A Day in the Life: Serengeti

While I didn't give the name, "A Day in the Life" to other posts, I am probably going to start a segment of posts with such a title to give a little snapshot into what can happen in just 1 day as a backpacker. Not every day is glamorous, nor is every day at home. In the 4 days since the safari ended, I did very little but lie down in a bed in my hostel and just decompress. Arusha, Tanzania isn't exactly high on sights, so I didn't miss out on much in my laziness. The 2 weeks prior to my time here was full of adventure, including 4 days in the Serengeti. Here is what happened in one 24 hour time span during that trip.
Like all of our days in the Serengeti, it was only a few hours ago when we had departed our camp, started a game drive in the dark, and meandered around pre and post sunrise in search of animals. There is a coolness in the air which is necessary for active human and animal activity at that hour of the morning.While we were unable to feed at such an early hour, such is not the case for the wildlife found in the Serengeti. Animals are typically more active in the early morning and late afternoon. During the heat of the day, you can still find animals grazing and on the move, but animals such as leopards, cheetahs, and lions are more apt to be lying in the tall grasses and seeking shade under trees all in an effort to avoid the intense rays of the unrelenting sun. This particular morning gave me a few sightings I've never experienced in my cumulative 5+ months in Africa. We first saw a cheetah on the prowl and in a full sprint across the plains. What it was chasing will forever be a mystery, and as it slowed to a lurking gait, it walked right behind our 6 person land cruiser and vanished into the tall grasses.

Cheetah gracefully moving through the Serengeti

As we continued, as was the case with most game drives, the landscape was littered with elephants, water buffalo, zebra, a variety of bird life, the occasional family of lazy water lounging hippos, impalas, gazelles, topi, hyenas, baboons, water bucks, and giraffes. And within each of those groups of animals could be found fully mature adults, babies, and every age in between.

All together, "Awwwww."

Camel and Ostrich, goofiest animals in the animal kingdom

A far cry from Hungry Hungry Hippos

Water buffalo with some ox pickers hanging out

Impala

"Hey Ladies."

Herons

Hyrex

Topi

Bloodied, pregnant, and full. "What are 3 ways a woman would never pick up a guy at the bar...unless you're a hyena"

We then spotted a lioness and her 3 cubs frolicking around on a grassy hill. As offspring do, they irritated mama. She would roar and swat at them with her paw when they bothered her. But she lied with them, staring defiantly over the landscape, enjoying the morning sun.

After stops to admire the various sightings, we came upon a watering hole where 2 lionesses were stalking a lone warthog. An onlooking gazelle bore witness along with us and seemingly every other safari vehicle in the Serengeti. The lionesses left their perch underneath a tree upon spotting the warthog and split up. One stayed close to waters edge while the other took a wider position to her left.

The gazelle is looking straight at 1 of the lions. Other lion, not pictured.

Slowing creeping upon the warthog, they lied down in the grasses, for the warthog had momentarily pranced away, sensing a potentially life-threatening situation. Warthogs have short memories though, so it was only a matter of time before it returned to the watering hole seeking hydration. The warthog played this game multiple times and the lionesses just kept waiting for the right time to prance. After nearly an hour of waiting, they bolted and ran at full speed. They had a distance of at least 50-75m to make up if they were to catch their lunch. They got close, but in a cloud of dust, the mustachioed horned warthog managed to scurry away.

The lions might have missed out on lunch, but we did not. Back at our private campsite, we were treated to a buffet brunch. After eating like an American, I like everyone else, retreated to my tent for two, complete with private shower, European toilet, 2 beds, and napped until the start of our afternoon game drive. A welcome slumber to compensate for sleep lost due to the daily 5:15 am wake-up call.

At 3:30 pm we boarded our Toyota Land Cruiser with canopied roof. What transpired in the course of about 100 minutes that afternoon was special, even for the guides. The Big 5: elephant, lion, leopard, water buffalo, and rhino. The goal of any safari or trip through Africa is to see all 5. In that 100 min stretch of time that afternoon, check-check-check-check-aaaannd check. Elephant and water buffalo were seen in abundance, per usual. Fortunate as we were on that trip, lionesses were also spotted, per usual as well. They weren't doing anything special, but still 3 out of 5. Then a leopard was spotted in a tree, resting in the shade of an acacia tree. At first glance, it looked like just another leopard. But upon closer inspection, that leopard had a full belly and the kill was also in the tree. After sitting for awhile, hoping for movement, the leopard was only interested in sleeping off the meat sweats. Off we then went in search of number 5: the elusive black rhino. One of the rarest sightings in the Serengeti, a park the size of the state of Connecticut, is the black rhino, of which there are only 32 in the whole park. How this rhino was spotted, is a credit to how good our guides were. A distant moving shape on the horizon was all that was visible to the naked eye. High resolution binoculars indeed confirmed a black rhino with a baby trailing closely behind. It was the first black rhino I'd ever seen and it completed sightings of the Big 5 in 100 min.

What the horizon looked like to the naked eye....

...and what was actually lurking between those trees in the distance. Absolutely amazing spotters we had.

The day wasn't over though. We made a return trip to where we'd spotted the sleeping leopard and found that it was no longer in the tree. A group of gazelles at the base of that same tree made us think the leopard was still near. And we were right. It must have come down to stretch it's legs, but just as we arrived, it started to scale the tree and nimbly navigate the branches until it returned to it's previous perch nestled next to it's kill.

Standing on the branch halfway up the tree, the leopard is quite the agile kitty cat.

Our game drives were done for the day, but nighttime back at the camp promised sightings as well. We were given nightly serenades of howling hyenas, grunting buffalo, and growling lions. Flashing light into the grasses around our tents always detected animal eyes gazing upon us. For that reason, we were unable to leave our tents at night. However, we were able to leave the flaps down so that we could stare through the tent screen windows and spot animals lurking around, should we awaken in the middle of night. No harm ever befell upon us, but it certainly made a more exciting experience out of sleeping never knowing if you'd awaken to a hyena, buffalo, elephant, or lion peeping tom.

Another early wake up for another early morning game drive. I never tired of watching the yellow-orange sun emerge over the horizon. The early morning sun provided warmth and both illuminated/cast amazing shadows on the landscape.

A much more interesting light in which to take photographs compared to mid-day sun. This particular morning, we found a cheetah sunning itself on a rock and then another first. The previous afternoon we spotted the Big 5 in one 100 min stretch. Midway through this particular game drive, we spotted a leopard both sunning itself and searching for predators on a fallen dead tree. But that wasn't the real treat. In the shadows of the tree branches, a baby leopard cub was resting. Once down from it's perch, the mother would soon be playing with the cub, before both disappeared into the grasses below. We had now seen the Big 5 and babies of the Big 5 in one 24 hour stretch. Truly unique.

Coming up the trunk, in the shadows underneath mama, is the leopard cub.

24 hours in the Serengeti. Golden yellow sunrises and purple-orange sunsets. Sightings of the Big 5 and baby Big 5. A landscape covered with a tapestry of colorful animals, both in skin tone and personality. Private campsite. Buffet meals. Free beer and wine. Family and new friends. A nighttime sky illuminated by millions of twinkling stars. A chorus of animals singing us to sleep with their own unique lullabies. A truly unique, if not slightly glamorous 24 hours, in the life of a backpacker. Cheers.