NYUMBANI CAMP AND A FULL DAY GAME DRIVE IN THE SERENGETI, MARCH 22ND, 2020

George pulls the truck out of the dirt parking lot of Seronera airport and we begin our drive to Nyumbani camp where we will spend the next three nights. Our friend George tells us the camp is an hour’s drive from here. It is a beautiful afternoon with a clear blue sky and puffy white clouds, what I call a Kansas sky! There is a lot of tall grass here so as it was in the Mara reserve the grazers are scarce.

We come upon a small group of elephants and there is some curious behavior between two of the pachyderms. One elephant is following closely behind one of his herd mates and occasionally rests his trunk or his head on the other ones back. Paul asks George if the elephants might be thinking about mating. George replies that yes, he believes they are. Soon the question is answered as the young bull mounts the small female and attempts to mate with her. Notice I said attempts to mate because the male doesn’t get the deed done. Paul and I have never seen elephants’ mate, well technically we still haven’t, but hey, close enough. So, we have seen four of the big five mating, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant.  After consulting Paul on our big five mating list he remembers seeing Cape buffalo mating on one of our safaris. I don’t recall it but he is probably right so the big five mating list is complete!

There are stunning kopjes scattered through these grassy plains and as we drive near them George is always scoping the rocks out to see if “anybody is home”.  At one of the unusual rock formations named Boma Kopjes, George announces that he has spotted two lions. Paul and I crane our necks trying to find the beasts as George tries to explain where the two lions are situated. Good grief, how did George see these cats, all that is visible from this angle are a tail and part of their back legs, and they are very high above us. George drives the truck forward and we are able to see a bit more of the snoozing pair. We sit there and stare at them for awhile but the lions don’t even twitch so we move on towards our camp.

As we continue through the wild landscape, we gaze at hartebeest and cape buffalo in the distance and closer to us there are a few giraffes munching leaves from the thorny trees. One thing that there is an abundance of are birds and George frequently stops the truck so we can admire, identify, and photograph the different fowl we find. George had emailed Paul a couple of weeks before we left for Africa and he asked Paul to tell Mama Ndege that there were lots of birds in the Serengeti this time of year. He wasn’t kidding!

Just before we reach Nyumbani Camp we have an unwanted welcoming committee. Stinking Tsetse flies! Paul gets bit by the nasty insects a couple of times and the way George is slapping at himself I would guess he is being attacked too. The rotten flies buzz around me and even land on me but for some reason I am not bitten. We have rolled our windows up but of course the top is popped up and it doesn’t make sense to stop and put it down as we would trap many flies inside. I take my hat off and shoo the tsetse flies up and out the opening between the roof and the truck. I manage to escort several of the pesky nuisances out of the vehicle but they either fly right back in or new ones are replacing them. Just before we get to the camp entrance the insects seem to retreat thank goodness.

There is a welcoming committee waiting for us as is the standard for every camp we have ever been in. Refreshing drinks and damp washcloths are offered to us by smiling young men. We are escorted up to the community tent where introductions are made. Goodlove who is the manager, along with Anthony, Amani, and Bazille. Goodlove has us sit down on a comfy couch and goes over the things we need to know while in camp. He tells us that they have regular showers but asks us to still use the bucket shower protocol as they have to haul water from so far away. In other words, turn the shower on to wet yourself down, turn the shower off and lather up, then turn the shower back on to rinse off. Not a problem, were old hands at this showering method. When I ask about having our laundry done, Goodlove says they can do laundry but the water is not the best quality, adding that they definitely won’t wash white clothes as the water does them more harm than good. Well, we can survive until we get to Njozi.

Goodlove takes us to our tent and shows us where all the light switches are, how to call them over the radio when we need an escort and so on. Once we are settled and have showered, we return to the lounge where Bazille takes our drink order, beer of course, and then he leads us to the bonfire before returning to the tent. Bazille returns in a few minutes carrying a basket of popcorn for us. Wow, this popcorn is really tasty. When we ask the secret, we are told that it is popped with ginger and sugar. Yum. As we sip beer and munch on popcorn, we have an enjoyable visit with Bazille. He is a personable young guy with a great sense of humor and we all do a lot of laughing.

Dinner is served at 7:30 and as we are seated at the table, Paul and I chuckle at the tall blackboard in front of our table. Written on the chalkboard in very good handwriting is the menu for our dinner. Amani reads the items to us as follows, butternut soup (our favorite), chicken with wine gravy/French fries/vegetables and for dessert, ice cream. Oh yes, we are the only guests in this camp too! The food is very tasty and I don’t ever remember having ice cream in a safari camp before. As usual the portions are large and also par for the course we eat too much. We don’t linger after we are finished eating. It has been a long day so our guard, whose name I can’t recall, escorts us to our tent and we crash for the night.

Paul and I are up at 5:30 and a bit before six, Paul uses the two-way radio to call our trusty escort (I am going to call him Daniel), to come and fetch us. Daniel arrives within minutes and we trudge up to the dining tent using our headlamps to light our way. Amani shows us to the small buffet where muffins, bread, fruit, cereal and yogurt have been laid out for us. Amani also gives us a choice of eggs (however you want them fixed), French toast, pancakes and of course bacon or sausage. We both opt for the French toast which is quite good.

George shows up at 6:30 sharp and we begin our first full day in the Serengeti. George told us yesterday that because it will take some time to drive to where the animals are, (to the short grass), that we would have to take our lunch and stay out all day. That is fine with us. Before we leave camp, George presents us with some beautiful gifts. A beaded belt for Paul plus six beaded placemats and coasters he bought at a shop in Arusha which is owned and run by Maasai women. How incredibly kind of George!

As we ride through the plains, we marvel at the lush grass sparkling with dew that surrounds us. True there isn’t much animal life to look at but it is still beautiful. We do see a lot of birds especially raptors. I believe it took us a couple of hours before we reach the part of the Serengeti where the wildlife is congregated.

As we are touring down one road, Paul and I see a head pop up over the top of the grass and then quickly disappear. At first, we have the impression that it was a baby hyena but the creature raises its head briefly again and we realize it is a bat-eared fox. George drives the truck the short distance to where we glimpsed the shy animal and Paul and I scour the ground around us in search of a den or the fox. As Paul and I are surveying the grassy plot, George calls out that he has spotted two cheetahs. Are you kidding me! Following Georges directives, Paul and I see two cheetah a few hundred yards behind us, one sitting and one lounging in the grass.  We give up the hunt for the elusive bat-eared fox, George turns the truck around and we drive back to the cheetahs.

George has to do some cross country driving to get to the pair of cheetahs but he manages it just fine. The spotted cats pay little attention to us as George parks the vehicle a few yards from them. We have the gorgeous felines to ourselves for several minutes before other safari vehicles realize that we have found something. After two trucks trundle there way over to us and we can see more vehicles on the way, (obviously one of the guides radioed about the sighting of the cheetahs), we decide it is time to move on. That is the one thing I appreciate about George and Wild Source; they don’t use their radio’s if they find an animal nor to be informed when someone else finds wildlife.

Reveling in George’s spotting of the cheetah we can’t believe our luck when find two young lions lazing in some tall grass near the road not that far from the cheetahs. Cheetahs don’t care for lions so we are surprised that the two enemies are situated this close together. It is obvious the lions have nothing on their mind but relaxing so after taking a few photos, we continue on our game drive. We see several vehicles parked on the horizon in the direction we are headed. Usually when a flock of trucks are sitting together, they are observing one of the species of big cats.

We probably are halfway to the throng of safari trucks when George exclaims, “there is a cheetah”. Okay, this is unreal, George is known for his ability to find cheetah and he is making a believer out of Paul and I. Again, I don’t know how the man saw this cat as it takes Paul and I a couple of minutes to find the cheetah. It is at least a quarter mile away crouching near a small water hole with a lot of weeds and grass for cover. George tells us that the cheetah is waiting for an impala to come for a drink and that the sleek cat will try to ambush the unsuspecting gazelle. There is no impala or anything else around right now so George decides to take a detour and get closer to the polka-dotted feline.

Half way to the little pond we lose sight of the cheetah. When we arrive, we try to figure out exactly where the cheetah had been which isn’t easy because the whole area is a weedy mess. George of course finds the cheetah, well the little bit of the cat that is showing. I guess the cheetah didn’t want to have company because it has buried itself in the weeds leaving only its head visible to us. If a thirsty critter does trek down here for a drink, they may get more than they bargained for!

George starts back for the main road; it is just as well because another vehicle has seen us and is headed this way. George does stop to talk to the driver and tells him that there is a cheetah hidden near the water hole. I keep my eye on that vehicle once we are back on the main road. They don’t stay long so I bet they never found the elusive feline.

As we near the half dozen, parked vehicles we see immediately what has caught the people’s attention. Cheetahs!! A mother and her cub are strolling towards the road, heading right for the human spectators. Mom has no inhibitions at all and curiously walks next to her admirers. Oh no, the sleek cat crouches next to one of the vehicles and then launches herself upon the hood. The fearless cheetah has obviously done this before but that doesn’t make it a good thing. George tells us that you are to start your truck and move it if a cheetah approaches you but in defense of this guide, he is boxed in and couldn’t easily move.

Once the spotted beauty tires of the paparazzi, she jumps down and entices her youngster to a game of tag. They dash around in play, entertaining their fawning audience whose cameras are furiously clicking trying to capture the show. As suddenly as the two began their antics they just as quickly stop and saunter away from the adoring crowd. As they wander farther away everyone leaves but us. George tells us that this cheetah is hungry and since there are impala not too far away, he wants to stay and see what might happen.

We noticed while keeping tabs on the cheetah pair that in the distance a throng of vultures are feeding. This spectacle is so far away that even with the aid of binoculars we can’t see a carcass. I asked George if the cheetah would be going to feed on the carrion but he said no, cheetah only eat fresh meat. Suddenly we spy two hyena who have either seen the vultures or smelled the carcass. The hyenas break into a run and Paul and I are amazed at how speedy the slouchy critters are. As we watch the racing hyenas George tells us that the cheetahs will never hunt these impalas now because hyena are notorious for stealing a cheetah kill. Sure enough, the mother and cub turn around and begin walking back towards us.

As the cheetahs approach the road again, a few vehicles have assembled to greet them. The silly mother decides to play on another truck but this time she leaps onto the spare tire mounted on the back of the vehicle. After sitting on the tire for a couple of minutes, she jumps down and rough houses with her cub again. As before the two soon walk away but in the opposite direction from the hyenas. Everyone leaves but George tells us that the female is hungry and he believes she will try to approach the impalas that are grazing a quarter mile away, so we sit tight.

We watch the cheetah as she slowly strolls away and begins to circle around so she is behind the impala. Unfortunately, (well depending on whose side you are on), there is one impala who has been watching the stalking cheetah the whole time. The gazelle turns in an arc following the path of the hunting cheetah so there is no way she can get near them undetected. We then realize that the cheetah isn’t interested in this herd. There is another group of impalas situated in a distant ravine, far enough away that we can barely see them. We keep watching our huntress using our binoculars, although the further away she gets we tend to lose track of her. We don’t see the cub so mama must have told the playful youngster to stay put. Eventually, mama has circled to the far side of the impala but one of them spots her and the impalas dash away. We spent around two hours with this cheetah pair. Think of the energy expended by the mother and in the end she and her cub have nothing to eat.

A half-mile up the road there have been safari vehicles grouped in the same spot off and on the entire time we have been watching this pair of cheetahs. Our route takes us to the hot spot and when we arrive, we find the famous cheetah who is raising five cubs that George has told us about. To be able to successfully hunt enough game to feed this huge litter plus keeping other predators from killing any of her cubs, has given this cheetah superstar status among the guides here. The six cheetahs are dining on what is left of a young zebra.

One of the cubs leaves the carcass soon after we arrive and waddles a short distance from his family to plop down on some grass. The rest of the bloody-faced cubs continue eating but occasionally stop and look around at their human audience. Mom joins in the feeding frenzy once in awhile but seems content to allow her little ones to finish cleaning the meat off the bones. George tells us the cubs are four months old and doing very well. We have seen eleven cheetah this morning!

I will end this blog here as it is getting a bit long. Nancy