Serengeti To Ourselves?!?

On April 29, 2021 we entered an entirely new world. Or maybe we went back in time? Either way, the Africa we had been experiencing was left at the gate of the Serengeti and now we got to experience the real Africa. Or at least the natural Africa that has not been touched by human settlements. The Africa of tall acacia trees and wide open plains full of wild animals. It was exhilarating and refreshing, albeit incredibly expensive. We seriously considered avoiding the absurd Tanzanian National Park Fees, but if there ever was a time to visit the Serengeti, it’s right now, during a global pandemic, when very few other people are around and we might have an opportunity to have the whole place to ourselves.

The Serengeti has a special connotation about it. It’s THE Serengeti. There are plenty of national parks on the continent of Africa, but few are as recognizable and well known as the Serengeti. Fortunately, it did not disappoint and we were happy to see lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, buffalos, zebras, several kinds of antelope (Thompson’s Gazelle, Grant’s Gazelle, Eland, Dik Dik, etc) and thousands of Blue Wildebeest cruising through the grasslands. But all of this almost didn’t happen…

On our very first night, just before dusk, our truck came to a screeching halt. We heard a loud noise and hopped out of the truck to find that the passenger side tire had caved inwards. A closer look and the upper control arm ball joint holding the wheel in place had become dislodged. It appeared that we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. We drove over one hundred kilometers on that first day through some very remote areas and we only passed maybe a total of five vehicles. Don’t you know our truck broke down just outside of the camp where we were going to sleep that night and we weren’t stuck longer than 5 minutes before someone saw us and was able to call for help. And fortunately the mechanic shop was just up the road. If we were going to break down, this was the place to do it. Seriously, we could have been stranded for hours had this happened anywhere else! Our car was undriveable in its current state and we weren’t optimistic that it would be an easy repair. We assumed we were going to lose out on a lot of money and have to say goodbye to game viewing. The man who found us called the local mechanic and three guys were able to weld the upper control arm ball joint and we were good to go. (The mechanics told us we would be good to go for a very long time with this repair, but we viewed the welding of a joint that is supposed to rotate freely as a temporary fix, and knew we would have to get it replaced in Arusha.) This snafu only cost us a few hours and $80. Thankfully we were able to cook dinner next to the truck while the mechanics worked and a hyena lurked in the distance.

There is no night time driving in the Serengeti or else we might not have slept the entire time we were there. We were the first ones out on the roads when they opened at 0600 and the last ones back into camp when the roads closed at 1900. We often started our mornings with the birds when activity is highest and then transitioned to looking for game, but every morning on our way to search for birds, we spotted lionesses either on the road or in the grass. This is a bird blog, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few birds, but in places like the Serengeti it’s hard not to be entirely motivated by the game. That said, we had a few very important bird targets to track down, namely Gray-crested Helmetshrike and Karamoja Apalis, both of which made us work quite hard but ended with superb views! Even though it’s not safe to walk around outside of the vehicle, the birding was still quite good and we had several productive stops producing a few lifers such as Gray-capped Sociable Weaver, Gray-headed Silverbill, Tanzania Red-billed Hornbill, and Chestnut Sparrow. Any day that you have six separate lion sightings totaling 18 individuals is a good day. And any day you see a leopard lying on a rock and relocate to a nearby tree is even better. Days that you see both are what days on safari in the Serengeti are all about! Unfortunately, we were still missing cheetah, a cat we’d never seen before despite days searching in Kruger National Park in South Africa.

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Since we were doing everything independently we didn’t have the same luxury as the guides who radio each other when and where they find something good. We cooked lunch at the visitor’s center and were immediately approached by several young men interested in taking us out. We explained how we are independent budget travelers and are mainly focusing on birds. Two of the guys wanted to learn more about the birds and asked if they could join us. We came up with an idea that in exchange for them taking us to areas best to see cheetah, we would teach them about the birds. So for the next five hours we drove around the plains searching for cheetah while Ross, a wealth of bird information, taught Laizer and Shaban about important Serengeti birds and how to identify them. It was a win win for everybody! (These guys would benefit greatly from a bird book, but we didn’t have one to give them so if anyone reading this is planning a visit to the Serengeti and wants to do a good deed, please bring an extra copy of The Birds of East Africa to give away. This is worth more than any kind of tip to these people! I have their Whatsapp number if you want to contact them!) Even with two guides trained to spot hidden animals, one looking out on either side of the vehicle, we still missed seeing a single cheetah! Prior to this, Ross and I joked that we were cheetah cursed. This solidified it!

We saw several groups of lions and another leopard, so it was still enjoyable, but no cheetah!
The next morning Ross and I drove out to the same area and started scanning the grasses with not another soul in sight. And then, as if appearing out of nowhere, a single cheetah was spotted going down to a stream to drink. With this one we joked that the floodgates could open! We continued driving and SIX more cheetahs were spotted! I’m not kidding, it was magical. The floodgates had in fact opened! We sat in our truck and just watched as their slender, muscular bodies walked through the grass. THIS was exactly what we wanted out of the Serengeti.

Of note, our 4 day, 3 night trip into the Serengeti was NOT budget friendly. Even though we drove ourselves without a guide, camped every night, and cooked every meal ourselves, we still spent $1,200 (including the ridiculous $400 we had to pay to drive through Ngorogoro NP just to get to Serengeti), effectively equaling what we had spent in Tanzania up until this point.
But sleeping in a campground with no one else around and an entire herd of wildebeest directly outside of your tent ALL NIGHT LONG is pretty freaking cool. How can anyone put a price tag on a once in a lifetime kind of experience like that?