On the Serengeti - December 1, 2022
When last heard from I was leaving Buenos Aires and on my way home, returning from Antartica and South Georgia Island in March. In the intervening months the Covid menace has stepped down from the headlines and we are all infinitely sadder but not noticeably wiser. The vast multitudes of Covid deniers with their heads in the sand and their behinds in the air have not noticeably changed their posture, not a very pretty sight. Let us never forget that there are also large numbers of people who still believe that the world is flat and that Donald Trump was a great president.
At this present moment we are on the Serengeti in Tanzania, carrying through on a trip originally planned for last December, a tad hasty, and which we are now completing. We will be spending a week in a wonderful tented camp, Namiri Plains Camp in a pretty and remote section of the Serengeti. Then we are off for another week in Tswalu, a camp we loved on our first trip to South Africa in 2012.
This the first trip that V and I have made together since the fall of 2019, just shortly before Covid struck, and it’s a very curious feeling to be on the road again. Covid and the hiatus it created, really is a marker and so much is defined, reflected upon and thought about in pre and post-Covid terms. This is especially true as it’s the rare instance of an event that was and is, quite literally, shared by the entire planet. Everyone everywhere has a common language when sharing experiences, we have all been touched by it, and are all still trying to come to terms with it.
Our flights here have had their own adventures; our landing at the Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania had to be aborted because of severe dust storms. Visibility was so reduced by the blowing dust that the pilot could not see to land and so we circled the runway and then diverted to Nairobi. We spent a couple of hours on the tarmac in Nairobi, refuelled, and then flew back to Kilimanjaro to try again. Fortunately, while the winds had not abated, the dust had blown itself out and we able to land, hours late. As unpleasant as this was however, it was still better than the alternative which was to fly to Entebbe in Uganda and overnight there before re-trying our landing the following day.
Resting after a big meal
These winds have been ever-present and have continued to blow relentlessly since our arrival so our drive to the camp in an open vehicle yesterday and again on our first game drive this morning, were both punishing. Having said that, we are in a wonderful, remote portion of the Serengeti that has only recently been re-opened after a number of years being closed in order to re-build its cheetah population. Unlike the Masai Mara in Kenya which contains vast tracts of fairly open grasslands relieved by occasional acacia trees and scattered shrubs, the Serengeti is, in many places, an ocean of windswept grassland with virtually no no trees or low-lying vegitation. And wind-swept it is at the moment. However this hasn’t prevented us from having a sighting that in all of our previous 6 trips to Africa, has eluded us. We spent a happy hour this morning watching a female leopard on a tree limb about 3 or 4 metres over our heads. She had just fed and her stomach was bulging as she stretched herself out to relax and varied her time by lazily watching us or having an occasional nap. A magical moment and made even better by the primary reason for us having chosen this camp, not another vehicle in sight. Our camp is far removed from others and we only briefly saw one other vehicle for the entirety of our 6 hour drive.
I’m looking forward to other peak moments and will keep you up to date as the week progresses.
More to come!
