April 12, 2015- Central Serengeti

Sunday, April 12, 2015
Central Serengeti National Park, Seronera, Tanzania

The amazing staff of Serenera Sametu Camp

Sunrise as we prepare to leave camp

      Since we are departing the Seronera Sametu Camp this morning & heading south towards Ndutu, we were able to enjoy a hot breakfast before leaving. Besides the fresh coffee (kahawa) & orange juice, we were served a plate of fruit. We were offered oatmeal (which we turned down) and then a plate with eggs (cooked any way we wished), bacon, sausage, & toast with our choice of butter, marmalade, honey, & peanut butter. We said a fond farewell to the great staff at the camp & had Peter snap a picture of us with them. Jonas (JJ) has been so attentive & friendly while we were here as was Dismas (DC) and the other staff. If we ever return to the Seronera area, we will certainly return. 

Hot coffee first thing every morning.. getting spoiled!

Path from our tent to the dining tent...watch your step!

Our tent, #1, as we drive out... bye bye....

Some of our neighbors

On our way out of the camp, we spotted the giraffes again & got some photos....also found quite a few hartebeest & hyenas nearby. 

Peter has been trying to track down lions who are hunting wildebeest so we spent a great deal of time driving through, around & then through the incredibly large grazing herd of many tens of thousands wildebeest. It was in the midst of this huge herd of wildebeest, zebra & a few hartebeest that I needed to go "check the tires" for the first time on this safari. Too much coffee & orange juice this morning... We left the herd around 9:30 heading what looks like north though our main direction heading today will be south. It will be very interesting to see the printout of our daily drives when we download the data from Gary's GPS tracker that tracks where each of his pictures have been taken & he is averaging at least 800-1000 per day.

Pictures will never do justice to the grandeur of the wildebeest herd grazing from horizon to horizon. 

Peter checks out the horizon with his binocs

After stopping for lunch at Naabi Hills, we headed east to the 100 square kilometers of the Gol Kopjes which rise up here & there over the vast plains. From the slight rise as we headed to one of the many kopjes here, we could see "the ants", the  hundreds of thousands of wildebeest from horizon to horizon and beyond...amazing!!! After seeing this, I  would love to return someday to see the famous Mara River crossing. 

Good reason for wildebeest herd to move away....

Very tired cheetah but wildebeests keep distance here too

The wildebeest herd knows there are lions on the rocks & keep  their distance

Peter pointed out in two locations ahead where there were empty spaces with no wildebeest that were shaped like a circle. He said that indicated there was a predator in the middle and sure enough, as we got close to the nearest outcropping of huge boulders, there was a large pride of lions sunning themselves. In the center of the other open area, was a very tired cheetah laying in the grass with a very full belly. He was so lethargic that flies covered his face & he didn't even attempt to swat them away.


   We headed further south & then east to the edge of the open plain & the beginning of a beautiful woodland area predominantly filled with acacia trees. Heading towards Lake Ndutu, we found our home for the next four nights, Ndutu Lodge. This camp is made up of 32 stone cottages. It doesn't have 24 hour electricity but it does have Internet (slow with low bandwidth) in the lobby area so we got caught up on email. We had hoped to be able post a couple pictures to Facebook but doubt that we can. 
We enjoyed more South African merlot before & during dinner. So far it is the best wine we've had here. Dinner was delicious with broccoli salad & leek soup, and a main course of lamb chops, eggplant, potato, & greens. Our dessert was papaya mousse.

Wild genet...very pretty creatures!

 We were entertained with the genet cats that visit the rafters in the dining room in the evening. They are not tame but they are certainly used to people..  On our way back to our room, (they do let us walk the path with flashlights after dark here because there are spotters working on the lodge perimeter) we spotted a pair of dikdiks, they are so cute & look like miniature Bambis...