Serengeti is everything its reputation promises. I am officially in love. The landscapes are beautiful and stretch for miles and miles, and we saw a lion chasing a cheetah on our first drive into the park. Our campsite was right in the middle of the park, and we were briefed very carefully about the abundance of wild animals in the area before we set up camp. Sure enough, a herd of gazelle ran by as we put up our tent.
The nights were interesting: I woke up one night to go to the bathroom with my tent-mate, and in our sleepy state we forgot to signal to the guard BEFORE we stepped out of our tent, only to see a hyena run away to hide behind a truck. Whoah. Luckily, they are very skittish. We jumped back into our tent and crouched there in shock for a minute until the guard came over to escort us. He excitedly grabbed our arms and dragged us to the edge of the camp, where he shone his high power flashlight into the shadows and we saw many pairs of eyes glancing back as they ran away. We chased them for about 20 feet with Burra the askari until they were out of sight and far from the camp. Never expected that I would ever run TOWARD a pack of hyenas at night. The next night he put out bait a little outside of the camp and we waited in the land rovers to watch what happened. Sure enough, two hyenas showed up and came right up to the side of the car to eat the trash we’d left out. I have always thought that hyenas competed with baboons for the “scariest animal in East Africa” prize, but I didn’t realize how terrifying it would be to actually be so physically close to one. Even though we were safe within the vehicle and I had already chased them from afar the night before, the sight of the huge, looming shape of the hyena in the dim light gave me chills. I am so glad to be born a human and not an herbivorous African animal of prey at times like these. Speaking of herbivorous animals, the next night I make another bathroom trip with my tent-mate and askari Burra, and this time the two of them saw a pair of eyes while I was in the bathroom. When I came out, I walked over to join them and head back, and suddenly askari Burra pushed us in front of him and said, “Mbaya! Mbaya sana! Kimbia kimbia!” meaning “bad! Very bad! Run!” …he also said “Nyati,” which I thought meant baboon, so I was super freaked out that we were being chased by a rabid baboon, but it turned out that "Nyati" means buffalo… actually scarier in terms of real danger, but somehow less scary to me. Apparently the buffalo had started walking toward them, and sometimes they can be aggressive, but it stayed where it was when we left.
I guess those scary parts were just a part of the experience. The rest of the time was spent on game drives through the park, and on traveling assignments. One day we spent hours watching and documenting elephant herd behavior and observing a single animal for the whole time. Another day we spent hours finding and identifying birds, which was actually incredible! At first I thought it might be less exciting than seeing all the big mammals we’d been running into, but the birds are so easy to miss that when you start really looking for them, you are shocked by how cool they are. So many colorful, strange looking birds! I loved it. On the academic side of things, we also spent a day talking with a phd candidate doing research for the Serengeti Lion Project, who was extremely friendly and told us all about her research and the procedures they are using. I just found out today that she is mentioned in an article in the Jan. 2010 Smithsonian. Check it out! Her name is Ally, and a guest lecturer who visited us today, Bernard, is heading up the project and is also in the article. His lecture was really interesting, and focused on trophy hunting and its effects on the lion population in Serengeti. I feel so lucky to be able to learn from such knowledgeable people.
Some cool things we saw in Serengeti:
-lion cubs playing
-a lion chasing a warthog
-a lion chasing a cheetah
-elephants fighting
-lions mating
-hyenas mating
-leopard cubs <3
-leopard sleeping in a tree
-baby crocodile
-river full of hippos
So, to sum it all up… heaven! Such a cool place and such an adventure.
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