Northern Serengeti, Part 9

There were lions, hyenas, and wildebeest calling last night and also more rain fell.  The roads are very muddy when we leave camp for our outing today. We stay on this side of the Mara River today as due to the heavy rain the river is running faster and the water level is higher. George doesn’t want to take the chance of going to the Lamai Wedge and perhaps getting stranded if more rain would fall today. There are lots of wildebeest standing around the muddy river’s banks along with trucks full of tourists hoping to witness a crossing. George tells us he is taking us back to the plains and to the kopjes.

The Toyota sloshes over the wet roads and sends sprays of dirty water into the air when we drive through puddles. We come upon a pack of hyenas who are feasting on the fresh carcass of a wildebeest. Vultures are trying to join the varmints that are gorging on the remains but one hyena takes an exception to the pesky birds. When any of the winged scavengers come too close to the dead wildebeest he charges at them, keeping them at bay.

George drives back to the beautiful area where we saw the two lionesses and the mating lions. On our way we see a large herd of the cattle-like eland along with numerous zebras and more wildebeest. The air is fresh and crisp this morning and the rain-washed plains are just stunning.

Farther on we see a vehicle stopped ahead of us and Jennifer spots the lion that they are looking at. The lioness disappears into an overgrown ditch about the time we drive up. We sit there for a while hoping she will reappear but the big cat doesn’t comply with our wishes. Just as we are preparing to leave I happen to focus my binoculars under a bush that the other truck is parked by. For crying out loud, there are two lions sound asleep under the greenery. Everyone else takes a look and Jesse finds a third prone lion tucked behind her friends.  How in the world did we miss them as the sleeping felines are literally right in front of us? The mating pair of lions we observed yesterday are not around as far as we can see although after missing the sleeping lionesses that isn’t saying much.

George proceeds to the Sand River which is the border between Kenya and Tanzania. He stops to talk to the occupants of two vehicles that are parked on the side of the dirt road. They tell him that a Rhinoceros was seen here earlier and they are hoping that it will return. We stay here for a few minutes but George tells us that Rhinos are very shy and it is likely the prehistoric-looking beast will not show itself with humans in the vicinity so we move on.

George parks the Toyota under a solitary tree that overlooks the endless plains. There are zebra and wildebeest to watch while we enjoy our lunch. We are in no hurry to climb back into the truck so stand around and feast our eyes on the scenic landscape surrounding us. Once we decide it is time to go, George drives to the kopjes looking for spotted cats but once again we come up empty on finding a leopard. We do find the usual denizens of the kopjes and enjoy watching Klipspringers, agama lizards and also some baby hyraxes.

There are two Topis in the vicinity who are seriously fighting. The two bruised colored antelope lower their heads, run at each other, then drop to their knees right before they clash their heads together. We observe the battling bucks repeat this over and over and although one appears to be dominating his foe, they are still fighting when we drive on.

We have been watching some black clouds on the horizon since before lunch which have been moving our way little by little. George decides to head back to camp because he suspects it is going to rain. Soon big fat rain drops are splattering against our windshield and before long it is pouring. George urges the Toyota along as the roads begin to run with water making them very slick. The streams we have to cross aren’t running too much water yet and the closer we get to Njozi it is obvious they haven’t had the heavy rain we had driven through. We do see several vehicles by the bridge that crosses over to the Lamai Wedge trying to decide if they should take the chance of driving across. No way would I want to traverse that bridge as there is several inches of water flowing over the top of the cement structure.

We reach camp around three o’clock and decide we should play some cards to pass the time. Connie and Carl retrieve the card game they brought called 5 Crowns from their tent. We sit in the lounge tent and allow Jesse to clean us old folks clock but we all surmise that if you throw Jesse’s high score out the rest of us had a good close game. It was a fun way to end the day and to just relax in camp.

Tonight, the chef out does himself serving us delicious beef stroganoff, vegetable lasagna along with several other vegetable dishes. We visit with Dave who stayed out in the bush looking for photo ops despite the rain. Dave recounts the harrowing tale of trying to cross the bridge that goes to the Lamai Wedge last year, (I think). Dave and his guide thought the water had receded enough that they could make it to the other side over the flooded bridge. I don’t recall how far they had driven onto the bridge before the truck was tipped over by the fast-flowing water. The two men managed to get out of the vehicle but Dave lost thousands of dollars’ worth of camera equipment to the Mara River. The two men perch on top of the vehicle and wait five hours for a helicopter to rescue them. No thanks to that kind of adventure!

More rain in the night and more noisy wildebeest near our tent. We had an unusual item on the breakfast menu this morning, chicken wings! Surprisingly, the wings were pretty tasty for breakfast. This morning George drives in the opposite direction of where we have gone the last two days. It is a little quiet in this part of the Serengeti but we do see an impala with atypical horns. Instead of sweeping up and back his horns bow down towards the ground. George said he has never seen anything like that before. We also see a hyena and a pup in the distance.

George decides there is not much going on here so he reverses direction and drives back to the plains. No complaints from me as it is so gorgeous in this part of the park. It isn’t long before we find the four lionesses that we saw yesterday. Three are lying down but one of them walks right in front of us to reach her pride mates. The four girls give us a lot of photo ops as they stare back at us and I for one take full advantage, snapping photo after photo.

As we tour on through the grasslands we see Topis running as though they have been frightened. Nearby the topis, George spots a lioness lying to the left side of three vehicles that are parked on a parallel road from where we are. Jesse finds another lioness sauntering across the plains to the right of the vehicles. George parks the truck so we enjoy the beautiful felines and the other wildlife that is present. A lone wildebeest is walking in the direction of the other safari trucks. The gnu keeps stopping and looking back at something, perhaps our vehicle or the other lioness that is disappearing in the distance. The lioness that is resting by the three vehicles gets to her feet and walks across the road. There is no cover for her to hide in so she just strides with a purpose towards the distracted wildebeest. The bold lion gets closer than we figured she would before the foolish gnu sees her and starts running. The golden cat makes a half-hearted attempt at chasing the galloping wildebeest but she doesn’t even come close to her target. Even so it was exciting to watch the predator and prey in action.

George takes us back to the Sand River to look for Rhino again but again there is no sign of the nearly extinct animal. However, we find our second oddity of the day while on this track. There is a zebra that has no stripes on its back and sides located about where you would lay a saddle on a horse. George speculates that the zebra has a skin disease. Perhaps so but the outline of the strip less patch is so even I wonder if an infection is the cause or if it might be a genetic abnormality. No matter the cause it is quite odd.  We enjoy lunch on a high point of the plains where we can look over the landscape and enjoy the zebra herd grazing on a distant hillside. I love it here.

After lunch the sun is shining brightly and it is quite warm. George takes us back along the Sand River where the rhino has been seen in hopes that the grey ghost has decided to come out of hiding. As warm as it is the ponderous beast will likely be shaded up though, so I stand up and peer into the brushy undergrowth as George drives down the road. After we have driven for a while, I hesitate before asking George to stop and back up. I direct George to a break between two trees where something just didn’t quite fit in amidst the underbrush. Using my binoculars, I hem haw around, saying “no”, “wait a minute”, and then excitedly “yes, it is a rhinoceros”!! The animal turns its massive head and looks directly at me then melts away into the brambles. Holy mackerel, I almost didn’t ask George to stop the Toyota because all I had was an impression that something wasn’t quite right.

Jesse finds the big rhino immediately, grabs for his camera but it is too late, the rhino has disappeared. George, Carl, Connie, and Paul don’t see the rhino’s head but see the rest of his body, Jennifer unfortunately is looking between two different trees than where the rhino is standing so didn’t get the very brief glance of the rhino. Yahoo! Finding the hidden rhino can probably be credited to forty plus years of staring into heavy brush and trees along our creek while searching for cows that are hiding with their new-born calves in the timber. A twitch of an ear, a switching tail, or a shape or color that doesn’t fit is often how we find cows who are doing their darndest to stay out of sight. So, all those years peering into weeds, bushes and trees looking for cows pays off in Africa😊. I heard George laughing and Paul tells me he also said “Good spot” a couple of times which I didn’t hear, I guess because I was so excited about seeing a Rhino.

George continues driving along the river and we see two vehicles parked ahead of us. The guides tell George there is a rhino lying down by the green bushes, and wave in a general area where there are several “green bushes”. Although they themselves haven’t really seen the beast they are sure it is in there as someone else did see it when it laid down. We sit here quite sometime and I focus my binoculars on the biggest, greenest shrub in the vicinity the guides had indicated the rhino was seen. I see something move at the bottom of the bush where there is a small opening and decide it is a switching tail. I stare through my binoculars at this hole in the shrubbery until my eyes become fatigued but I see the tail flip across the opening four more times. Carl says he sees something move once but isn’t sure what it is. Everyone else has had enough so I finally give up on seeing what belongs to that tail and we move on.

George makes the decision to return and check on the four lionesses that we saw this morning. Sure, enough we find the girls who haven’t strayed far from where we saw them a few hours ago. The lazy lions are all sleeping but a parade of wildebeest are plodding down a road which isn’t far away from the big cats. One lioness takes note of the string of gnus and walks into the tall grass where she is instantly camouflaged. The lone lion inches her way towards what appears to be an endless line of wildebeest. A few minutes later a second lioness joins her friend, stepping into the cover of the grass. We watch as the huntresses stalk the wildebeest creeping forward a few steps at a time. When the lions are just lying still watching their prey, we are entertained by some baby elephants cavorting farther up the hill from the line of wildebeest. You can’t help but laugh at the antics of the two cuties as they run with their little ears flapping and trunks waving.

After about half an hour one wildebeest strays out of the line into dry grass near the waiting lionesses. One of the lion’s bursts out of the dried grass and lunges at the wildebeest, but the gnu easily outmaneuvered the predator. The other lioness makes no effort to help her friend out. George shakes his head and says “they are bad hunters”.  We figure the gig is up but George suggests that we should stay here as “wildebeest forget quickly”. Our guide is right about that as after the startled wildebeest move away from the road to walk in the adjacent field the gnus that were a hundred yards away and didn’t witness the failed hunt continue to walk in or along the road again.

We have lost track of the lioness that chased the gnu but can still see the lion that first became interested in the wildebeest. Now another of the quartet has joined her and the two of them begin creeping ever closer to the unaware gnus. The fourth lioness stands up and it appears as if she too might get involved but after a minute or so she drops to the ground leaving her mates to do the work. I’m sure she won’t turn down the meat if her two cohorts are successful in taking down one of the tasty gnus.

Somewhere in this wait and watch episode, Dave and his guide have joined us and we get a good look at his camera. Whoa, I would love to see some of his photos. I bet he can zoom in on an individual lion’s whisker from a quarter-mile away with that massive lens! Three other vehicles show up, two pull up beside our truck and the occupants chatter away in a foreign language not bothering to keep their voices down. Good grief. The third vehicle drives past the rest of us and gets very close to the lions. This doesn’t set well with George or with Dave and his guide but there is not much they can do about it.

There is a crippled gnu running toward the parade of wildebeest that stretch from horizon to horizon. If the lions see the injured animal the odds are he is doomed. The poor creature has to stop and rest several times even lying down at one point. The gimpy critter is lucky as the lions don’t notice him plus he begins to veer away from the line of travel that would have brought him straight into the lions’ mouths so to speak. I would guess the wildebeest has a broken leg and that sooner than later his luck will run out.

The two stalkers continue to creep closer to the migrating wildebeest but they had better hurry because at long last the line of travelers is coming to an end. We have been watching this scene for nearly an hour and a half so we can’t imagine how many wildebeest have passed us by, hundreds of them for sure. There have been a few zebras mixed in with the wildebeest and the striped equine are much more alert than their companions. Whenever the zebras get near the lions, the felines lay flat, disappearing completely. When it is just wildebeest the lions will often raise their heads above the grass tops to check out the tantalizingly close gnus.

The plodding wildebeest have passed the lions by and George says with some disgust “They are very bad hunters”. There are a few zebras now walking in the field where the lions are lying and George thinks we should wait a bit longer. At one point it appears the dazzle of zebra will walk right up to the lions but they suddenly reverse course and walk away from the hidden lions. George concedes that the hunt is over and we drive back to Njozi. This is our last full day in the Serengeti and what a wonderful, exciting day it has been.

Wrapping it up in the next blog. Later, Nancy