Northern Serengeti, part 8

Boy was it noisy last night, mostly from the wildebeest that ventured very close to the tents. The wildebeests were grunting, (they almost sound like bullfrogs with varying pitches), every time I woke up. I swear one critter was standing right by our tent as every time it grunted the sound reverberated through the tent. The wildebeests’ conversations didn’t keep me awake but I did enjoy listening to them for the brief moments I was awake.

We were up early for breakfast and left camp shortly after six. George drives to the river and there are wildebeest everywhere. There are ten or eleven crossings along the Mara river where the herds of wildebeest cross. As we near one of the crossing places, (4 maybe?), wildebeest are amassing near the river bank. We surely wouldn’t be so lucky to see a crossing right off the bat. Some people sit for hours and never do see this phenomenon. George parks the Toyota a fair distance away from the river and we watch the wildebeest approach the bank, peer down at the water, then move away. The skittish animals do this several times before turning around and walking away. George has warned us that this is often the case when hoping to see a crossing, you can never predict when or if the wildebeest will actually traverse the crocodile infested river.

Because of the rain, yes George calls the weather weird again, our guide decides to cross the Mara into what is known as the Lamai Wedge. The Lamai Wedge is land that belongs to Tanzania north of the Mara River that borders Kenya. The wildebeests are crossing from where we are situated now over to the Lamai Wedge and you want to see the wildebeest coming towards you. So, we drive across the “bridge” which in our county would be called a low water crossing. This cement structure only has about two feet to spare on each side of your vehicle, yikes. The water is a few inches from going over the top of the bridge and George tells us at times you can become stranded on either side if there is a down pour of rain. To add to the atmosphere there is a dead wildebeest that obviously didn’t make it across the river floating next to the bridge and vultures are feeding on it. Yeesh.

George drives to crossing 3 where a large number of wildebeests, (or gnus), are accumulating. Many of the long-headed animals are packed together standing next to the steep bank. Hundreds more are scattered throughout the area behind those next to the river. On the horizon, a line of wildebeests is on the move so while we are waiting to see what the nearby herd is going to do, Paul begins to count the marching wildebeest. When the far-off parade comes to an end, Paul has roughly counted eight hundred gnus. We estimate there must be at least one thousand wildebeest waiting at crossing three.

George finds us a good place to park, well away from the river, and we settle down to see what the gnus will do. There are lots of vehicles all around us and plenty more trucks on the other side where the herd is standing as they contemplate whether they will or won’t brave the Mara river.

There is other wild life around too, some behind our vehicle and more across the river. We see elephant, zebra, gazelles, and giraffe. At sometime during the waiting game we all need a bathroom break, so George must drive us away from the clutter of our fellow tourists. Our guide finds a fairly innocuous place to “check the tires” and we women clamber out and walk around behind the truck. There are some impalas, wildebeest, and zebra not far away who pay us little mind. While we three gals are using the open air restroom, Jesse tells us we have a hyena for company. We laugh at Jesse’s attempt to scare us but he insists that there is a hyena. Looking behind us sure enough there is a hyena skulking behind some bushes peering at us. As we stand up the peeping tom turns and runs away. Well, that is a new experience for we three ladies that will probably never happen to us again😊.

The wildebeest repeat the antics of the first group we watched, the gnus approach the river, then turn around and walk away. Twice it appears some of the gnus are ready to step into the river but they end up jumping sideways as something real or imaginary spooks them. We have been sitting here for nearly four hours and some of the Kansas crew are getting a bit antsy. George insists that we should be patient yet and it isn’t long after his advice that a wildebeest jumps in the water and the chaos begins.

George has told us that as soon as one of the gnus touches the water the rest of the bunch will blindly follow. He also said that all the guides will speed down to the river once the crossing begins to procure a good position to watch the frantic beasts swim the river. George wasn’t kidding about the guides as suddenly it seems we are in a cross-country race with no rules applied. I am into it at first, saying “go George go” until I see that this is turning into a melee. The safari vehicles are jostling as close as they can get to each other without running into anybody. Not only that but we are parking just a few feet away from the river bank. This is nuts.

Well, George does get us a good location as we are directly across from where the nervous wildebeest are launching themselves into the Mara and swimming for all their worth. The poor creatures know that there is danger lurking in these waters in the form of big crocs but we see no evidence of the toothy reptiles. The wildebeests are dangerous to themselves as many launch themselves into the air, preferring to jump into the river instead of just stepping into the water. Crocodiles often wait right at the river’s edge so maybe they leap from the bank in hopes of clearing the jaws of a waiting croc. Unfortunately, the gnus that vault into the air often come down onto the backs of those in front of them taking the chance of breaking a leg or injuring the animal they land on.

As the front-runners make it to the opposite bank they begin to struggle up steep inclines where all of we tourists are parked. There is half a dozen of the wide-eyed gnus that are clambering over the edge right by our truck. The terrified animals actually turn back towards the river and I fear that we have scared them into jumping back into the Mara to return to where they came from. I hear myself saying “This is not right” several times and then I tell George to pull up so the poor animals can find a way through the fence of vehicles. George does so only to have some knot head immediately pull his vehicle forward to take our spot, again impeding the panicked animals. Fortunately, a few of the wildebeest duck their heads down and weave through the maze of trucks and the rest of the herd follows them. Everyone in our vehicle is upset, we all work or have worked with cattle and know what extra stress this is putting on the wildebeest.

As we are voicing our disapproval of the fiasco on this side of the Mara something even more incredibly stupid is taking place on the other side of the river. The tourists have clambered out of their vehicles and walked to the edge of the river bank to take pictures and in doing so they cut off the rest of the wildebeest that are trying to get down to the river. These morons have placed themselves between the river and a bunch of wild animals that are trying to follow the two or three hundred gnus that are in the river or have crossed the river. These ignorant fools are lucky that the wildebeest put on the brakes and turned around instead of continuing to the Mara and trampling them.

We are not done yet with this drama. Several of the guides on our side of the river begin yelling over at the guides who let their customers disembark from the trucks. I’m sure they are letting them know that they have messed up big time. George tells us that if any Rangers had been here the guides would have had to pay a big fine for letting their clients out of the vehicles. The guides obviously knew no rangers were close by. With ten crossings to patrol there is no way the rangers can man every one of them.  We tell George we are ready to move on. Yes, we were glad to see the crossing but none of us wants to be part of that disgusting circus again. There is so much adrenaline shooting through me I am trembling. Part of it is the excitement of the crossing and part of it is my anger at the way we tourists behaved.

George has driven maybe a quarter of a mile when he slows down and says he believes more wildebeest are thinking about crossing here. I don’t know if this is another crossing or still part of crossing three. There are only a couple other vehicles here and we decide to see what happens albeit we don’t go right down to the river bank. I’ll be darned, the gnus begin plunging into the Mara and there is no human folly messing anything up at the present. The wildebeest are unimpaired coming up the river bank and once they are back on dry ground they walk calmly down the road. The guides who are parked on the other side keep their occupants inside the vehicles this time and they also park back from the edge of the river so the gnus are moving freely towards the Mara. That is until one moron drives his truck directly through the line of gnus heading for the river so he can park on the edge of the bank. Again, the herd turns and runs back inland. At least this time seven or eight hundred of the migrators made it across the Mara.

Feeling fortunate to have seen a second crossing that was more acceptable than the first one we move on. We drive along the Mara away from the wildebeest crossings to see if we can find any crocodiles. There are plenty to be found from small ones to humongous ones. There are plenty of hippopotamus in the river, including one big mama and a few month old baby. Vultures seem to be everywhere taking advantage of the numerous wildebeest that perished while trying to cross the Mara River.

George takes us to more Kopjes where once again we search for lions or leopards. One thing we see plenty of on our drive are vultures and why not. We see or smell carcasses occasionally so there is plenty for nature’s undertakers to eat. We also see lots of colorful agama lizards, well the males are colorful dressed in their blue and red skin. There are also the ever-watchful Klipspringers perched on the top of rocks, still as statues, staring out into the landscape as they watch for danger. You can always count on finding hyrax when checking out kopjes.

Time to go back to Njozi after another interesting but frustrating day. Before dinner is served there is a heavy rain so no nibbles by the campfire tonight. It is a special evening again as the youngest member of our group is a year older today. Although the participants are less than they were for Jennifer’s birthday celebration the staff’s enthusiasm is just as great. The very young chef leads the others in a conga line around our table. The chef whirls and twirls with Jesse’s birthday cake in his hand. He pretends to give it to the other guys sitting at the table, only to snatch the cake away at the last second. It is hilarious. Finally, the animated chef presents the cake to Jesse and the chant to “cut the cake” rings through the air. It is a great way to end the day. Happy Birthday Jesse!

Coming soon, more adventures in Northern Serengeti