African Safari- Day 3

‘Breakfast at 6.30 AM, we will leave by 7 AM and come back to the camp for a hot lunch,’ announced Godson.  Double excitement– A full day Serengeti safari plus a hot lunch after two days of packed lunch. Only dampener (literally) was the weather. It had rained the whole night, was drizzling even now and the skies threatened more rain during the day.

We set off and immediately found the road connecting our camp to the main park trail in bad shape. Deep tyre marks in the caved-in portions of the mud road and our jeep had to resort to 4-wheel drive in some places to move up and forward. Wild streams & rivulets were gushing with water and from the walkie-talkie exchanges among jeeps, we came to know that certain parts of the park were rendered inaccessible  and some areas could be dangerous to visit as flash floods could cut us off from the return route. We had to move in a limited area, meaning a few hundred square kilometers only — still quite a bit, you may say. 

Except for the impalas present almost everywhere, no big game was visible for quite a while, as we went along bumpy, muddy roads.Suddenly Godson stopped the vehicle, took out the binoculars and pointing in one direction said ‘there is a big male lion sleeping’. I took the binoculars and could make out the lion…. but oh, so far away.  We could see other jeeps too trundling along and the crackle of the walkie-talkies said that  some lions had been sighted. We took a detour and rushed to the spot. Sure enough, there were 3 female lions on an acacia tree. Had never seen lions on a tree before.

Watched them for quite a while but they appeared to be relaxing after a meal maybe and did not move at all save for the swish of their tails or a jerk, courtesy the flies which were there in abundance. We moved along another trail and found a lone female lion standing on a tree. Even as we watched , she jumped down to the ground, sniffed the air, moved forward purposefully and then … for no apparent reason lay down on the ground. We waited ….  and waited to see if she would embark on a hunt, but no…. only disappointment, but still, a wonderful sighting, I must say.

The dark clouds seemed to be coming lower, the skies could open up any moment, I thought. Still the jeep-roof was open and this seemed surprising to this giraffe on the side, who watched us in rapt attention.

There were more giraffes browsing on both sides of the road and one of them decided to cross the road forcing us to stop. What a wonderful sight! Have seen zebra-crossings in the cities but to see a giraffe crossing, it has to be the African bush only.

As we were returning to the camp for lunch, unexpectedly we spotted this family of a female cheetah with 3 grown-up cubs. Just stood admiring and understood the true meaning of ‘feline grace’ as they moved amidst the grass.

After a hearty lunch of hot rice, vegetables, some stuffed item like samosas, fruits and cream, we quickly set off for the afternoon session. Moved over a small bridge, over which some water was creeping up and went over to the other side. We were taking a chance, said Godson. ‘What will happen if our return path was blocked’- my query.  Half in jest he replied ‘ Oh, maybe we will have to wait for a day or two without food,for the waters to recede’. Not a very encouraging thought! Soon we seemed to be seeing elephants everywhere — on both sides, on the road, big ones, babies, herds, lone tuskers …….. we were in Elephant Country.

Even as we were overawed by these giant pachyderms, we stopped to marvel at a tiny Dik-Dik as well. These are small antelopes who live in pairs and are so named because of the whistling sound they make when there is impending danger. Looked around but Mrs. Dik-Dik seemed to be in hiding.

We were now near the Seronera airstrip wherein the small flights from Arusha land. Godson stopped the jeep and quietly pointed a finger towards the grass. I could make out two large manes — wow two full-grown male lions lying there. Soon, they started walking slowly in our direction and my jaw dropped in disbelief. They looked so old, frail and were a mere bag of bones.They passed ever so close in front of our jeep to move to the other side, with one of them limping badly. Godson surmised that these males would have been thrown out of their pride by a younger male  and too weak and old to hunt, these lions could be targets for packs of hyenas. The Law of the Jungle is so cruel! A king does not remain a king always!

Badly needing a bio-break, we moved to another of the picnic spot adjoining a river where there were toilets. The additional attraction here were the hippos frolicking in the shallow parts of the river.

The highlight was a hippo curiously smelling the bloated body of an eland washed ashore in the flood. Time to return to the camp, as it was around 5.30 PM and raindrops had started coming down. En route, we had to stop……… to admire a herd of massive African buffaloes, grazing without a care in the world.

Passing a large herd of impalas, we were headed home, when Godson stopped and pointed to a dead zebra with its neck broken. ‘ A recent kill by a large cat’, he announced since there was no stench and no signs of any predator. The cat must be close by watching the kill, he added. We waited for quite a while, but no sign of any cat…….only an eerie silence reigned.

We decided to come over here first thing in the morning to see the feasting by the cat and other scavengers. Still a thought was troubling me and I asked Godson’ how come we did not see any zebras around except for this dead one?’. His reply was that zebras do not like tall grass and majority of them had moved towards the gate where the grass was shorter. This unfortunate one must have been a slowcoach. Soon, we were at the camp after an exhausting day and I thought I had my fill of lions ( how wrong I was would unfold in the next couple of days). Still, the scoreboard read:

Day 3: 4 out of the Big Five. The Black rhino was till elusive. Tomorrow will be another day and maybe the rhino will make an appearance.