We said our goodbyes to the staff at Rhotia Valley Lodge in the morning and headed to the Manyara Airstrip for a fight to Kogatende in the Northern sector of the Serengeti.  Our pilot was a cute blonde named Sara (and my co-pilot – best picture of the day was of me seated next to her in the cockpit).  The plane sat 13 people. It was a tight squeeze and we were pretty cozy and familiar with each other by the end.  The flight total was about 1.5 hrs, which included a stop in Western Serengeti to unload passengers and reload more headed to the north.  Each time Sarah (and I) managed a smooth as silk landing.

We were met at the airport by our guide Albert, a truly affable and knowledgeable guide.  He greeted us with a rabbit-toothed grin and a table set with tea, coffee, cookies and drinks in a cooler.  We chatted about the usual safari guest lingo: what do you want to see; where in Africa have you been; blah blah blah.  When Veta went to the bathroom, another guide from our lodge, George, walked up and asked if I was African.  I chuckled and said, “Originally, I suppose.” We laughed so I decided to add another joke.  I told him that I had sent my scouts out about a week or so ago to check out Tanzania and let me know the best spots to go, “Perhaps you know them: Barack and Michelle Obama.” Then George and Albert both got a good chuckle out of that. 

When Veta came back, Albert asked if we wanted to go back to the lodge or go on a game drive before checking in.  We opted for the drive.  Our first time out, we saw lots of hippos, crocodiles, and elephants, and then he asked if we wanted to try to see a leopard. Without question, we were on our way.  When we happened upon the spot Albert thought she would be…there she was.  She was perched high up in a tree with her legs dangling below.  She had been stuck in the tree for a while.  Albert saw her before he came to pick us up and figured she would still be there because she was trapped by two lionesses.  One lioness was directly below seated on some rocks watching the leopard just patiently waiting for her to come down so she and her sidekick could pounce and kill the poor leopard.  The other lioness was directly across from the tree on another rock formation.  The poor leopard was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.  We watched for a while and then headed back to the lodge to check in and have lunch.

We are staying at Sayari Lodge, which is located along the Mara River, a perfect and most coveted spot for Great Migration watching.  The lodge is just exquisite.  It is luxurious, but still blends in with the natural setting of the Bush.   All wood platforms with tents with sliding glass doors.  The bathroom is huge with a deep bathtub in the center.  One sliding door opens to a wooden shower room with a huge daisy showerhead in the middle and the other sliding door opens to the toilet, complete with travel magazines on a teak wood table.  I can plan my next safari while eliminating all the delicious food from my ever-growing bottom.

The managers are a lovely Dutch couple named Ross and Katherine.  Katherine gave us a tour of the main lodge and explained that we need a camp guard to walk us around the camp at night because often leopards, hippos, and elephants enter the property at night.  In fact two hippos had taken up residence in the pool one evening to the fright of the staff in the morning.  The pool had to be emptied, which forced the hippos to vacate their newly found squatter’s heaven in search of the river to cool their big bodies.

Lunch was deeeelicious: pasta with a putenesca-style sauce, tomato and corn salad, and cucumber and watermelon granita for a cool, refreshing end. I ate everything.  We sat a bit and talked with Nathoo, the head camp driver/walking guide.  He has worked as a guide since 1994.  He trained at Mweka Wildlife College and he has vast knowledge of the bush and animal behavior.  He explained how the Tanzanian government set up the Serengeti as a national park in 1964.  The original tribe that lived in the Serengeti was the Wakurya tribe.  They were a group of hunters and gatherers.  They hunted with bows and arrows, some arrows they used were dipped in poison.  They liked to eat bush meat. The government forced them out and only allowed them to live on the edge of the park.  There was a big problem because they were barred from hunting, so they would sneak in at night and poach for food.  Later when the lodges started setting up camp, they started hiring members of the Wakurya tribe to work as guards at the camps, which gave them and their villages money.  They soon stopped poaching because they saw the value in the park and tourism.  Now most of the camps in the area support building schools for the local communities.  In fact, Sayari Lodge is starting a clean water project for the villages so that they do not have to go to the river for water.  We still have some pencils and pens left to give to the school and will make a donation to the clean water project. 

After lunch, we met Albert for our final game drive of the day.  We headed to Lamai Ridge to see the huge herd of wildebeest, but Albert thought that two lions that were spotted in the morning would be somewhere around them.  So we drove into the middle of the wildebeest and zebras for a while and then Albert started searching for the lions.  We drove around through tall dry yellowish grasses searching for them.  We were about to give up and then Alex spotted them from a distance.  It looked like a bit of black topping the grass, but when I looked through my binoculars I could see it was a male lion and the black was his mane.  Albert drove towards him.  The win blew a slight part in the tall grasses revealing the male lion mounting a female – ahhh mating season. We could hear them panting and grunting.  At one point, the male lion bit the female to keep her pinned beneath him.  When they finished, he gave us a look that said our car was close enough.  We had already been warned by the head driver, Nathoo, that mating lions are very aggressive and want to protect their females.  So we decided to leave them alone.  We drove close to the border between Tanzania and Kenya to have our sundowners: gin & tonics with a snack of mixed nuts.  We hopped out of the jeep and sipped our cocktails while the sun set.  Just about 50 feet away was a large herd of wildebeest grazing and enjoying the day.

On the way back to the lodge we saw more elephants, some topis, a dykdyk, wild hares, baboons, and vervet monkeys.  What an amazing first day.

Dinner was great: avocado and tomato salad, chicken curry, and chocolate mousse for dessert. We met a fun family from Switzerland. The husband and wife are both attorneys in Lucerne.  Since Veta was just there on business they chatted about work and Veta’s organization (bar association for in-house counsel).  They are traveling with their two sons who are very talkative as well.  This lodge is reminiscent of South Africa, where everyone sits at a communal table and shares stories about the day and their travels.  It’s so fun to meet a bunch of wayward travelers in search of fun and adventure. 

We are set for a 6am game drive.  It will still be dark when we leave so we will see the bush as it wakes up.  Gotta get some rest…until tomorrow….