Africa Safari Day 10: Big Cat Welcome to the Serengeti, Tanzania

 

One of my favorite leopard photos to date!

What an incredible day! We left our very comfortable confines of the Masai Mara, took two bush plane rides across the country side. Crossed an international border from Kenya to Tanzania, and made it to our rough-and-tumble camping site in the Serengeti. I'm not sure what kind of camping everyone expected, but once the group saw the ultimate luxury, in the bush, kind of mobile tent camping at andBeyond's Under Canvas Serengeti Camp, we knew we were in for a camping experience like none other. This is how the royal family does it when they come to Africa, so we figured we would give it a try as well.

There are no fences around the camp, and we have to be escorted to and from our rooms after dark. Our butler wakes us up in the morning with coffee, and fills our bucket showers with hot water when we come back from safari. The rooms are opulent to the extreme, even though it just looks like a big tent on the outside. Animal noises abound throughout the night, from zebras to hyena to lions. But this is just a small part of our Serengeti experience. We want to check out all the animals and sights that this world famous park has to offer.

While the group was shocked to see how nice the tent camp was, I was shocked to have a midday leopard encounter as our guide took us from the airstrip to the camp. We had a nice long encounter with a beautiful leopard as it went down to the Mara river for a drink, before heading back across the field towards the forest. At one point it was stalking right towards us and I snagged the top photo above.

Leopard on high alert in the short grass.

Our guide, Godliving, was eager to get us out on our afternoon game drive after we got settled in at the camp. We cruised some of the vast, almost endless plains that the Serengeti is famous for, and spotted a couple of cheetah walking across the plains. Even though they started off a mile from us, we watched as they steadily cruised in our direction. Pretty soon we had two cheetah walking right past our vehicle. It was pretty wild to see the reaction of all the other animals in the plains. They followed the movements of the cheetahs very closely.

This cheetah walked right in front of a bunch of zebra, eland, and topi and acted like it didn't even see them. The zebra definitely saw the cheetah though. They watched its passing very closely.

We had very dramatic skies over the savanna, giving us lots of great photo opportunities. But perhaps the best, came at the very end of the afternoon drive, when we spotted some mating lions. Godliving got us very close to the two lions, capping off an incredible first day in Tanzania.

Dramatic skies and wild animals of the Serengeti National Park.

Back at the camp we had some delicious dinner and drinks, thanks to the wonderful staff of Under Canvas. Mo (the camp manager), Richard (our butler), Emmanuel (chef), and Elicante (bartender) are all taking great care of us. With our second day this safari, having all three big cats (leopard, lions, cheetah), we fell asleep with excitement of what may come tomorrow.

Another incredible leopard encounter. This is turning into the safari of leopards. Pretty wild that this leopard encounter happened right in the middle of the day.

A bataleur eagle, perched high above the plains, looking for its next meal.

We spotted these two cheetah from almost a mile away. Then we watched them quickly move closer and closer to us. Finally they were close enough to get a shot like this!

You never know what animal interactions you are going to see while on safari in Africa. Here an ostrich gets all ruffled up over a cheetah passing nearby.

Very regal. A fitting king of the Serengeti plains.

A mating female lion yawn in between bouts of mating.

Our last encounter of the day was a mating pair of lions. This is the male, letting the female know he is ready.

We got here in time for the trailing edge of the Great Migration.

Most of the wildebeest have moved on, but a few of the trailing great migration animals are still here.

A few hours earlier a hippo was walking around the Serengeti. Now he looks like this. Circle of life.

Stepping things up a notch. Traveling like the Royal Family in a mobile tent camp in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzani. A roaring fire in front, a bar tent behind, and our table set up under the stars. This camp is called Under Canvas Serengeti.

A help-yourself bar, although there always seems to be someone nearby who works here, ready to make a drink for you.

Our guide's name is Godliving, and he is off to a great start here in the Serengeti.

The Masai Mara has been amazing, and our luxury tent camp, Kichwa Tembo, was a big part of that. The staff here all did an excellent job. It is my favorite place to stay in the Mara.

The endless plains of the Serengeti.

I suppose this will do. Mobile tent camping in the most luxurious way possible, at Under Canvas Serengeti.

We let our butler know when we are ready for a shower about 10 minutes before. He then proceeds to fill our bucket shower with hot water. We enter this outdoor shower room through a zipper in the back of our tent.

Meeting our guide, Godliving, at the airport.

The team on our bush plane ride out of the Masai Mara, on our way to the Serengeti.

We made it!

Hanging at the first class lounge after making it through customs in Tanzania.