Nirvana in the Savanna - Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

[Jayanth Sharma]

Coming up this weekend on Wildlife Times is a report from the heaven on earth, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. East Africa.

Tune in to this space for my experience with the Lions, Cheetahs, Hippos, Wildebeest, Zebras, Vultures, the mesmerizing drama of the savanna during the end of the wildebeest and zebra migration from Serengeti, Tanzania to Masai Mara, Kenya.

This report will be online by the end day - 07 July 2008. Thank you!
_________________
Cheers,
Jayanth Sharma
jay@wildlifetimes.com

[Kaushik]

Was just about to write to u asking why no images for quite sometime...
So, u r back with a big treat for us.
Will wait for ur report

rgds,
Kaushik B

[prasis]

Just waiting for it..!!

[Jayanth Sharma]

Nearly three years ago, I started talking to travel companies who could assist me on a trip to Tanzania. It was quite disappointing that most of them first mentioned the costs of the trip without understanding what my requirement was. Fortunately in October-November last year I managed a wonderful trip to Kenya and especially the Masai Mara National park where the Wildebeest and Zebras were seen migrating back to the Serengeti. Every year, millions of wildebeest and zebra shuttle between Serengeti in Tanzania and Masai Mara in Kenya, in search of greener pastures. I had seen the last few migrants from Kenya to Tanzania last year and now was the time to witness their return journey back to Kenya.

Things fell in place and I was fortunate enough to be a part of this trip along with my good friend Sharath Rangaswamy. Since there seemed to be no option to reach Tanzania other than flying trough Kenya, I was in the same flight that took me to Kenya last year. Sharath and I had the company of his close friends and now mine, Sunaad Raghuram, Sampath and Prasanna. Sunaad is an avid wildlife enthusiast and writer while Sampath and Prasanna were gradually getting attracted to the wilderness. Both Sharath and I were keen on the photographic opportunities we could explore on this trip.

We were escorted to a wonderful small airplane (Charter flight) which could probably accommodate 10 passengers on board. Our captain assured us that we would have a comfortable journey in spite of the absence of charming air-hostesses. We took off from the Nairobi International Airport in order to reach the city of Kilimanjaro where we were inducted in to Tanzania officially post immigration formalities. The sight of the mesmerizing Mt. Kilimanjaro was the best part of this journey and we were lucky to have a clear view of the summit which is usually covered by clouds.

We had to continue our journey from Kilimanjaro to reach a tiny airstrip in the middle of the grasslands in the western part of the Serengeti Eco-system, called the Grumeti Game Reserve. I was very keen to sight the grazers of the savanna from the top and I struck gold with a photograph where I managed the shadow of my flight on the grassland where a few zebras, wildebeest and topi were found grazing. This angle of view was only possible because it was almost noon and the flight tilted for a couple of seconds. If the flight had not tilted I would have still got the mammals below but I would miss the shadow as it would have been a very acute angle otherwise. By the time I reviewed the picture on the LCD, the plane shook and we were on the run-way which was in its most primitive stages. It was not the typical tarred run-way but a muddy path almost like the safari track.

We met Alloyce Moshi, our guide for the rest of the trip who explained a few things to us as he welcomed us on his gigantic land cruiser. I chose the seat next to him in order to get a perspective as closer to the ground as possible and we set out to do our safari right away while we had to travel for 40 minutes to reach our accommodation - the “Faru Faru Lodge”. In the mid day’s heat we managed to sight the most common beings of the savanna, the beautiful zebras and the athletic wildebeests. Plenty of Thomson gazelles and a few unknown raptors along with the white-backed vultures were some of the species we could sight often.


Faru Faru – The exponent of luxury
Steve, a handsome Englishman, now a resident of East-Africa and the manager of Faru Faru lodge was awaiting our visit and he took us through the wonderful campus showing us the lounge, the dining places, the swimming pool area and our mesmerizing rooms. Faru Faru was the perfect place to stay with a great combination of luxury just next to the water holes and bushes of Serengeti. Just next to Faru Faru, the Grumeti river flows and the bushes were greener and denser around this area than the usual plains of the Serengeti. I was thrilled to experience the WIFI internet even in such a remote location on the planet where civilization seemed miles away. The sheer luxury of the lodge made me wonder if I was on a wildlife trip or was I enjoying my spare time in a posh tourist destination! A healthy and green lunch paved way for a quick nap before our evening safari.

Ticks and flies were a considerable pain as they kept on pricking and sucking the Indian blood while we set out on our first evening safari. Within half an hour, we headed towards the Sasakwa Dam area where a pride of lions had seized the dam. We met the celebrated Sasakwa Pride for the first time on this trip. It seemed cloudy for a while and the white-backed vultures and the hippos in the lake attracted our attention for quite some time.

Within a couple of minutes the cloud cover vanished and the golden evening light touched the manes of the large cats. We quickly counted the cats and started observing the youngest members of the pride. The two cubs were adorable and shy. I shot most of the pictures that evening of these two kittens before I saw the majestic king of the forest get up performing the Flehmen test. We were lucky to realize that his test was positive and he found the receptive female lying around. The huge male made romantic moves and slowly approached her. The queen of the jungle co-operated without any resistance and we watched their first mating game in awe. Soon they ended their love making with a powerful roar at each other and both of them fell across for the rest of the evening and probably to play more during the course of night.

The next morning, we spotted a caravan of the noisy wildebeest crossing the safari tracks and they seemed to be heading towards the north eastern edge of Serengeti in order to move towards Kenya. We decided to wait for them to cross over and not disturb their path. Though it seemed like we took a sensible and kind decision in the interest of the tired travellers, we didn’t imagine that we would spend nearly twenty minutes in the same spot only to realize that was a never ending caravan. Wildebeest of all ages and sizes panned across the horizon making loud calls. We got an opportunity to cut through the wildebeest chain and cross over to the other side with a sigh of relief. The migrants make most of their journey during early mornings and evenings as it is quite pleasant during these hours. In the heat of the mid day, the animals rest under the acacia trees that are natural umbrellas to the tired animals.


The Pride of Lions
In my previous trip to Kenya, I had hardly seen lions on the move and most of the times they were lazing around. Sighting a huge male and a female on their morning walk near the lake made me believe that the morning would be above average with respect to photographs. For nearly an hour, the couple provided us a wonderful opportunity to capture their portraits in a remarkable light. A zebra herd wanted to sip in the lake but were forced to wait for the lions to move on while the brother of the dominant male who also seemed keen on a mating opportunity was kept at bay. A pair of opportunistic Jackals approached the lions assuming they were feasting on their kill. Realizing the absence of food and the presence of love in the air the jackals didn’t stay near the big cats for long. While this was happening we heard about an adult cheetah (Female) eyeing the distant Thomson gazelles. We quickly started racing towards the plains around the western edge of the game reserve. One of our scouts waited patiently at a distance from the conspiring cheetah so that we wouldn’t miss her in the camouflaged setup.


The Cheetah and her futile chase
One important thing I have observed over years is that the same species of animals can behave quite differently in different topographies and it is important to understand how a particular species reacts to humans/vehicles in different parks. For instance, the Tigers in Ranthambhore or Bandhavgarh almost ignore the presence of safari vehicles but the same species can be very intolerant to human presence in parks like Sunderbans or even Nagarahole for that matter. So here we were presented with an opportunity to get closer to a cheetah which had food on her mind. So we spent nearly ten minutes at a distance trying to introduce ourselves to her environment and we gradually started moving closer to her. Another example of this behavioural difference could be the Elands in this area that were probably the most secretive and intolerant towards human presence. They would walk away way even from quite a distance. However in other parks of Kenya last year, they seemed quite comfortable with guests.

Fortunately, the Cheetah seemed quite tolerant to human presence and she let us as close as 30 feet. It was clear that she was hungry as we could relate to her conspiracy and plan to try her luck with the distant Thomson gazelles. She moved from bush to bush and tree to tree trying to advance closer to the gazelles while keeping her presence a secret. Alloyce informed us that it would be sensible to stay away from her for a while so that she would not be disturbed during the hunt and we obliged and watched the spotted beauty shortlist her target. Out of nowhere she sprang up the tall grass and started sprinting on her top gear. Not surprisingly she had lost her meal as the gazelles vanished in no time. Alloyce told me that he loved cheetahs and especially their chases. I couldn’t agree more and I only wished she got something to eat that day.

Ostriches, Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures, Hooded Vultures, Helmeted Guineafowl along with the beautiful Southern ground hornbills were closely observed and photographed that morning. Just before returning back to our camp we were presented with a giraffe herd in plains.

An evening with Hippopotamus
One afternoon we decided to dedicate time for the hippos and wait for them to get out of their comfortable waterhole. We parked our vehicle next to the waterhole and kept a close watch on the hippos that would surface once in a few minutes and take stock of the guests and get back under water. Meanwhile, we totally ignored the mating pair that was 15 feet away from us. Since hippos were our targets that evening, we cared very less for the lions. On numerous occasions, the hippos displayed intolerance to their guests and they started emerging out of the surface making faces and showing signs of discomfort.

On many occasions the hippos started yawning by opening their gigantic mouths and very soon I got a doubt in my mind. Alloyce clarified my doubt that the frequent open and close of their mouths was not to be thought as yawning but were a serious warning to us. He explained that Hippos do the “Threat Display” by showing off their biting equipment in order to scare the enemies. I had watched on the NGC or Discovery sometime back that Hippos were a major threat to humans in the African jungles and how plenty of people had been crushed in their mouths. Nature’s creations are so weird, I thought. Hippos are pure vegetarians [Asian Vegetarians ] and for an animal that has to chew grass and digest food, it had a big mouth and very sharp and scary defence mechanism.

I had clicked plenty of photographs of the hippo get out of the water and do the threat display, but most of them were profile views or angular views and horizontal compositions. I was just telling Sharath and Alloyce that it would be great to get a head-on perspective of the hippo’s threat display similar to the angle of a mugger crocodile photograph I had recently clicked. As though I was a movie director and the hippo my actor, it obliged and opened its mouth while am still talking. Alloyce pushed me and asked me to look towards that direction and I got less than 3 seconds to frame, focus and click. After I clicked 3 photographs, the giant closed its mouth and went underneath the surface of the water. It didn’t take me more than a second to realize that it was going to be an above average photograph for sure. Smiles could no longer fit my face and the sun set alarmed us about our location and distance from the camp. We ended that evening in the highest glory. Just before we saw the Sun being devoured by the horizon, a pack of hyenas emerged out of a bush and headed towards the other end of the park. It was a very fruitful day and a great hippo encounter.


Grumeti River Banks
On one morning we decided to sacrifice the savanna and head towards the green bushes around the Grumeti river area. An old concrete bridge built by the Germans during the world war was crossed and we headed towards the other bank of the game reserve. Vervet monkeys were the first to be sighted around here and we spotted a pair of Batleur Eagles around the area. Very soon we saw a huge ball of dust as we went in deeper and we came across a buffalo herd of at least hundred individuals. We had a great experience watching them run across the bushes creating a huge cloud of dust and noise. I was amazed by one brave buffalo that never retreated and stood its ground while his companions ran helter-shelter.

Within a few minutes of exploring this area, we came across a small herd of 9 elephants and we spent the rest of the morning around them. Within minutes more and more elephants climbed up the river bank and soon we were amidst at least 40 individuals around us. Some calves reminded me of my recent experience in Corbett National park when I saw them climb over each other and play fight. I haven’t had a lot of elephant luck in Africa and this was the first time I got an opportunity to spend more time with the gentle giants.


The Sasakwa Hills and the Lodge
Amongst the three lodges Grumeti Game Reseve has, the Sasakwa hill is a famous landmark and the Lodge on top of the hill is the most expensive lodges of the area. The expensive lodge reminds you of what can be considered the exponent of luxurious life style. Other than a wonderful view of the plains, Sasakawa lodge has an amazing spa, table and lawn tennis facility, Snooker, a swimming pool and a stable with at least sixteen horses to enable horseback safaris. Every day we would have our breakfast in Sasakwa and spend an hour or two lazing around the hill and it’s never ending views of the Serengeti. It seems Serengeti means the ‘plains that never end’ and it is rightly named so.


The ruppels-griffon, the white-backed and the white-headed vultures flew close by and getting an eye-level perspective of these giant birds in flight was a great treat. Down the plains one could have an aerial view of the hundreds and thousands of wildebeest and zebras that crossed over this area. During the heat of the mid-day the beasts would stop by the water holes for a relaxing drink and move on. Between 12 and three in the mid day the heat seemed unbearable and the beasts rested below their natural umbrella - the acacia tree.


Jackals, Topi, Elands, Thomson Gazelle, Grants Gazelle, Secretary Birds, Hyenas, more wildebeests and zebras kept on treating us while we would every day end the safari in the open plains in order to appreciate the beautiful sunsets of Africa. Every night in our rooms we would hear the lions roar and the hyenas call aloud which added to the splendour of our trip but also made sure we had to religiously get out of the rooms only when the “Askari” or the guard would escort us. We heard numerous stories of leopards hunting very close by and how lions were seen just walk across the lodge. Every morning we would get out of the room and tell Alloyce that we heard lions roar very close by while he would laugh and tell us that it was not closer than at least half a kilometre away. Such was the roar of the lions that it was heard so clearly at a distance.

It was evident that there was another pride of lions very near to the Faru Faru lodge and on the last evening we chanced up on this pride. We counted two lionesses and a majestic lion and informed the other safari vehicles of the game reserve about their location. Sharath was keen on spending time with the Lions while I insisted on a quick drive to the plains as I desperately wanted a silhouette of the vehicle and probably wildebeest in the sunset. The last evening ended with some mesmerizing sunset photographs and silhouettes of the beasts and our cruiser in the plains. I went to bed with a large heart as I knew the next morning I would have to leave to the air strip and fly back to Kenya.

I had packed my entire luggage including the huge 600mm lens and I decided to just keep the 300mm f2.8 lens with me on the last safari. Just when we had to start our morning drive, I got a message about the pride of lions sitting in the open. The greed in me made me run back to the baggage area and pull out the big lens. I knew that even if I get 10 minutes of shooting opportunity it could be fruitful and sensible to have all the equipment with myself. Hence we started rushing towards the pride of lions when another radio message forced us to detour. “Cheetah brothers” exclaimed Lee, the chief guide on the radio and we were soon heading towards another area to catch a glimpse of the cheetahs. We ignored the lions on this occasion as we had spent enough time with lions previously and had been gifted with only a single cheetah opportunity till then.


The spotted delicacy
Another scouting vehicle was following two cheetahs which seemed restless and in a mood to hunt. The brothers walked up a small hill and started descending towards the other side over to the plains. Thankfully our 4WD cruiser felt no pain in following the spots over the hills. I couldn’t believe my eyes when one of the cheetahs jumped up a tree and sat like a leopard. Amazing light falling on him made me just click pictures of him in awe. He was probably trying to get a better view of the plains from the tree after which he jumped off and started walking briskly towards the plains.

At least five hundred wildebeest were flocking the area and it was evident that the spotted brothers were looking for a wildebeest calf for breakfast. Cheetahs are the smallest of the big cats and they usually won’t be able to hunt an adult wildebeest. The brothers walked together in tall grass stopping every minute and short listing their target. After a while one of the cheetah again climbed up a tree to have a better view of the landscape. I was not sure why the cheetahs didn’t prefer to stalk their prey but they started boldly moving towards the massive herd of wildebeests.

Even the wildebeests didn’t show extreme signs of fear but were cautious. A calf in the herd caught their interest and they started walking towards the young wildebeest. Within no time, at least 40 wildebeests formed a wildebeest wall trying to protect the calf and the cheetah didn’t seem to have too many options. In fact the beasts started walking towards the cat in order to scare him away and were fairly successful. The cheetah brothers chased a few wildebeests for a while and realized they would be wasting efforts trying to find a meal in such a difficult situation. They scent marked trees and rested below it while we headed back to the Sasakwa lodge for breakfast..

I later realized that I had spent a week in the savanna without hearing a single honk. A quick drive to the airstrip and a couple of hour’s flight back to Nairobi international airport followed by a flight back to India ended our trip to Tanzania. Even in my previous trip to Kenya, I hadn’t experienced so much action, joy and luxury for a whole week. The hosts of the Grumeti Game Reserve insisted we pick up gifts from their souvenir shop and treated us like Gods of the Indian sub-continent.

I must admit that in spite of being in the Mecca of Wildlife, references to the most spell-binding cat of planet earth were frequently made and we never stopped educating Alloyce about the Tiger which he also agreed was the best big cat that could have existed. The week passed like a jiffy and made sure the memories will last a life time. Lions, Cheetah, Elephants, Wildebeest, Zebra, Gazelles, Giraffe, Jackals, Hyenas, Vultures, and even the most elusive “Honey Badger” sighting one of the days in the trip was nothing but attaining Nirvana in the Savanna.

All Photographs of the Trip - Click Here
_________________
Cheers,
Jayanth Sharma
jay@wildlifetimes.com

[Suksy]

Hey buddy,

As usual, you took us all into the heart of the safari without as much as moving from our chairs!

Wonderful photographs.. and a great trip report.

It would have been great if you could've given us an exe file like the one of the Kenyan Wildlife Safari.. I bet this trip report was even better than the Kenyan one.

Take care dude.. and keep the good posts coming!

[Shivakumar]

Hi Jay,

After having read your Kenya report i was starting to visualise a lot of things when you left to Tanzania. At the end of the day when i finished reading this excellently narrated trip report coupled with some of THE MOST SPLENDID images i have seen from Tanzania - i admit that this is one of the best i have come across. The images speaks more than anything. Absolutely brilliant work here.

Hope you get to visit such heavenly places time and again and show us the world through you eyes.

Cheers
_________________
Cheers,
Shivakumar

[Prasoon Rana]

Great Report Jayanth as always....

Thanks a lot....

[Pramod Viswanath]

I am speechless. Literally speechless. Every image has created a lasting impact on me. I can't say more ... This is Wildlife times stuff!

Ofcourse, more to follow

[Guest]

Jayanth,
I've been a fan of your trip reports for quite sometime and this one is no exception.
This will surely help anybody planning a trip to Serengeti, in terms of best photo opportunities in the African wilderness.

[sainath]

I am lost for words.
This is the best read ever!! your images continue to amaze me every time
Thanks for sharing these gems Jayanth

[pavankrs]

Wow!...splendid experience....thanks for sharing...

[shailesh]

Hi Jayanth,

The way you capture wildlife and also try to make others understand is splendid. Keep it up !!! All the best.

Thanks
Shailesh

[travinfoindia]

I read more about "Nirvana", after a brief discussion with you..After reading your post I feel this word really makes sense after visiting serengity, the most talked about place in Africa.

Well, I can say for all wildlife lovers its like Mecca, and only fortunate ones get a life time chance. And the most important thing is you really took this opportunity so well, Its all there in your report.

I loved every bit of your report.. Great going Jayant.

Wish you very best for all coming en devours.

Regards
Rakesh Ranjan
_________________
Check me at:
www.travinfoindia.com

[devishetty]

Hi Jayanth

Wonderful report and great pictures.

You have always been a great inspiration, thank you.

/devi

[Nithin]

Excellent trip report and Amazing shots..!
Loved this..!
_________________
Cheers,
Nidhin
www.Nidh.in

[sriharsha ganjam]

Ahh I was wondering all along where you were, since I hardly saw you online for a long time, and I knew something BIG was coming! And man I could not have been more worng. This is BIGGER than BIG. An awesome report, as usual to go along with the out of this world pictures! (The Hippo is the best IMO) and will keep coming back for a while
_________________
Harsh

[Venkat]

Your pictures reminded of the movie "Ghost and the Darkness".

Keep them coming.

[amitabh]

How do you manage these trips man? I am totally and absolutely envious of you for making the trips (not of the photos - they are just so fantastic)!

Love your reports too! You should think of publishing a book.

[prakash subbanna]

Hi Jayanth,
Amazing photographs & gripping story line....I wish you will organize one such trip for wildlife lovers.

[shivanayak]

Hi Jayanth

I know you from flickr to BPC to your own collection, you are doing really great. Very inspiring.

best wishes.

[chompstomp910r]

Jayant bhai.....

i am back again... cannot sleep...sent you private meesssage also ...
cheetas eagles elephants lions OMGoddddddddddddddddddddd ..........
please please tell me how much money is needed to go for the tangania/sarangetti trip annd what camera you useeeeee!

I am completely shocked at seeing the your photosssssssssssssss.... Am going mad...................


also Why dont you join a photography compitition ..i am sure your photo will come first ....100% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sincerely
tiru kumaran

[Anand Narayanan]

deadly pics as usual... loved the aerial shots ... and that is one handsome lion. good to see snow on kilimanjaro !! no reptile shots ?
and
yet another beautiful buffalo stare

[Ravi Kiran]

Superlative photographs & an equally well compiled trip report. You are truly an inspiration! Keep shooting & sharing.

[rayees]

excellent narration, detailed description and to top it all, some really awesome pictures and ofcourse the aerial shot of the plane's shadow...wow....keep it up...regards

[Mamatha]

Hey Jayanth,

Thats yet another super super narration from you....Thanks a lot for those mesmerising pics!!! Loved them...

Way to go..

Mamatha