his prey. Or maybe he was already full bellied from a different crossing. Once all the wildebeest made it safely across, there was cheering—just like when your team wins the match!
Then it was time to head to the airport. The Kogatende airport consists of one bathroom building, one little check-in spot, and one other logistics spot. The runway is dirt. We didn’t even need to go to a check-in counter. They just met us out by the runway, took our names, checked them off a list, and then tagged our bags. They proceeded to put our bags on a big dolly, and wheel them straight to the plane. Now we had to say goodbye to Charles! It was sad to leave our new friend. I cannot even begin to express our appreciation for all the work he put in to making our safari an epic adventure that we will never forget. We’d recommend Shadows of Africa, and especially Charles, to anyone. I got a little teary eyed as we walked away. This trip was such a special, once in a lifetime experience. The boarding process took all of 5 min. There were about 6 of us joining the flight. The plane was so small we couldn’t even stand up inside. The captain, David, turned around from his captains seat and welcomed everyone, gave a 10 second safety briefing and we were on our way! We went to the very end of the runway, turned around and gathered speed. We were up in the air in no time, and looking down, once again, at the animals from above. Interestingly, the animals didn’t mind the noise of the plane at all. I wonder if that is because the plane noise is constant, and the balloon noise is so sporadic. We also gain altitude pretty quickly in the plane.
20 min later we landed at the other little airstrip in Serengeti, which was even more remote than Kogatende. Then it was a quick one hour flight back to Arusha.
Saeed picked us up again, but he didn’t have Halle’s bag. (We had sent a WhatsApp message to the office to make sure he brought it—but the message was not communicated.). So, we had to make our way back through Arusha to the Shadows office to pick it up. Which wouldn’t have been a huge deal, except for a very popular prophet ……………. Had a huge gathering out by the airport. There were thousands of people. I think it was at the same site as the motorcycle rally. And lucky for us, on our way back from the office, the event was just ending. We were stuck in traffic FOREVER. Seriously, it took us about 3 hours to get to our hotel.
We were very surprised to find a tropical oasis right outside Arusha. The Raintrees Country Inn was a massive, beautiful resort. And we were so sad we only got to spend a few hours there. Our little bungalow room was so cute, and Halle had her own little bunkbed room!
We were so hungry by this point, so we ate a very late lunch. Then, Rusty booked a list minute massage while Halle and I looked at and organized pictures.
While we were doing that, suddenly Halle said, “look, look look” and perched in our window was a monkey! These were blue monkey, or Sykes monkeys.” We had a great time watching them swing on the branches and munch on the berries in the trees.
We had a very late dinner. It was just ok. Rusty made a little kitty friend and kept dropping her pieces of his fish.
We got all packed up for our early departure the next morning and went to bed. Once again, I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Robert picked us up at 6am. They always pick up 4 hours before flight time to account for traffic or anything else that could go wrong. We considered pushing him back to 7, but we are so glad we didn’t. Our original flight to Nairobi was delayed, and we weren’t going to make our connection to South Africa. We were working with the gate agent, but it was a slow, slow process. Like over an hour. We bought a Flightlink flight to Nairobi and they assured us our second leg to Johannesburg wouldn’t be canceled. Well….they were right. But what they didn’t tell us was that because we hadn’t taken the earlier flight, it was a giant headache to sort out in Nairobi. We had a gate agent working for another hour and a bit. Finally, he had a sign a paper that said we forfeit our original ticket, and he told us to RUN to the gate. We had about 10 min till the plane was supposed to take off. We heard our name on the loudspeaker (twice!), cut the security line, ran as fast as we could to the gate…..where there was still a long line of passengers waiting to board. Lol. And there were probably 20 people who came even after we did! We are so glad we made it. Shout out Chris at the Kenya Airlines transfer desk!
Plural animal of the day: “Tower of Giraffe” when they are standing still, “Journey of Giraffe” when they are on the move.
