Serengeti sweetness

“Tanzania is not a real place.” I uttered this pretty much every day, to every person, on every post, when we visited there in fall 2022. And a year later I am finally putting my thoughts down here and I’m now wondering, “was it all a dream? It was real, right?”

Actually, it was both.

From the wonderful folks we met at camp to the morning game drives full of sunrises and surprises to the afternoons trying to stay cool in the intense heat to the blazing sunsets and lazy evenings dining by a campfire. There wasn’t a moment that didn’t delight us, a scene that didn’t take our breath away. There was a surprise around every corner.

We were overwhelmed by it all. Here’s what three days in the Serengeti looks like…

You call this a camp?

After two days each in Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro, we flew in to the remote western reaches of Serengeti National Park on a small 12-seater plane landing on a rust-coloured dirt runway. I was a bundle of nerves landing. Was it the plane ride (I’m a queasy flyer) or was it arriving to a place I only ever dreamed about?

Our ranger Yona was there to greet us and take us to our “camp” at Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge. My definition of camp certainly does not match AndBeyond’s. Look at this place! It had just reopened after being rebuilt due to extensive flooding and did they ever mack it out!

It even had a little fresh water plunge pool, which came in super handy in the insanely hot Serengeti afternoons where no creature was stirring. Not even the hippos that live in the river right out front the camp’s doors.

Aside: The best part about staying at AndBeyond camps was their dedication to sustainability. The entire time we were at one of their camps, we didn’t see one piece of plastic. Not one. No plastic water bottles (recycled glass water bottles instead), no plastic garbage bags, no plastic cups, no plastic toiletries, no plastic anywhere. Grumeti runs on solar power and they use rainwater to fill the pools. And from what we heard, one of the best safari outlets to work at. One ranger told us they even have a soccer tournament every year where folks from many of the camps compete against each other. Nice.

OMG, a baby hippo right outside our door!

This little one was right out front of our room for the duration of our stay. They kept a bit of distance from the rest of the hippo herd in the river. Yona said it was probably a few days old. (Almost “house hippo” size!)

Care for a cocktail and a chat?

After evening drives, everyone (travellers, staff, rangers) would end up back at the main building around the same time to enjoy a cocktail before dinner. And a flurry of excited conversations about what had been observed that day would begin: “Did you see the cheetah family?!” “A lion took down a cape buffalo!” “Did you get to that leopard in the sausage tree?!” “The wildebeest are starting to arrive!” “Holy, that sunset was a stunner, eh?” The responses were like watching fireworks, filled with all “oohs and ahhs.”

And the hippos out front of the cocktail bar (pic below) would be side-eyeing us as we spoke. Prob annoyed af.

Good morning, sunshine!

There’s not many places that can boast both epic sunsets and sunrises, but the Serengeti can. It glows in all directions. When those morning beams hit, you get scenes like this…

Bush breakfast is served

On safari, we usually set out so early that we didn’t have breakfast until a couple hours in to a morning game dive. This gave Yona time to find the perfect spot to stop, get out, stretch our legs and dine in the middle of nowhere.

This is what they call a “bush breakfast.”

One morn we dined not too far away from where a cheetah and her cubs were hunting. The next day, Yona set us up by a big tree surrounded by topis and zebras.

Sipping fresh coffee while a real life “Circle of Life” scene plays before you is something else, man.

This is big cat country

It’s been a year and I still can’t get all the cat sightings in Grumeti out of my head. We saw so much! All the other places we went to couldn’t compare. It was insane.

Up until we arrived in the Serengeti, we had seen everything on our list…except the big cats. So when Yona asked us what was at the top of our list we both said “CATS!” And boy did he deliver!

Lions, in droves

Our first game drive was a short evening one and we came across a family of lions. Mostly mommas, aunties and cubs. We watched them for over an hour rolling on the ground, some snoozing, some pouncing on each other. Annoying their parents, gnawing on their kills.

So, like, doing the things all other cats love to do ever.

But the next day our lion watch went to eleven. We left camp before the sun rose and buckled in for the drive of a lifetime.

We saw so many lions we couldn’t keep count. Luckily for us, Yona was. He told us we saw 42 lions that day.

42?!

Jumpin’ Jehosaphat!

We watched adult males approach each other and yet still keep a wary distance from one another. Like an “I’ll deal with besting you another day because I’d rather nap” kind of way. (Having had a few male pet cats over the years, I know that pure laziness trumps everything to them.)

And we got a front row seat to see how the females run it all. Doing the hunting, caring for the babies, keeping scavengers at bay (WAIT YOUR TURN!), dealing with the egotistical males, letting them nosh first. I mean, those males just seem to walk lazily and sit and preen and pose for the camera.

I know that’s not the case in reality, and that they are their pride’s best protection, but boy, they really do look like lazy asses out there. Just like my cat, Max!

That’s not her tongue in the pic below, she just ate. Eek

Once the real heat of the day starts, the big cats find shade to lay under and that’s that until evening. They are OUT! Even with a smorgasbord of gazelles, zebra, wildebeest and cape buffalo roaming just a few metres away. Nutso. *cue the music again*

Another thing you notice is how comfortable lion are. They are truly afraid of nothing. They walk around like they own the place…because they kinda do. They don’t even look at the humans watching them. They could care less about us and they certainly don’t move out of your way. As confident as a, well, a lion. Haha

We were so surprised at how indifferent lions were to humans we mentioned it to one of our rangers. He told us they don’t usually care about the safari vehicles and its inhabitants at all. But he did have one story about a ranger who accidentally hit the vehicle’s gas pedal when a male lion was nearby hunting and the sound of the engine spooked the prey and it bolted. The male lion was so pissed it moved in front of the vehicle and smacked it on its front side. The whole vehicle lurched to the side from the force of the strike. And safari vehicles ain’t light. So, yeah, they aren’t scared of shit out there.

So, what beats 42 lion sightings in one day?

Cheetah!

I have to admit, cheetah were not on my must-see list. Then I watched one in real life and OMG, it was a thing of beauty. Quietly sleek. Light and effortlessly quick. Nothing is out of alignment. It’s like a ballet dancer mixed with an Olympic sprinter. Poetry and power in motion.

I was taken aback.

I didn’t come here with a love for cheetah. I’ve always been more impressed by the beauty of tigers and leopards and even lions, but not the cheetah. And then I watched one with my own eyes and that was it. I was in love.

Number one sighting for me for our entire safari.

We watched this cheetah and her cubs perched on random termite mounds scouting for gazelle for hours. Watched how she moved, how her cubs followed. How they thwarted her by not staying still, thus spooking a gazelle that she was readying herself to chase. We were all as annoyed as she was. Kids!

But those cute cubs stayed close and mimicked every thing she did. It was a wonder to watch.

She put in a good effort scanning the landscape but was thwarted the first morning we saw her. Yona said she was an excellent hunter so he had no worries she was going to get a meal soon. And low-and-behold, on the evening game drive — which we passed up because we were out so long earlier (seeking leopards) — they found her again and watched her snag a Thomson’s gazelle. Still bummed we missed that high-speed race.

Moral of the story: Don’t ever pass up a game drive on safari.

We did however seek them out the next day and found her back at it roaming the landscape with that swift, beautiful gait of hers. But the cubs were now even more feisty with their full bellies, she just gave up and let them be nutty. Exactly like a human mom throwing her hands up in exasperation when their kids are on a sugar high. Gotta ride that wave.

Leopard

Then it was the ultimate find. We were about to head back to camp for the afternoon after watching the cheetah when Yona got a radio call from another ranger:

“LEOPARD!”

But about one and a half hours away. That means about another three hours out on the range.

“Do you want to go?” Heck yes!

And there we were two hours later gazing up at a sausage tree watching one of the most beautiful animals LAID OUT panting, trying to keep cool. We all were at this point.

And that was it. Both our lists were completed and we were gobsmacked by the riches we witnessed that day.

It also completed the Big Five for us: Elephant ✔️ Cape Buffalo ✔️ Rhino ✔️ Lion ✔️ Leopard ✔️

Look at this beauty of a cat! It was so worth the wait to find him. Supposedly he had pulled a zebra in that tree with him but by the time we arrived it had been dealt with and was nowhere to be found. (We didn’t look too closely at the ground. Eek.) The rest of the day was going to be spent in that tree sleeping and trying to keep cool. Not an easy task in the afternoon.

The artistry of nature

Ok, besides the big cats, we were also treated to so much other goodness. I’m sure the flora gets overlooked for the fauna, but we were thrilled to see such different plant species, some native like acacia trees, sausage trees and red oat grasses to the beautiful but dangerous-to-the-Serengeti ecosystem invasive prickly pear cactus.

Those straw-coloured “puff balls” in the acacia trees are the nests that weaverbirds make. They make the trees look festive. The weaverbird flys up into those nests. Maybe it’s a way to show off as they are the only birds recorded with the ability to tie knots.

And those brown spiky balls are thorns from the whistling thorn acacia tree.

We also saw tons of vultures lurking on the top of trees, two colobus monkeys with their giant fuzzy tails, a bunch of strutting “single ladies” ostriches, a “just chillin'” crocodile (sure, sure) and all the antelopes, including the weird wildebeest, who were just starting to arrive from Kenya on their Great Migration tour.

Watching the wildebeest arrive to the area was a sight. They truly play the “follow the leader” role to perfection. If one starts going one way, all the ones behind get in line. It’s pretty fun to watch. Just a mass migration of foolishness.

We even saw a baby elephant that was born without a full trunk. Poor lil guy.

I see dead things

Oh, and you know what else we saw tons of? Carcasses! They are literally littered all over the landscape, in all stages of decomposition. At first it was shocking, but then it totally makes sense. It’s just one of those things you don’t see on all the nature shows. But there is dead stuff everywhere.

Sundown and “sundowners”

On our very last game drive, we asked Yona to take us to a great spot to capture a few sunset photos. Now, there’s really not a bad place to get an epic sunset photo on the Serengeti, but we wanted to see where he would take us. Yona did not disappoint. He took us to the top of a hill that had views for days.

But it was odd, we were there waaaaaay before sunset. Like over an hour. I was thinking “this time is beautiful, but not quite what we were looking for. But no worries, we’ve already been blessed so much here.”

Yona then hurriedly (not like him at all) scooted us back in the vehicle and whisked us away. Taking us back to camp for dinner.

Ok, how ’bout one last drink…

Except he didn’t. He drove us to a huge tree where the entire camp was waiting with cold “sundowners,” which is what they call cocktails after an evening game drive. What a treat!!!

We met up with all the guests staying at camp as we had appetizers and drinks in front of a campfire while watching the sun hit the horizon in front of us. Breathtaking.

While drinking and noshing, we met a couple who have been coming to this particular camp (and one in Kenya) for over 15 years. Without fail. The husband doesn’t have the mobility he used to, but he told me he can’t not come. He loves this place so much.

His wife was hilarious though. Very cut-to-the-chase. I asked her where she was from and she said immediately “New York City.” Then her husband was like, “C’mon hun, we’ve been retired in Florida for many years now.” She gave him a look. 😂 I think she refuses to admit it. And I think I would do the same.

As we got our drinks and chats on, Yona came up to us and said “now for your sunset photo.” He took us in front of a tree and let the iPhone do the best it could with the light in the background. I mean, you can’t see us hardly at all, but it’s the sunset that we’re here for.

What an adventure!

I’m writing this one year later and our safari adventure is as fresh in my mind as the day we started. A pure dream. I really couldn’t imagine it being as good as it was.

Again, Tanzania is not a real place.

Actually, I guess it is. But no place should legally be allowed to fill your heart so full. ♥️

Perfection.

A sweet takeaway

The camp had a small souvenir shop and they had this delightful handmade hippo dish by artist Clement Mkhize. A little bit of safari love to take home.