Chasing the Great Migration: Serengeti Day 3

Lions at the waterhole

Early morning hijinx

  So far the Serengeti has lived up to all the hype. It is 'Big Cat Week' on National Geographic channel but the Dillon's lived it on this day. Where we are staying at andBeyond Under Canvas proved it was the real deal as we heard big cat noises in camp at night and woke up to lion prints, among others, around the  tents.

   On our early game drive we started off with four females and one male lion at a water hole. I noticed one of the females had a big radio collar on. It turns out that this is one of the lions that the local lion researcher follows. Solomon told us that this lioness recently had cubs, although they were absent at the waterhole gathering. Sometimes lion mothers will leave their cubs hidden while they head out on a hunt. They don't want to leave them for long though because hyena or other lions could easily kill the cubs if they find them.

   The scene was beautiful with these powerful wild cats lapping up water, their reflections shimmering in the ripples they made. But then the mother lion went and did something peculiar for a new mother. She nuzzled past the male and then laid down in front of him, presenting herself like she was ready to mate. And that is exactly what happened next. While we may have been watching the conception of the next generation of big cats in the Serengeti, it also most likely meant that her cubs were no more.

 Our guides were amped to head south today and search for the great migration so we had our breakfast packed and kept an eye out as we left the lions and headed into the acacia woodlands. The real eye opener happened when we emerged out of the woodlands into the endless plains of the Serengeti.

  It was a clear, beautiful day and we could see for miles. Little puffs of dust meant there was an ostrich running a few miles off. We saw herds of zebra and wildebeests, and thought this would be a good place for breakfast. As our guides set up our bush meal everyone took in our surroundings. Mike found a good place to paint the landscape and I grabbed my camera as usual to capture the moment.

Mike painting the scene

  Serengeti is a Swahili word that means 'endless plains.' We thought that was a very fitting description. Even though this is the typical Africa environment that people expect, it showed everyone just how varied the ecosystems are here in East Africa. From the arid shrublands that leopards love in Samburu, to the treacherous high grass fields of the Masai Mara, now to the vast, plains that house the migrating herds of the Serengeti.

The Dillons Safariing Hard

Conner, Ale, Mike, Barb, Justice and John

 After we ate we decided to do a little family photo shoot. I always like getting fun pictures of the entire family on these trips because I know how hard it can be to all be in the same place at the same time, and having a photographer with you doesn't hurt.

Close cheetah encounter

 The whole time we were driving through the plains I thought what an amazing place for a leopard. There were shrubs just high enough to hide and camouflage in with, but no where for prey to run. Our cheetah luck continued with a beautiful solo cheetah hunched down, looking hungrily off in the distance where some gazelles were grazing.

Hidden amongst the grass

It can take down a wildebeest with those teeth

   We stayed with the cheetah for some time, marveling in its patience. It stood up a few times looking like it might try and get a little closer to the prey, but it would always think better of it and sit back down.

  So we continued back towards camp and came across other fun finds. Like jackals and a leopard tortoise (one of the little 5). It is very much like a treasure hunt which means you never want to look away. Everyone was ready for a mid afternoon break, but they all looked eager to head out again soon.

 Even though our afternoon game drive was short after our big foray down South, it was packed with action. The wilds of Africa provided our group with a very rare sight. Two brother cheetahs had just taken down a wildebeest. These wildebeest are tough, solid creatures. I would have liked to have seen how these two slender, yet powerful cats took down a wildebeest but I will settle for watching them pick it apart any day.

 It was amazing to see how smart and surgical they at the wildebeest. Smart, in that they never popped open any of the smelly internal organs which would alert other predators in the area of a recent kill. And surgical, they would use their incisors to scissor open the hide of the wildebeest little by little. At one point one of the brothers started calling out in a small chirp-like sound. Our guide thought the cheetah was calling their mother. Even though they are on their own now, and obviously successful, he said they may want to show off what they had done.

  The next predator for us to watch feasting was a lone spotted hyena. It had found another wildebeest that lions had killed. The lions had their fill and slipped into a food coma nearby. The hyena kept up its guard though and more and more vultures flocked to the scene.

 We all felt privileged to have shared such an amazing day filled with wildlife. But the Serengeti had one more surprise for us, an encounter with a rarely seen serval cat. These long legged small cats hunt in the underbrush, ambushing small rodents and hares. This makes them very tough to find. Due to some expert driving the serval let us get quite close. One last picture for the memory banks.