I spent the morning catching up on blog posts, looking out over Lake Victoria. Anyone who has travelled with me knows that if I start to fall behind on my blogging, I get a bit antsy.
Some of us went across to a fishing village and school. I stayed behind and caught up on the last two days.
Now I feel so much better!
After lunch we jumped in the jeeps to see the Serengeti and go to our new place, where we’re staying for the next two nights. The trip was supposed to take around 3 hours, but due to animal sightings and the torrential downpour we had last night, it took 6 hours. None of us were complaining.
(Well, some were, but they seem to whinge at the drop of a hat.)
Here is our afternoon…
Serengeti means “ Endless Plains” in the Masai language.
Here are the rains down in Africa… (thank you Toto!)
Serengeti chicken , otherwise known as the Guinea fowl.
Impala bachelors.
We saw a zebra wallowing in the dust to get rid of external parasites. We also saw lots of resident wildebeests who don’t migrate because they know where to find food and water.
Flying egrets.
Flying storks.
Hamercop bird. It’s a huge nest that both partners build together. The nests have 2 rooms and can weigh up to 50 lbs. mud and sticks. They always go near water because they eat frogs and fish. Once they raise their chicks and leave, other birds like eagles take over the nest.
If you look down at the bottom left of the tree, you’ll see the bird. It seems like an an awfully big nest for such a small bird.
Here’s what they look like close up.
Blue balls monkey, otherwise known as the Black Faced Vervet.
In case you were wondering, their balls are indeed an incredibly bright shade of blue.
This was really sad. This elephant is around 18 years old and has broken his left leg. He can still feed himself, but he can’t walk. This won’t end well for him…
A herd of giraffes took our minds off the poor, doomed elephant.
There was a range of all sizes.
This guy was huge.
You’ll have to excuse me for not being overwhelmed by the African crocodiles on show, after the hundreds I saw in the Northern Territory last September.
We saw a baboon troupe on the road in front of us.
We’ve already reached the stage of “Seen one baboon, seen ‘em all!”, but this baby was cute.
Wildebeest were everywhere. The Great Migration isn’t due to start yet, but there are thousands of resident wildebeests who stay put in this part of the Serengeti.
These ones were impossible to resist filming.
This photo has a lion in it.
See?
To e fair, it took me ages to spot the lion. I’m pretty unobservent at the best of times, so I was looking at anything other than “the rock.”
Elephant dung is used to start fire, as we saw in theMasai village , and also as a mosquito repellent if you burn it in the house. Ifyou inhale the smoke if you’ve got a headache it’ll relieve your sinus passages too.
Never say that I don’t give handy hints.
Two lionesses. Easy food for them with all of the wildebeest and zebras around.
A journey of giraffes. They’re way off in the distance, but I love the shape of them.
Baboons. They were putting themselves to bed up in a tree to be safer from predators.
A baby hyena wanting to be fed, and asking Mum. After I finished filming, she gave up, lay down and let him suckle. I just love the noises he’s making!
More of the wildebeest migration. We could hear them, and Awade said that it’s mainly the little ones looking for their mothers. As we drove the herd just kept on going and going and going. There were thousands of them. It was absolutely incredible.
The Great Migration must surely be a sight to see:
Just arround the corner we came upon a massive herd of Topi. Awade was blown away by how many there were. The rain might make the roads slippery and boggy, but it’s certainly helping the grazing animals.
Town eagle.
Awade asked for my phone because I was on the wrong side of the jeep, so he took this shot.
We took a lot longer to get to the lodge than we anticipated, because the rain made some of the roads boggy and exciting. It wasn’t bad though. We saw some beautiful African skies.
Pink rain on the Serengeti. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?
Dad Joke of the Day:
Wow, those skies are SO beautiful. Sounds like the rain has caused some slow-downs, but you’re so lucky to be there when it’s green and lovely! I was in Kenya in 2022 and there was a years-long drought on at that point (the Masai was still green, but I was also up in Northern Kenya and it was grim).
It’s very lush here.