Namiri Plains and Sayari Camps

We took a small commuter plane to an airport in the Eastern Serengeti. 

One of the airport terminals on the Serengeti

There we were met by our guide Houth who explained that the first order of business was a two hour drive to the camp! This was a drive over dry and dusty roads and we shared the road with many other vehicles.

A long and dusty road 

The road was busy as this is in the very popular central Serengeti
Luckily we were on our way to the Eastern, less populated area.

 Along the way we saw some amazing things. As we approached a stony hill there were many cars stopped and it turned out they were there because a leopard was laying on the rocks! The leopard is notoriously hard to see so this was remarkable indeed!

The Leopard is very difficult to catch in a picture as they are very shy and do not like the noise of vehicles.

We arrived at a beautiful permanent camp with luxurious accommodations. 

This was our villa!

This camp also offered two game drives a day, one early in the morning and one in the evening.  This left the very hot afternoon for a nap as the heat wore us out and we really needed the rest!

Our game drives were all in an open Land Rover like this one

Where many other camps are located in the central part of the Serengeti this camp is located in the Eastern Serengeti and is quite isolated.  The result is that we were often completely alone as we viewed the marvels that nature had to offer.  Also this area is known as the land of the cat and so we saw many, many lions, a few cheetahs but no other leopards, which made the viewing on the way in so special.

A male cheetah in the late afternoon on a termite hill where he would stay until morning

After four days we left Namiri Plains for another camp in the Northern Serengeti.  This camp, Sayari is permanent, but still tent based. The Northern Serengeti is where the Wildebeest arrive in July as they continuously migrate from the North to the South in search of grasses that come after the rains.

Our balcony in the back of our tent

The view from our bed

Our guide, Adam explained that the river is famous for the nearby Mara River where the Wildebeest cross in their migration from North to South. 

This is a crossing site for the Wildebeest.  In the rainy season the river is a roaring torrent and is full of crocodiles!  Very dangerous for the Wildebeest.

Tourists flock to this area at that time, but as the Wildebeest were currently in the South,where we had been just a few days previously, camp Sayari was very quiet and had but few visitors.  Again, this allowed us to view the wildlife virtually alone.  At this camp there were many animals, however at this time of the year the grass is quite high and this made it extremely difficult to see even the larger animals.  That said, we did see many hippos and crocodiles in the very dry river. 

The Crocodiles are huge!

This river will of course become a roaring torrent in the coming rainy season.  

One night we were very lucky to find a leopard sitting on the river rocks awaiting prey to arrive to drink from the small amount of water that was there.

We had a marvelous time at both of these camps.  The mornings were cool and we bundled up with hot water bottles and blankets until the sun came up and around 1030 in the morning the heat started to climb.  By 1200 The temperature was well into the 30's and we were desperate for some cooling, which we got by showering and laying under fans in our room.  By 4 o'clock we were back in our vehicle looking for more animals and we were sweating again until around 6:00 when the temperature became bearable.

The Land Rover is open and sometimes dusty!

By the middle of the night we were wrapped up in comforters to ward off the chilly temperatures.  What a surprising difference in the run of a day.

We enjoyed wonderful sunsets and beautiful skies in both of these camps and after eight days had seen so much and learned so much it is hard to capture it all.  We particularly saw many lions and cheetahs and the next two posts will have the pictures of these.  In addition we saw:

Elephants!

Zebras

Termite Hills are huge...over 6 feet tall some times!  They are used by other animals as high points to look out for predators.  Once abandoned they become dens for other animals, like Mongoose, Fox and Wart Hogs.

The scenery is breathtaking!

The Serengeti got its name from the Maasai people in whose langauge this means Endless Plain.  It certainly deserves this name!

Because it is the dry season the hippos are finding it hard to find enough water into which to submerge. 

The hippos were in the water and out on the shore!

We saw many majestic giraffes

This is a baby giraffe

Antlopes of various sizes are everywhere

A Topi

Thompson Gazelles (a favorite of the cheetah)

Hyenna, these ones fighting over a wildebeest carcass

Ww discovered that there is a pecking order when it comes to feeding...

A predator (say a lion) takes down her prey (say a wildebeest).  The males eat their fill, then the females, then the cubs.  They eat the offal, except the stomach.  Then the Hyennas eat their fill.  The Jackalls then steal away with small pieces, then the vultures and other carrion birds.  This whole process takes about 2 hours and there is literally nothing left but a stain on the grass!

The list of things we have seen and learned is never ending it seems.