Arriving into Kilimanjaro airport was an experience in itself. We were second off the plane, and thankfully so, as the visa and passport check process was a haphazard but comical 10 minutes per couple. It seemed that being at your desk, having your computer on and having a pen available are all optional at Tanzania immigrations.
We were picked up by Bernard, a small guy with a reassuring whiteboard with ‘Butten’ in clear capitals. We found our man. He led us through the pitch black car park (flood lights also optional) and onto the road for an hour to Rivertrees for our overnight stop.
The room was simple but perfect for what we needed, with an early breakfast and moving straight onto the airport to fly into Kogatende airstrip. Only in the morning daylight did we appreciate how quaint and well cared for the Rivertrees property was.
Our first bush flight was as a small 24 seater that took us up off the dirt runway for 50 minutes to land in the Serengeti. Coming in to land we saw herds of hundreds of zebra and wildebeest, quite the sight!
Both airports were very basic, with a few seats in the ‘departure lounge’ tent and arrivals on the other side was even smaller!
After a 90 minute wait for our guide to arrive (our flight was quicker than expected as we didn’t need to land and take off again for a midway stop) we then had enjoyed what we dubbed ‘the worlds best airport transfer’. Our guide Chris took us to the site of the moving camp, on a breathtaking route where we saw thousands of wildebeest migrating, zebra, elephants from a distance and 3 beautiful male cheetahs resting in the shade for their next hunt at sun down. We also bumped into a lone buffalo who had been enjoying a mud bath until the rumble of our big Toyota truck caught his attention. They are very impressive beasts with horns so big they look like a centre parting! After the elephants, this was our second of the ‘big 5’ already!
Arriving at the camp was special. The camp moves with the seasons to capture the best the Serengeti had to offer. They operate on a complete ‘environment neutral’ basis, leaving no waste or sign they were ever there. You’ll find no plastic but the chefs still conjured an incredible 3 course menu for lunch and dinner, with the most basic of campsite kitchens. The mango cheesecake and delicious soups were certainly highlights.
The next day we had our first full day safari, leaving camp at 6am to see the animals at their most active. We encountered striped hyenas just a few meters from our camp entrance and this was the start of a very special day.
The sheer number of wildebeests in the area at this point of the migration was staggering. You would reach the peak of a hill and just see a sea of black wildebeest, with the occasional small zebra herd. Chris explained that they hang out together as the zebra eat the longer grass and are better at spotting predators - helping the wildebeest. The other side of the deal is that wildebeest are much slower than zebra, so the zebra get the benefit of almost always surviving any predators that hunt the group!
There was a murmur on the radio channels that guides thought a wildebeest crossing may take place soon, with a massive group (in the thousands) of wildebeest gathering near the banks of the Mara River. Chris took us straight to the perfect spot and a good few trucks were already assembled. Right on cue, the first zebra crossed, followed by thousands of wildebeest. We watched for almost an hour, taking in the whole experience. The occasional crossing was failed as a handful drowned but no crocodiles were in the area, so the crossing success rate was high! We were slightly skeptical so have heard this described as one of the ‘7 wonders of the natural world’ but we are skeptics no more! The drama, the scenery, and the sheer importance of the migration to new grassy lands all made for special memories.
We then ventured all the way up to the Kenyan border, passing a lone female lioness (3/5!) sleeping in the shade by a stream. Turns out they are very lazy animals!
We encountered more ostrich, a ‘business’ of banded mongoose, spotted some giraffe from a long distance - but the days highlight was a leopard (4 of 5!) resting in a big tree, watching over his zebra kill which was kept safe at the base of the tree. We got some awesome photos and with the zoom you could see a cut on his face - the zebra clearly put up a fight!
Chris told us a great story about leopards being such good hunters that they practice from a young age creeping up on their prey, only to tap them on the leg, to show they could get to the animal without being detected. The prey just have a shock but gladly live to tell the tale. It turned out that Leopards were Chris’ favourite animal to see.
On the way back we had a close encounter with a family of 12 elephants. The parents and teenagers were quite brave but the dynamic changed as they babies approached, which brought on some aggression in defence from the older group members - the defensive grandparents! We remained parked up the whole time as they approached and walked past us on all side. Truly very memorable.