Big Cats!

Most descriptions of the Northern Serengeti label the area as excellent for big cats, fortunately my experience definitely supports that claim and over four days we had outstanding observation time with lions, leopards, and cheetahs.

Lions on top of scenic rock kopjes was a frequent find.
Photo © Bill Given

Lions were actually a common sighting in this area and we saw them on every single game drive. Typically they were lounging on top of rock kopjes which made them fairly easy to locate and made for some nice photos. The first afternoon we could see two lionesses on top of rocks and there was high grass all around the base. I could sense that there were more lions around but despite driving all around the kopje and through the high grass we could not see any others. We continued on our drive and on the way back we rounded the kopje and ran smack into 13 lions, including a number of cubs on the ground where we had just been an hour prior. Two other times we did encounter lionesses on the ground who walked right past the vehicle in close proximity after going for a drink of water. With all of the wildebeest in the area it seemed the lions had the luxury to relax all day on top of the rocks and could come out at night to hunt.

A three month old leopard cub was the Serengeti highlight.
Photo © Bill Given

Our leopard time was one tremendous, prolonged sighting. We arrived to see a tiny cub dash over a big rock and disappear. Knowing this could be special we patiently sat tight and less than 5 minutes later a lovely female leopard gracefully bounded out from behind the rocks and slinked up an adjacent boulder where she calmly laid down. After enjoying her for a while we decided to drive around for a different angle and once we rounded the rock she was on, out strolled the breathtaking little three month male cub. He was extremely relaxed and went through various poses on a low lying rock before approaching to less than ten feet from the vehicle. All the while his mother perched nonchalantly on the rock high above. This was truly a special sighting that just melted your heart.

The Serengeti is renowned as one of the best locations to find cheetah.
Photo © Bill Given

The one big cat that had alluded us was the cheetah. I was co-guiding with a local guide based at Lemala, Hosea, and just a day before we arrived he had seen three cheetah with a kill and we had been searching their haunts and hoping to find them throughout our stay. On our last full day we packed a lunch and took the day out traveling to the remarkable Lamai Wedge, a huge open plain that lies between the Mara River and the border with Kenya. It was teeming with grazers, including lots of Thomson gazelles that are the cheetahs preferred prey item but still no luck finding any cheetah. The Lamai Wedge was everyone’s favorite part of the Northern Serengeti though with a terrific sense of open space and lots of animals to see it is representative of the Serengeti that most dream of. As is so often the case we ended up finding the three cheetah just 15 minutes away from camp. It was a mother and two male yearling cubs. They were chilling as cool cats do and we sat with them as the sun set, a perfect ending to our last full day in the Serengeti.