April 11, 2015- Central Serengeti

Sat, April 11, 2015 

Central Serengeti National Park, Seronera, Tanzania

Beautiful sunrise over Serenera after night of rain

      

An early start again this morning as we began our game drive before sunrise at 6:15. Our coffee was delivered by Jonas at 5:30 after a very restful night. It rained several times throughout the night & we opened the front flap of our tent so we could watch the lightening show. We also heard the area's "resident" old male elephant (55-60 yr old) nicknamed George several times during the night. There is also a resident old buffalo nicknamed John and we need to watch our steps on the camp pathway for presents they leave behind. There was a family of elephants just outside the dining tent last night as we ate that we could hear but not see as it was too dark but luckily they were still close to camp this morning and we were able to see the family group.  

"George" walks past our tent at Seronera Sametu

   After last night's plentiful rain the dirt "roads" or vehicle paths are even more muddy than yesterday. We are grateful for Peter's excellent driving skills & our 4 wheel drive! We headed off this morning hoping to get a nice sunrise picture though we knew the cloudy condition could complicate matters...& we were able to get a few nice shots with a beautiful acacia tree in the foreground. We were not so successful last night with a sunset picture as it was raining.

 Actually, I was worried before we came on this trip knowing that April is one of the rainiest months here but even though it has rained a bit each day so far, it hasn't stopped us from doing game drives & getting great photos in the process. Last night as we returned to camp it was raining steadily but we found our first giraffe just at the edge of camp & got a couple of good shots.

 Another wonderful thing about coming on safari in April is that it is not high tourist season....we can game drive for hours without seeing another vehicle! Peter told us that there are probably only 60-80 vehicles out now in the entire Serengeti National Park but in high season there can be 200-300 or more. 

As we started off the morning we saw many different animals including buffaloes, zebras, baboons, gazelles, ostriches, hyenas, elephants, antelope, cute little monkeys & all before breakfast! 

The highlight was Peter when spotted leopard prints on the road & we headed to the nearby kopje to try to find the leopard but we didn't see so we left & another vehicle came. When we were a bit down the road they flashed their lights so we returned. Sure enough, there was the leopard high on the rocks & a little bit later we also saw her two cubs. Patience is very important when on safari! Peter is so very knowledgable about all of the different animals & birds here and he simply amazes us at being able to spot game at a distance & in high grass.

Mama leopard & the not so shy cub...

Mama Leopard

Breakfast time!

Nice picnic area in the central Serengeti

Blue & black flags with insect killer to catch the tsetse fly

Lost baby wildebeest.. no mama in sight. Afraid he was someone's dinner..

----- After we finished  breakfast at around 10 am, we took off again in a different direction and headed towards the woodland area. We spotted several groups of Impala (large group- one male, dozens female called a harem and also groups of all male) & dikdik couple (one couple- they mate for life, about 15 years). We also found many more giraffes  who are browsers of tree foliage, eating up to 100 different varieties so this is where they like to be. 

A portion of a harem of impala

The males practice fight...there were several "fighting" at the same time

A dikdik pair...they are so small & cute

Termite mound- this one took approx 20 years to build

The busy termites!

 We stopped for lunch around 1:30 at the picnic area next to the hippo pool. This is a natural pool created by  two streams coming together where several dozen hippos reside during the daytime & leave only at night to forage. They are very noisy & smelly.

There are over 35 hippos in this picture. Can you find them?

Shortly after we started our game drive after lunch, I was quite surprised to feel a sharp pain on the side of my left foot as we were driving thru the woodland area but wasn't too surprised when Peter said it was probably a tsetse fly because this would be an area for them. I'm not wearing black or dark blue on this trip, the colors that attract them but I was wearing sandals with thin black straps & it was next to the black strap. Yikes! It hurt!  I covered my feet with the pink blanket I brought along on our drive borrowed from the camp to keep my legs & feet warm with the early morning chill just in case the fly was still in our vehicle and he was still hungry.

Can you spot any animal or bird here?

Can you spot an animal in this one?

Yes, under the tree a very tired lion & his dead wildebeest

Of course, where you spot hippos during the day...in the water
After stopping for a few minutes at the information center for the Serengeti National Park near the Seronera airstrip while Peter filled our vehicles tanks with gas in preparation for tomorrow's drive south, we started to head back in the direction of our camp. 

There was heavy rain towards the eastern area where we were headed and the dirt road became a flowing stream even before we reached the rain. Peter said it must have been raining heavily for a couple hours. Thank heaven for his great driving skills as we went through countless mud holes, streams & what I would consider to be impassible driving conditions. Amazing! After over an hour of this, we were back at camp and were greeted by Jonas with umbrellas.

 Gary & I are the only guests at the camp tonight so I'm feeling very lucky indeed. After about an hour to download pictures and enjoy a nice glass of South African merlot, Jonas arrived with a flashlight to walk us to the dining room, a requirement here after dark because of the closeness of the wild animals. Peter joined us for dinner as he has been every night so far. We enjoyed a wonderful creamy leek soup and then had very tender beef, roasted baby potatoes, tender cooked carrots & cabbage, and avocado, tomato & cucumber salad. We were then treated to fresh papaya & passion fruit for dessert. Absolutely the best dinner...yum!