Jambo from the bush! This is Anglebert Mrema, a guide for Africa Dream Safaris, with a report on the northern part of Tanzania. I am just back recently from a safari (September 26, 2013 to October 4, 2013) with Connie and Rusty from Georgia, USA.

Our safari together was fantastic as shown by the amazing pictures below. We had nine days on safari covering the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire ecosystems with one night at Kuria Hills on September 26th in the North Serengeti , two nights at Buffalo Camp on September 27th and 28th in the Northeast Serengeti, 2 nights at Sametu Camp on September 29th and 30th in the Central Serengeti , one night at Ngorongoro Lions Paw Camp on October 1st and our last two nights on October 2nd and 3rd at Swala Camp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration seems to be heading south through the northern regions of the Serengeti ecosystem. There were big herds of gnus and zebras moving from the extreme northern areas including the Lamai triangle, crossing southbound at the Mara River and heading to the woodlands area around Nyamalumbwa Hills in the North Serengeti. We also saw a lot of these migration herds at the Togoro woodlands and plains as well as around Banagi hills and the Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti areas. We may end up seeing the herds at the southern plain of the Serengeti a little earlier this year than normal, and it could be due to the rain showers scattered in different corners of the Serengeti.

At Kogatende in the North Serengeti we had a great number of highlights, and obviously the first one was an amazing number of wildebeests crossing the Mara River heading south. We saw four good crossing and all of them were over 40 minutes long.

The other noteworthy sight was honeymooning leopards at Wogakuria hills in the North Serengeti. The female leopard had an interesting behavior because it had babies on the other kopje just nearby the area. To see her mating again with such young cubs was probably one way of defending the babies.

Near Buffalo Camp in the Loliondo game controlled area we had an interesting coalition of seven male lions with one big male and since these animals are territorial, to see seven males together was something. Probably the big male had to tolerate the young ones in his pride as a survival strategy within a competitive territory.

We had interesting sights at Seronera valley as well as Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti. We had a leopard drinking at a pothole near the road. We also had a pride of 18 lions with four very young cubs of about 5 weeks old at Maasai Kopjes. This pride tried to hunt zebra with no success. At Sametu marsh and plain we had a great sight of cheetahs on a termite mound during our early morning game drive. The cheetahs tried to stalk a gazelle nearby but also with no success.

Hereby are photos to share with you.

Mama lion with four cubs of about ten weeks old at Seronera Valley, Central Serengeti.

Gnus crossing the Mara River, North Serengeti.

Leopards cub of about 12 weeks old at Wogakuria Kopje, North Serengeti.

A two year old leopard drinking at Seronera valley, Central Serenget.

Cheetah with two cubs during an early morning game drive near Sametu marsh, Central Serengeti.

Leopard near Silale Swamp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration in the Northern Serengeti.

More shots of the wildebeest crossing the Mara River in the North Serengeti.

Thanks,

Anglebert Mrema
ADS Guide