Let me tell you a little about the animals we saw and how they behaved;
Leopards
Well these are with out doubt the most beautiful of all the animals (in my opinion!!) They’re huge, much larger than you could ever imagine with pristine fur in a perfect leopard print. They have beautiful faces, long white whiskas, massive green eyes and huge teeth.
For the best part they are usually spotted resting up in a tree escaping the heat or lying at the base of a tree. Apart from the one occasion, where we were charged by a highly irritated male leopard I haven’t felt too scared in their presence.
One day we found a young male lying on the grass. He had just killed a young impala. He had removed all of its ribs and eaten the contents of its stomach and organs. Absolutely ghastly, but the body was strewn on the grass and looked like it had been attended to with surgical precision. The leopards usually disembowl their prey first then later they chew on the limbs and bones. They often hoist the prey once killed into a tree where they can eat at their leisure without the annoyance of hyenas or other scavengers trying to steal their lunch. We saw 4-5 leopards on the safari and I was in awe of each and every one of these magnificent creatures.
Lions
These are the big boys of the bush. The proverbial ‘Kings’ if you like. We saw quite a few lions. One very large pride of 16 lions including mainly adult females or lionesses with half grown young male and female lions.
The females tend to stay together and raise the cubs. At a certain age the young lions are thrown out of the pride if they are male and they will often band together and form a ‘Coalition’. This is a survival tactic as a lone lion struggles to catch prey as easily as a group, and believe it or not, is at risk of becoming prey himself! Hard to imagine, but a group of Hyenas can attack and kill a lone male lion.
The lions are incredible. Huge and rather arrogant! They have massive paws and they loll around in the sun cuddling each other and purring, biting flies and licking each other’s wounds. One day they had huge full bellies from a recent kill and they were literally rolling on their backs rubbing their stomachs somewhat like a human after a massive meal!! It was hilarious.
Cheetahs
The elusive Cheetah!! I had envisaged that we would see a lot off Cheetahs on the huge open plains of the Serengeti. They tend to prefer to hunt in open country as they are so fast that they can out-run pretty much any other animal. And I gather they are relatively prolific in Tanzania, however, they’re also very good at hiding in the long grass!!
We did, however, spot one on our last game drive. He was skittish and not particularly keen to let us get too close. But I felt incredibly lucky to spend even just a few moments sharing the open plain with this magnificent creature.
Elephants
We saw so many elephants on our game drives. Arguably, this may be because they’re somewhat hard to miss! But they are such beautiful creatures. The elephants have a quiet aura about them. They wander along in a large group, stripping branches from trees or rubbing their not undersized rumps against the tree trunks!!
In the hotter weather they roll in the mud to keep cool, which gives them an odd grey colour. For the best part they were not bothered by us at all. On occasion, however one of the young males would run at our truck in a mock charge. This was a little scary given their enormous size. Kim advised me that a real charge from an elephant would involve absolute silence, no trumpeting, and ears pinned back against their head. I am so pleased I didn’t ever see this!!
Giraffes
Looking out across the Serengeti and seeing giraffes dotted across the open plains, with their long, tall and majestic necks popping out above the trees is easily one of my favourite images. And so typically and poetically African.
The giraffes are truly majestic. There are often quite a few babies or ‘teenagers’ in the herd. And they are rather divine. Sort of awkward in their movement and trying to learn the ropes from Mum. It made for some lovely time spent watching their antics and marvelling at their beauty.
Impalas
The Impalas are prolific and sadly make for lovely food options for the larger cats on the Serengeti! There are so many different types of Antelopes in Africa. We saw Impalas, Topis and Water bucks, to name just a few. Kim advised me that there are around 91 species native to Africa in the Antelope family.
Watching a herd of Impala is kind of divine. They skip around and play games. I suspect this is all to do with the males trying to impress the females or assert their authority over the herd, but in truth it looks like a crazy playground of young children darting in every direction.
Warthogs
Warthogs are often spotted charging across the bush at a frenetic pace with their tails standing bolt upright. They have huge tusks, and are apparently too lazy to make their own homes. They take over a large ants nest and burrow in backwards so that they can come our fast if the need arises!
Hippos
We were lucky enough to watch 4 hippos wallowing around in a dam on the Singita property. They stay underwater to keep cool and forage on herbs and grasses. They can hold their breath for up to 8 minutes under water.
The hippos are pretty lovely and make rather gorgeous huffing noises while lolling in the water. However, they are terribly territorial and have rather huge teeth, so they are considered quite dangerous and responsible for quite a number of human deaths.
Babboons
There are large families of baboons around the Serengeti. Lovely to watch with their little babies riding on their tummies for safety.
Guinea Fowls
I love these little birds. They’re also known as Bush Chickens, and apart from looking pretty adorable, they proved very handy for finding larger mammals as they tend to hide up trees when anything risky passes by.
Serval Cat
We were lucky to spot this wild cat early one morning out on the open plain. Just another example of Kim’s unique ability to literally find a needle in haystack. It looked something like a large domestic cat with very long legs. It was busy stalking a Mongoose, who was wisely remaining in the safety of his mound and popping out intermittently to taunt the poor cat!
Zebras
Often spotted in huge herds out on the open plains, the Zebras are truly magnificent creatures. I love the colour of the young zebras, a rather soft brown colour, and fluffy in texture, and then as they grow up their coats become quite strongly defined black and white stripes.
Buffalos
We saw huge herds of Buffalo. They were quite awesome to watch , however they are extremely dangerous and account for more human deaths in Africa each year than any other animal.
Ostriches
On one of our game drives we spotted two male Ostriches , easily identified due to their black feathers and rather unique pink legs, performing a dance for the females. It was quite a display and a moment I will not forget for a long time.
We saw so many more animals than I have listed. You may have visited a zoo and you may think you have experienced these amazing animals, but, when you see them in their natural environment and watch their behaviours it is a unique and extraordinary experience, and one that I will treasure for the rest of my life.