Eastern Serengeti

 Monday September 2

This morning’s objective was “large animals with spots”. We drove for about 4 hours through similar landscape to yesterday, but not a cheetah nor a leopard did we see.  We saw lots of unusual and cool things though! 

We saw many herds of gazelles and antelopes of all sizes, as well as zebra, giraffe, buffalo, hyenas, lions, and jackals, and many birds. We watched baby baboons ride on their mother’s back, and baby elephants hide behind the larger ones every time we got near. We watched as a pair of hyenas chased a small group of Thompsons gazelles… and then gave up. We watched a male Grants gazelle chase two jackals away from his herd. And we spooked a group of dwarf mongooses when we stopped by the side of road. 

Then, just as we were nearing camp, we stopped to take a photo of a Martial Eagle at the top of a fig tree… and our guide realized there was a leopard just below the bird in the same tree! Leopards rest in non-thorny trees with horizontal limbs (usually fig or kigelia trees) during the day to keep out of sight of lions. We tracked this one as it climbed down from one tree and climbed up into the next one. Some nearby elephants spooked it and it again descended and disappeared into the brush. 

One of our fellow travelers is a lady in her eighties who always dreamed of coming to Africa. It is a joy to watch her excitement every time she sees an animal, even a type she’s seen several times before. 

This afternoon we returned to the area, we saw the leopard and were able to see it again in somewhat similar circumstances. We watched three lionesses snooze, yawn and snooze again.  On our way back to camp, two bull elephants crossed the road in front of us.  We had cocktails and hors d’oevres on top of a kopje near the camp, followed by an outdoor dinner of traditional foods around a campfire. A great finale to this wonderful time in the East Serengeti. Tomorrow we transition to the north. 

Pictured: leopard descending from tree, baby baboons riding on mom, Grant’s gazelle chasing jackals