Safari

Hidden Animals in Serengeti National Park - photo by JoAnn Sturman

“Over there on the left about 1000 meters away by that tree! There are two lions lying in the grass,” our guide informed us while simultaneously driving the Land Rover over the bumpy, dusty road. We came to a stop, looked in that direction with binoculars, and sure enough we saw the lions - barely. What was remarkable about the sighting was during the dry season in the Serengeti, the grass and the lions are the same color.

In Tanzania there are three game parks within easy driving distance from Arusha and of each other: Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti Plains. Yet the parks are so completely different that they may as well be in different countries.

In East Africa the availability of water determines whether large animals who are dependent on grass as their main food source migrate or remain in one locality. Lake Manyara on the Great Rift Valley and Ngorongoro Crater which rests in an extinct volcano have water available throughout the year. However, the Serengeti lends itself to migratory behavior since water resources are determined by the rainy-dry season pattern of the tropics. Animals who do not follow the rains on the Serengeti find themselves clustered around dwindling water holes and competing for scarce resources until the monsoon rains arrive.

October is the driest month on the Tanzanian plains; the last rains occur in May and will not reappear until November. This time of year the Serengeti is a very dusty place, and herbivores and their predators who have not migrated north to Kenya are easier to spot, since they tend to stay close to standing water rather than disperse throughout the grassland.

We began the safari 80 miles west of Arusha at the Serena Lodge overlooking the Great Rift Valley and Lake Manyara Park, which is renown for its bird population. The lodge is perched perhaps 500 feet above the valley floor, so the views of the lake in the distance are spectacular. The Serena Lodges in Tanzania were built by the Aga Khan, a wealthy Iranian expatriate who lives in Paris and heads a minority faction of Shia Islam. Great food, drink, service, and accommodations await the traveller after a day of game watching on the Rift Valley below.

Located 30 miles west of Lake Manyara but at the considerably higher altitude of 7200 feet above sea level, Ngorongoro Crater Park is a World Heritage Site and situated in a 100 square mile extinct volcano crater. Another Serena lodge is built into the crater wall on the volcano rim, but the park is 2000 feet below, pristine, and accessible only by jeep trails from the top. The crater floor has a year round water supply, and the terrain which varies from thick woods to dry grassland is inhabited by a great variety of animals who favor these distinct niches.

We followed a dirt and sand road 100 miles further west from Ngogongoro to reach Serengeti National Park. At the end of the day our white shirts looked like Dirt Shirts which never regained their original appearance despite several quarts of bleach. Huge trucks loaded to over capacity and traveling west to Lake Victoria shared the road and were frequently parked long the side with mechanical troubles. The plains stretched on and on with an occasional hill on the horizon, and towards the end of the day we began to wonder whether there was a place to stay in this sea of brown grass. Then as dusk approached, we saw a nondescript sign by the side of the road which read, “Serena Serengeti 8 km.” The driver turned off the unpaved road onto an even smaller one and headed for some low lying hills in the distance. Twenty minutes later we found the lodge tucked amongst them and overlooking the Serengeti.

The main lodge building was spacious and airy with a bar and dining area that took advantage of the African sunset view. Surrounding it were individual cabins built to look like traditional Masai dwellings, but despite the rustic exterior, the insides were plush with modern amenities. Signs were posted conspicuously on the grounds warning visitors not to wonder about at night without an attendant, since cape buffaloes found the swimming pool to be a ready source of water during the dry season.

Tanzania used to be part of Tanganyika, a German colony until after the First World War. By most accounts the Germans were brutal colonizers who came late to the “Great Game,” but a few words of praise must be said for them. They brought the art of beer making with them. The Germans are gone, but they left two marvelous beers behind - Kilimanjaro and Safari. So as my wife drank her Kilimanjaro and I my Safari, we looked out over the Serengeti as the sun began to set and agreed how much we liked this country and its people.