Serengeti II

Our earliest start so far – we’re leaving at 5.30 so as to be at the park gates when it opens at 6am. The guard who walks us up armed with a bow. Alex arrives just in time, having ignored the knocks on his door in the mistaken belief that they were for somebody else. His guard was armed with a rifle. We set off under a sky full of stars and it’s just getting light as we reach the gate.

 Raised voices indicate a problem – it seems the guy who issues tickets hasn’t arrived yet and Isaac isn’t happy. We want for half an hour or so, taking the opportunity to photograph giraffes languidly crossing the road under the pinkening sky. Finally our tickets are issued and we enter the park. The sun rises over the acacia trees and lend a golden glow to the grass, a spectacular backdrop for zebras and several species of antelope. Giraffe seem much more “ginger” in the morning light.

Goodluck drives us to the hippo pool and we drive right up to the edge of the bank. There is an enormous pod of hippo wallowing in the mud below, and it’s easy to see why other collective nouns for them are “crash” and “bloat”. We spot a hippo out of the water on the opposite bank – a bonus for me, as this is something I’ve never seen before – then we realise it has a baby, too. They don’t look particularly threatening, but they have fearsome teeth, poor eyesight and a bad temper and kill more people every year than the big 5.

We have this information in mind when we stop for breakfast at another hippo viewing spot where there is a picnic area. The breakfast is comprehensive and served with tablecloths, crockery and cutlery – very civilised. This is more than can be said for the hippos, which roar at us threateningly when we walk down to the bank to watch them in the mud wallow. Fortunately the only thing that visits us is a black-faced monkey.

 

Back on the track, a buffalo obligingly poses for us showing us first one side then the other before ambling off into the bush. We see many guinea fowl, more monkeys and, in the distance two elephants, one lying down and the other standing by protectively. More buffalo, a monitor lizard, giraffes and a huge herd of impala.

 

Gatherings of safari vehicles usually indicate something interesting and the next one reveals a lion and lioness on honeymoon. When a female is on heat she’ll spend several days with a male, mating every 15 minutes or so for the first couple of days. A short distance away a group of females relax under a tree.

The next lioness we see is apparently feasting on a kill – the smell is quite overwhelming and when she stands to walk to the nearby waterhole to drink there is blood on her chest and forelegs. Nearby, vultures pick at some of the remains.

 

It’s a bumper day for lions today. We find a group of three bachelors under a tree and suddenly one of them gets up and begins to stalk something that has caught his attention. It’s an antelope and suddenly there’s a face-off as the antelope realises it has strayed literally into the lions’ den … there’s a half-hearted chase and the antelope gets away but it has clearly given Mr Lion an idea as he crosses the road in search of new prey. He almost disappears in the grass but through the binoculars Simon can see not only the lion but an antelope he’s got in his sights. We wait for a while, but nothing seems to be happening and Goodluck has had exciting news over the radio.

We roar off in the direction of a huge “Sausage tree” in which a leopard is draped over a bough. We can’t get too close, so it’s impossible to get a clear photo, but the shape and colour of the leopard is unmistakeable. Back at the bachelors’ lair, our lion seems to have decided it’s too hot for hunting and is in search of shade.

He picks our vehicle to shelter from the sun, and lays down in its shadow. A group of vehicles gathers to observe this phenomenon, which of course they can all see much better than we can. I slide my camera out over the back of the truck using my monopod and take a photo using the timer. From inside the truck I can see his individual mane hairs blowing in the breeze.
 
 

When it becomes clear he’s not moving, we pull slowly forward and finally we get a better view of him reclining on the road apparently oblivious to his audience. He gets up and walks towards us again, settling once more into the shadow. We finally have to move off as once more we’re running up against park closing time.

 

 

We stop to watch another big herd of elephants and return to the waterhole which is now teeming with wildlife who have gathered to drink. As we leave the park we find another honeymoon couple of lions who have chosen the road to do their wooing. The male is not happy to be interrupted and startles us with a very aggressive roar. We return to the lodge for dinner, full of stories about what we have seen.