MORE ADVENTURES IN THE SERENGETI, PART 2 BLOG 10, MARCH 30TH 2020

 

I have to retrace our steps this morning as I forgot to include some interesting behavior by a dazzle of zebra prior to our seeing more cheetahs. We were driving by a large watering hole and noticed a large number of the horse-like critters standing several feet away from the edge of the water. George stops the truck so I can take photos of the photographic animals. As we observe the zebras, we can see that they are trying to gather their courage to proceed to the water and quench their thirst. You can’t blame them for being cautious since they can’t know that there are no sunken crocodiles waiting for them in this pond.

I do see two hippos’ surface briefly so this is probably part of the reason for the zebra’s angst. When I comment that the hippos are making the zebras nervous, George asks in a surprised voice “what hippos”. As if on cue one of the bulbous animals briefly surfaces to prove I wasn’t hallucinating. George shakes his head and pronounces that when this water hole dries up the hippos will have a very long walk to find more water. I never thought about the hippos being miles away from any river, and it does seem strange for them to be in the middle of this vast plain.

One zebra decides to leave the part of the pond where the hippos are playing hide and seek, and it walks to the end of the watering hole. He takes a tentative step into the water while staying alert to any danger that might be lurking. Soon another brave soul steps up to join him and the actions of these two trailblazers many zebras begin crowding into the water. At one point something spooks the thirsty zebras and they bolt towards dry ground, only to immediately return to drink. I guess they must have realized that the scary situation was a false alarm.

The zebras mostly drink in an orderly fashion but occasionally a zebra will pin its ears back as a warning to its neighbor not to crowd him. I saw one temperamental beast lay its ears back and try to bite a zebra next to him, who knows why. Zebras really do have the temperament and actions of horses. Once the zebras have quenched their thirst they turn and begin walking back into the grassy plains. On the horizon we see many more zebra walking toward the watering hole and I suppose they will take the same cautious approach that this group of zebras did. Now I’m ready to pick up where I left off in the last blog.

After we have tired of squinting through our binoculars at the cheetahs and the researchers, George decides it is time for lunch. Good because Paul and I are hungry, lunch is always in the early afternoon, not at twelve. George is driving towards a beautiful kopje and I decisively say that there must not be any lions here because there are a handful of zebras in the shade of a tree right on the edge of the kopje. George who is peering at the top of the kopje laughs and informs us that there is a lion situated at the top of the kopje. Good grief, A huge lioness is perched on a rock high above the zebras that are lounging under the tree. So much for my brilliant deduction that no prey would be around the kopje if there were predators here.

George decides we can’t eat by any of the nearby kopjes as members of a pride could be hiding in any of the rock formations. George decides to drive back to the kopjes we were at earlier this morning. We pass by a shallow watering hole and find three lions lying near the water. A big male lion and two lionesses. Naturally we stop and watch the trio for a few minutes. Paul comments on how poorly groomed the male lion is, noting that his mane is matted. A lioness gets up and steps over her sister as she walks to the water, lays back down and proceeds to lap up some of the muddy water. Now that is just lazy.

We move on, still searching for a safe lunch spot, when I see something move on my left and call out “what is that”?  I have barely finished my query when George answers that it is a cheetah. Oh, for heaven sakes. Of course, we stop and watch the pretty cat for a bit. The cheetah is sitting up and staring over the expanse of grass but there isn’t any impala or Thomson’s gazelle to be seen. Since there seems to be no chance of a hunt by this cheetah we continue on our way.

George chooses a beautiful kopje for us to have our lunch. George sets up the table under a lovely acacia tree with a slab of rock for the floor. As George is busily putting our lunch items out, Paul looks around and states “this is the life George” Then he asks our guide if he needs someone to help him with his job. George stops what he is doing and asks “what do you mean “with puzzlement in his voice. Paul replies that he wonders if George needs someone to help him on safaris, like hiring a spotter. George gets a mischievous grin on his face and turns around and points at me. I laugh and tell Paul that he stepped right into that one. Paul admits that as soon as the word spotter came out of his mouth, he knew he had lost the job. We all have a good laugh before we settle down to eat lunch.

The lunch is very good but the best part is the ambiance of our dining room. We help George pack stuff up and load it in the truck. Before we leave on our quest for more wild animals, Paul gives George the gifts we brought for him. Paul hands over a battery for his Canon camera and a western leather belt. There is a KSU Veterinarian from Manhattan who had told us that George had looked at buying a leather belt when he came to Kansas in 2018 but settled on purchasing a Stetson hat instead! We tell George now he knows why we reacted the way we did, (softly chuckling at each other) when he gave Paul his belt.

George tells us he wants to go back to the cheetah we saw before lunch to make sure it wasn’t one of the pair that were around the researcher’s truck. We want to make sure were not cheating on counting this cheetah as a new one😊. The cheetah has moved across the valley so we drive to the other side where another group of safarists are watching her. The cheetah cooperates by standing up and it is obvious this sleek feline is not one of the cheetahs the researchers were studying. This cat’s belly is not bulging like the two cheetahs’ tummies were that had made a kill. Hey, six new cheetahs today so we have tied George’s record of seventeen cheetahs on one safari!

George decides to detour to the area where we saw so many cheetahs yesterday as we head back to Nyumbani camp. That sounds like a great idea as we would love to see both mother cheetahs and their cubs again. Paul and I know when we are on the “cheetah” road because of an unusually shaped tree. According to George the tree was damaged by an elephant splitting it in half. The tree is still mostly alive and is an easy landmark to identify.

As we are driving towards the distinctive tree, I spot a cheetah to our left and call out to George. The cheetah is in heavy cover but it is obvious that it is eating on something. George drives over to the cheetah and we discover that there is a satiated cub lying in the thick grass next to the mother who is enthusiastically eating on the Thomson’s gazelle she has killed. In fact, the adult cheetah doesn’t even look at us, she just keeps gnawing at the carcass. I suppose the fact that there is hyena around motivates her to eat as much and as fast as she can. This is the mama and cub we saw yesterday that were playing around the trucks. After her fruitless hunt yesterday, I am happy to see that she and her cub got to eat today.

We travel on to where we saw the big cheetah family yesterday. The cheetahs have moved but only a quarter of a mile or so. Mama cheetah is reclining out in the open but the cubs have hidden themselves in the ground cover a few yards away from mom. There are two other vehicles looking at the cubs and we join them briefly to take a few photos and admire the satisfied cats. We can only see four of the cubs which worries me a bit. George tells me that the guide he visited with just prior to driving out to see the cheetah family, had accounted for all of the cubs just minutes ago. The absent cub must have found a better hiding place than his siblings or we just can’t count.

We leave the satisfied cheetah family and George drives us to a region known as Zebra Kopjes. It is well named as when we arrive there are hundreds of zebras spread out in front of us. I try my best to get a photo representing the myriad of zebra in this locale but I can’t capture it. This scene just takes my breath away. We spend quite some time with the nonchalant zebra, just sitting and soaking in the surreal scene before us.

When we get back into the part of the Serengeti where the grass is so high, I sit back and relax. I should know better by now. George speaks almost to himself, saying “Is that a guinea”, then answers his own question with an emphatic “No, it is a Serval Cat”! George hits the brakes and we watch the elegant cat as he prowls through the grass on the lookout for a careless rodent.

The speckled cat doesn’t find any thing for supper and to our delight walks out onto the road behind the truck. The fearless serval’s first order of business is to mark his territory, then he turns and gives us a curious look before ambling down the road. What a wonderful encounter and we had the exquisite feline all to ourselves!

Tonight, as we approach Nyumbani camp the tsetse flies attack in an even higher number than the first time we encountered them. They are swarming into the truck, biting Paul and George and landing on me but they don’t bite me. I have no idea why but am very grateful that I escape their painful punctures. The darn things follow us clear to camp although the numbers thin out. When we get out of the vehicle there are still a few buzzing around us and all of us are wind-milling our arms around trying to shoo them away.

As we walk up to the community/dining tent we notice a young woman sitting on a couch, typing away on her laptop. It is great that they have another guest at this wonderfully isolated camp. Paul and I go to our tent to shower and do some packing since we leave for Ndutu in the morning.

When Daniel comes to escort us to the dining tent for dinner, we are surprised when the big man instead leads us to the bonfire. The staff have set up our table near the fire and they also have lugged the blackboard denoting our menu for the night down here too! Amani brings us the beer we asked for and then insists on taking our photo using Paul’s phone, the only light being the bonfire, some dim lanterns and the flickering candle on our table.

Amani seats us at the table and goes through the menu for us, then grinning sheepishly he picks up the cumbersome menu board and carries it up to the dining tent for the new guest to use. Paul and I find ourselves alone which is a bit creepy even with a nice fire crackling nearby. Amani returns after a few minutes with our potato and leek soup. The delicious soup is followed by a grilled filet, and yes, it is pretty good. The best is yet to come when Amani serves chocolate mousse for dessert. I have been craving chocolate and when I take the first bite I am in heaven. This may be one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. The even better news for me is that chocolate doesn’t agree with Paul so he takes one small bite and slides his plate over to me. Yes, I eat every morsel of Paul’s chocolate mousse too! Nancy

Next blog, Ndutu and Njozi camp