There are some places you half expect David Attenborough’s voice to start narrating what you’re seeing and Serengeti is definitely one of those. Having been practically raised on BBC Nature documentaries about the Ngorogoro crater, Masai mara and the Serengeti it was a little strange to actually be visiting these places.
According to the guidebook we shouldn’t have been there – April advice is do not go at all unless the rains have failed but our luck continued with perfect safari weather throughout. On our way to the Serengeti we passed the Ngorogoro crater covered in mist. In a few minutes the whole crater revealed itself – a perfect bowl with black dots of animals all over.
Back in the car we headed through Masai territory toward the Seregeti itself. The Masai are a nomadic tribe who migrate with their herds across the grasslands of Kenya and Tanzania and have actively resisted the encroachment of modernity to their ancient ways.
Even before we entered the park the abundance of wildlife was astounding – the wildebeest were on the hoof. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of wildebeest in a long line as far as the eye could see were following their instinct and herd mentality to follow the rains.
Mixed in with wildebeest were zebras and we saw dozens of giraffe just moseying around.
After a long day in the car we were getting tired when we struck safari gold. Another car had noticed the tell-tale looped branch hanging out of a tree – a leopard!
Spot the leopards
Difficult to identify even when you know where to look these big cats are very shy and one can count oneself lucky to catch a glimpse of one but this one was lounging around in plain sight.
No sooner had we rounded the tree and the guide spotted yet another one – this time eating its kill of an antelope up in the tree! An incredible double leopard spot on our first day in the park.
Second leopard with antelope kill
