Serengeti Migration, Ndutu Area, Olakira Camp, Tanzania

4 Nights February 2008

We had breakfast at Suyan, packed up and headed for the famed Serengeti National Park. We entered and stopped to pay park fees at the Naabi Hill park headquarters. Here we had box lunches before proceeding on toward Gol Kopjes in hope of big cats. Along the way had a surprise sighting of a serval, it was quite shy so the viewing was brief but a great treat. For a good stretch approaching Gol Kopjes there was absolutely no animals, it had me wondering how there would be any cats with nothing to eat. As we began to circle around our first rock formation and up on top of a large boulder was a number of lionesses and some older cubs probably approaching a year old. In the grass at the base of a tree was two males but the view was mostly their bellies and paws with the manes barely visible through the grass and brush. As we were watching for movement, what little there was from this pride of flat cats I glanced out to the open savanna and where there had been nothing there was a line of wildebeest approaching and stretching for as far as I could see. It was incredible how there was no grazers to be found anywhere and all of a sudden there were thousands arriving. We continued on inspecting kopjes one by one until we arrived at one with a lioness on a ledge adorned by two beautiful little cubs! These were young cubs, probably only 5 or 6 weeks old and we watched as they harassed their mother climbing on her, seeming to want to nurse but not being allowed to. One of the little cubs headed down the ledge and as the mother and other cub followed it was a bit of a struggle to keep balance. The mother kind of straight leg skated parts of the slope. Then from above in a different area a third cub revealed itself and the family came together – now the cubs were allowed to nurse and we were party to witness this wonderful natural event. These were the first wild lions ever seen for everyone in my group so it was a very exciting time, and as a big bonus we were the only two vehicles at the viewing. We reluctantly left but to make it to Olakira Camp in Ndutu by dark and avoid a violation we had to hustle.

Olakira Camp is a seasonal mobile camp moved occasionally to be well positioned for the migration. At this time of year it was inside the Serengeti National Park in the Ndutu area. It had a nice setting which was convenient to the road to head down to the Lake but remote enough that while in camp you felt like no one else was in the area. The camp had 6 tents when we were there so always our group plus one other couple. The tents in my mind are perfect for this type of safari, they are basic, roomy enough for the large bed and to hold your luggage, and have the bathroom attached to the back. There is a bucket sink, bucket shower, and a chemical toilet similar to what you might find in an R.V. There are zip flaps to separate the toilet and the shower for privacy from the rest of the tent. No extra frills, just a comfortable place to sleep and maintain yourself which I think is fitting for a mobile safari camp. My only knock would be the tents are placed fairly close together so there is not much privacy from your neighbors, I would prefer that they are spread out more but there could be rules about that in the area and it definitely helps minimize the impact keeping camp tight together. There was a large community tent with a long dining table and a small lounge sitting area. Food was always good, usually fairly simple but well cooked. Homemade potato chips to accompany drinks around the fire is actually what I remember being pretty thrilled with. Service was always good too. There were a lot of different choices for seasonal camps and I worked for a long time with Eben at Kiliwarriors to find the best option for us. Olakira is one of the more reasonable cost camp choices and I think it was perfect for us so we received very good advice from Kiliwarriors. For a comfortable level of accommodation, good service and food, as well as being in an excellent location I think this camp provides good value. To me there is no reason to pay for things like chandeliers in the tent, or a private tent butler when you are traveling with your own guides and vehicles.

After we were settled into our tents we began the routine that would run for the next 4 nights. Namely having drinks and talking about the day around the fire and then prior to dinner. On 3 of our 4 nights we were treated to the ‘Squrriel Band’, basically most of the staff play one type of instrument or another, lead by a guitar and sing traditional songs ending with some dancing. These guys have a lot of fun with their fireside gig and our group got pretty into it with the last night turning into a big dance around the fire.

I was excited for our first morning game drive in Ndutu, here we hoped to see cheetah, lions, great herds, and perhaps a hunt and kill. I had read of the amazing mother cheetah, known as Eleanor, and her 6 cubs so with great anticipation I was seeking that sighting. We were there for only a minute and I saw my group shaking their heads and told Gilliard lets leave and find something better. I think he was shocked to give up a lion sighting but with about 15 vehicles completely encircling the tree of a sleeping lion it was not that compelling. As we drove we found a troubling site that would become common, lost baby wildebeest. It was always heartbreaking to find these youngsters just a couple weeks old wandering aimlessly with no other wildlies in sight. You could take some solace in knowing they would soon feed predators and serve a purpose but each time it was a troubling site for me. Other wildebeest had already fallen to serve the masses and we saw many squabbles of spotted hyena, vultures, and jackals. At this time of year every animal looks full as can be, the grazers have the rich grasses and the predators and scavengers have as much as they can possibly handle – a true time of plenty. I love watching the interactions at the carcasses and hyenas would waddle off ready to burst and then come bowling back in sending vultures to flight while the jackals are always looking crafty.

While enjoying these interactions there was the telltale sign of a cheetah sighting, a number of vehicles gathered together in the distance. We went to check it out and there was a cheetah just opening up a Thomson’s gazelle in an odd high patch of grass. Movement in the grass revealed the bobbing little heads and whitish/blonde mantles of shoulder hair of cheetah cubs. This was indeed Eleanor and the 6 cubs (about 3 months old) although it was hard to see more than two or three of them at a time as they were in the grass eating. There were 12 vehicles all to one side of this feast but everyone was well behaved. The afternoon before, cheetah researchers were having to come to vehicles and warn them to give this family room to hunt as there had recently been too much interference causing difficulty and Eleanor had not been able to make a kill for two or three days so this was relieving to see the family gorging quickly. The mother was smart to drag the kill into the only high grass around and thus was not discovered by any scavengers, the first vultures only arrived when the meal was almost complete. She was also very cautious and would stop eating and look around every couple minutes to make sure no other large predators would catch her young by surprise. After about 20 minutes she chirped and called the cubs to follow her away from the kill. One by one they came until there were 5, and then a minute later the 6th straggler came off of the kill. I think she was just checking for danger because after a minute they all returned to eat some more. After another 5 minutes one of the cubs soon to be joined by others came to mom for what I dubbed the ‘cheetah bucket shower’ as she would lick their faces clean of the blood. We had witnessed a real National Geographic type moment, the kind you hope to have once on a safari but fortunately we would have more to come. With just some scraps left the mother once again chirped and began to lead the family off for shade, the problem was she wanted to walk far across the plain to the closest trees while the young cubs saw a much closer opportunity as they headed straight underneath one of the vehicles. She chirped and chirped for them and would get a few rounded up but 6 is more than a pawful! One of the cubs climbed up a tire into the wheel well of a vehicle making an interesting photo for me but not my preferred way to see wildlife. After a couple minutes mom managed to summon all of them and walk between two vehicles to head off in her preferred direction. At this point the vehicles all start up and grateful for the gift of this amazing sighting we are ready to head back to camp. Mind boggling though 2 vehicles that had actually left the sighting during the riveting feeding return at this point and start following them across the plains as they head for a nap! It would seem these cheetah likely have vehicle escorts virtually every waking hour. Seeing 6 cubs is almost unheard of as there are 95% cub mortality rates in the first 18 months for Serengeti cheetah, this mother is crushing the odds so far and it was an honor to spend time with this family.

Following the afternoon siesta time we headed out and focused a bit on birds. Overall birds in the area were great with some nice raptors such as the lanner falcon and a juvenile bateleur. As we were driving we pulled slightly off the road close by Lake Masek to see some flamingos and as we went to drive again we were stuck! Lots of digging, gathering rocks, logs, etc. Jacking up the back of the vehicle etc., we tried to tie a rope to our other vehicle but it was not strong enough. Fortunately after close to an hour of working the problem another vehicle came by who had a winch and in about 10 minutes he was able to pull us out. We had heard lions were mating on the other side of the lake and it was getting close to dark, our first vehicle made it around the lake just in time to see 60 seconds of lion mating while the rest of us missed it. Unfortunately, no time to wait for another mating bout due to the park rules. We did catch a nice silhouette of a hyena dragging a drowned wildebeest out of the lake but we could only stop for one minute for a quick photo and had to leave that sighting behind too. Of course sitting around the fire the only other couple in camp told us all about the mating lions and a very relaxed leopard on the ground that was not far beyond.

Next day we would do an all day trip with box lunches to Seronera. I would have preferred more time in Ndutu than devoting an entire day to Seronera but with a group of first timers seeing leopard was of course in high demand and Seronera is where they are commonly sighted. On the way we did stop at Simba Kopjes and sure enough found two very relaxed lionesses. This was nice as again we were the only vehicles and we watched them laze around for a bit, then some warthogs showed up and they did try to stalk them. They were discovered quickly by the warthogs, but it was excellent to see the stalking behavior. Seronera is known for it’s year round resident game and there is a nice variety with hippos, giraffe, buffalo, elephant, kudu, etc. Some good general sightings but there was also lots of traffic, always other vehicles in view at any decent sighting. We searched and searched for leopard but unusually no one had seen one all day. I did spot the hung carcass of a baby buffalo in a tree right by the road so it appeared a leopard had been here overnight. Then the call came in, someone claimed there was a leopard in the grass. We were close by and pulled in to look. This was comical as about 35 vehicles triple parked up and down the road. There was high grass and an unknowing warthog was wandering in, but where was the leopard. Nobody knew, in fact nobody could actually say that they had seen one. After about 30 minutes of anticipation it was time to leave and take the long drive back to Ndutu as a throng of people waited for the mythical leopard that may well not have existed at all. In my opinion I would not make the drive to Seronera again unless desperate to look for leopard – Ndutu has a section of habitat that is very similar with far less people, saves the all day drive, and you can go off road. Of course, that is no surprise coming from me as I dislike areas where you are confined to the road and subject to subsequent crowding while you view from afar. I prefer it to being home of course but also consider it to typically be a sub-par viewing experience compared to other options and this is a huge reason why I planned Serengeti for the best time in Ndutu where you can go off road.

After a losing a lot of time with our stuck vehicle followed by an all day of average viewing it was time to get back to some exceptional viewing. We made an earlier start than usual, out at first sunlight. As we drove along out in the distance in lush green grass we found a lioness with 3 roly-poly little cubs (about 6 to 7 weeks old) playing around her. The lighting was perfect and this was as pure a sighting as one can have. We watched for a while from across a little water channel as they cavorted with one another. As another vehicle showed up we headed off into a woodland where we found two more lionesses stalking wildebeest. There were flies everywhere in these woods and one poor lioness looked miserable, our only day of bothersome insects. They gave up on the hunt and we moved on through, spending a little time with some banded mongooses.

Coming out of the woods we found a lone male cheetah strutting his stuff, it appeared he had not eaten and that he was walking out to the plains with a purpose so we followed at slowly at a distance. He sat on a little mound giving the classic cheetah view, we looked to and spotted herds in the distance so drove ahead and found a good out of the way position to observe from and stopped. Of course others eventually spied us and joined the watch including two Kibo vehicles, who must have radioed a third, because he came barreling in late from the other side of all the other vehicles who were positioned to observe and leave space to the herd the cheetah was approaching. This guide (and I use that term loosely here) zooms all the way in and nails the brakes about 30 feet from the cheetah covering him in a cloud of dust as they come to a stop. Consequently so does the cheetah, who sits down. Soon as the cheetah sits the other two Kibo vehicles fire up and zoom in from the other side for their close up photos. I was livid! We repositioned further a field and fortunately, about 10 minutes later he started to hunt again and all of a sudden there was the burst, from a bit of a distance all I could see was two rapidly moving clouds of dust with one gaining on the other until the dust merged and a cheetah came skidding out with a young wildebeest that he quickly clamped around the throat and began a dance of death, waltzing with his prey as we all approached closely. After a minute he took his quarry to the ground and continued to vice on the throat. Occasionally he would stand up a bit to reposition and a little kick of the wildebeest would be a sorrowful reminder that it was not quite dead yet. After a few minutes the life of one of the many had ended and the life of one of the few would continue. Cheetah incredible sprinting takes it’s toll with enormous spike in temperature up to 105 degrees so after a full on chase he needs to recuperate before eating. It took him 15 minutes of mostly laying and panting, sometimes on top of the prey (perhaps to conceal it from sight), before he began to feed. He then ate for 30 straight minutes to the point of being satiated. Amazingly many of the vehicles left soon after the kill was made not waiting to watch him feed or see what kind of interactions would follow as if they were going to find something better at 10 a.m.? It was nice as there was a maximum of about 5 vehicles at the feeding and for much of it just 3. Truly another National Geographic moment and the kind of sighting I dreamed about seeing in the Serengeti.

While watching our boy eat we saw a gathering of vehicles a quarter of a mile off, so we decided to check it out. We pulled in to find yet more cheetah eating going on. This time a mother with 4 very large cubs, about 85% as big as her and probably 10 to 12 months old. Hard to believe the 95% mortality rate with these 4 quickly approaching adulthood but for sure this was the time of plenty. We got to see more eating and then a nice round of ‘cheetah bucket showers’ with Mom administering the bath to her large cub and a party of 3 cubs doing a mutual bathing of one another. What a morning this turned out to be! An amazing kill sequence, another family of cheetah eating, the lioness and her cubs and lionesses on the hunt in the woods – definitely one of the top game drives I have ever had.

We returned to eat and then I went out immediately to scout for leopards with a couple others while the rest of the group had their siesta and would meet us later. We found the lioness in the tree again but all to ourselves this time. We found a breeding herd of elephant, big herd of eland and zebra, and lots of outstanding birds before our second vehicle met us. We then found a large nursery herd of wildebeest and before the drive was done a handsome young leopard perched high in the classic sprawled position of a horizontal branch. Yes, there would be big dancing around the fire tonight jamming with the Squirrel Band. Everyone very happy we had an excellent last night meal and in the morning we would head for Ngorongoro Crater.