So I have been back in the USA for a little over a week now and I am almost all caught up on sleep, work and returning back to what remains to be my normal…? It seems like it is taking me longer and longer to recover. Always a part of me that is happy to be back home, always a big part missing, as my heart always remains in the Serengeti!!! Not complaining, just explaining!!

I know I am totally blessed to be able to do what I absolutely Love love love and having an office in the bush makes it all come full circle. I cannot stay away no matter how many times I am there. I always have new experiences that just add to my magnificent repertoire of fantastic stories & memories. Although I feel totally re-engerzied, revitalized, rested and relaxed in many ways, I also miss the many shots of adrenalin & the constant jolts of stimulation throughout each day, as each safari day’s sightings and activities would unfold.

With the blackout tent flaps up and an almost full moon, I wanted to see activity and I stayed up most of the night on the phone and listening and watching for the cape buffalo, zebra and hyena and wildebeest that lingered next to my tent all night. I am in heaven!!

My last day on safari was a Sunday and I awakened to the gorgeous sunrise and animals still around my tent. I dressed for breakfast and wandered up to the main dining tent. I ordered the chefs special omelet, cheese, mushrooms & spinach, which was delicious, orange marmalade on my toast and freshly brewed Tanzanian coffee. I decided to take it easy today and just enjoy Sabora. I went to my tent, and had a nice long bath while I enjoyed watching the family of 7 zebra lingering just in front of my tent!!! After my bath, I put on the linen bathrobe and flip flops, got my binoculars, my devotions, my journal and a ginger ale and headed for the leisure bed right out in front of my tent. Again, I was in Heaven!!!

It was totally amazing how the plains directly in front of Sabora were teaming with a multitude and variety of many animals. Zebra, wildebeest, topi, eland, impala, grants gazelle, ostrich, warthog, Cape buffalo, Thomson gazelle, giraffe, baboon, and an eagle were spotted and I learned that an Ostrich can make a sound similar to a distant lions roar. I had a fabulous lunch pool side in my swimsuit and bathrobe.

The Zebras had moved close to the pool and so we had lunch together!! After lunch I sat in the pool and watched as the zebra continued to graze pool side & seemed totally undisturbed by my presence. Still in heaven!! At 3:00 I headed to the spa for my massage, pedicure and manicure!! Still in Heaven!! We met at 6:00pm for sundowner’s fireside, under an almost full moon, tons of stars – again heaven!! Dinner was another culinary delight and exceeded my expectations once again!!

Hard to beat Sabora, in service, quality of accommodations, food and options, all are top of the line, ultra luxury but a great value for the level of experience.

The rest of the journey was effortless, up on last day, shower, breakfast, pack, say goodbye, drive to Sasakwa airport for flight to Seronera, and stop in Southern Loliondo Airport (have never been to this airport) to pick up some people, landed in Arusha, visited Cultural heritage , always a necessity!!! And then shower, change clothes, repack, very early dinner, depart hotel at 5pm and head to JRO- Tons of traffic so we took short cut through the back streets & local village areas, as we slowed I greeted everyone I could along the way with Bwana asafieway and Mungu Away naway, many smiles and greetings were given back- just another highlight of my safari!!

Check in at JRO went smoothly, met up with my clients once again- Heard all about their fabulous safari until we boarded the plane and all fell fast asleep as the plane took off on time for Amsterdam!!

Thanks again for joining me on this latest safari. I will let you know when I post additional photos to my face book.

The Lion Lady, Mama Simba & Sharon Lyon

P.S. Click here, to read all my blog posts.

Game viewing along the Seronera River of the Central Serengeti in Tanzania, East Africa offers truly extraordinary opportunities to witness Africa’s big cats in action. The combination of location and resident prey attracts the largest and most diverse population of predators in Africa. The secret is out – there is simply no better place inAfricato observe these large carnivores in action! Since many of these predators are resident to Seronera, excellent encounters are available year round and it is not unusual to encounter all four large predators (lion, hyena, leopard and cheetah) during the course of a day along with a multitude of smaller predators (mongoose, jackal, serval and bat-eared fox).

The Seronera River Valley is home to an incredible diversity of wildlife due to its unique ecological niche as a transitional zone. A transitional zone, or ecotone, is where two distinctly different habitats merge and where various species of flora and fauna from both habitats can coexist. Seronera is the border zone between the Serengeti plains and the Serengeti woodlands. At Seronera the great Serengeti Plains stretch out to the south and east while the Serengeti Woodlands predominate to the north and west. Due this unique ecological feature, Seronera supports a much greater diversity of wildlife then anywhere else in the Serengeti including elephant, giraffe, impala, waterbuck, hippo, topi, reedbuck, buffalo, baboon and vervet monkey.

The Seronera River is the largest and most well known of the four rivers that snake through the broadSeroneraValleylike giant green fingers. Each river is lined with beautiful umbrella acacia, yellow barked acacia and sausage trees. TheSeroneraRiverin particular, with its seasonal swamps and deep pools of water, is ideal lion and leopard habitat and there is perhaps no easier place in Africa to see both these species of big cats in action. The Seronera River Valley is well known for the largest resident lion prides in the Serengeti. It is the ‘Park Place’ of lion territories in the Serengeti due to the permanent sources of water and the high resident prey biomass. Seronera is home to the world-renowned Serengeti Lion Project, which is the longest continuous field study ever conducted on a large mammal. Since its inception in 1966, twenty-six lion prides residing around Seronera have been continuously tracked and studied with the use of radio collars.

AHHHHH!! On our way from Bilila to Grumeti Game Reserve we saw a few large herds of wildebeest, impala, baboons & giraffe. Just past the Ikoma gate our driver from Grumeti game reserve was waiting for us. We did our transfer and said a very fond “see you later” to our ADS guide. We were quite anxious to get to our Camp Sabora as it is in a lovely remote setting and we were looking forward to just relaxing in such serenity.

More giraffe, huge herd of Topi (at least 500), small herds of Thomson gazelles, 4 kinds of vultures & marabou stork were spotted before we came across 2 cheetah brothers. They had just finished their kill and were resting under a tree. In the Grumeti Game Reserve, since it is privately owned, you can drive right up close to the animals. The cheetahs were about 20 ft away from us and we spent about 25 minutes admiring them. Secretary bird, warthogs, hyena, ostrich, grants gazelle and more giraffes, before we could see our camp in the distance from our hilltop vantage point.

It was so lovely as the grass had all turned green from the previous rains and many animals could be seen grazing in front of the camp. As we checked in and had our lunch, zebra were lounging close by, cape buffalo strolling through the path ways between the tents and I felt like I was in heaven!!! A lunch of goat cheese, beets, basil & honey (starter) and believe it or not, a hamburger and French fries were perfect.

I took pictures of the pool, the exercise room, the spa, the library, dining tent, and my room. You will have to wait until I return to the office, for the pictures as the internet is very slow (not a complaint. as I remember the days, not so long ago that having access to the internet in the bush was a far off concept here!!)

A late afternoon game drive from 5-6:30 produced sightings of Ostrich, 2 jackals, zebra and a breeding herd of cape buffalo of more than 260, small groups of about 25 wildebeest, topi, hyenas, guinea fowl, impala, baboon, topi and reedbuck and a white headed buffalo weaver. We then spotted a mating pair of lions (yes we saw them mating) and 3 more lioness and another beautiful male lion were our treat, as we had our sundowners while the sun set!!! AHHHHHHHH!!! What a perfect way to end a perfect day!!!

Dinner was rosemary bread, cream of corn soup, fried calamari and lamb shank!! Cream Brule wrapped in a pulled sugar nest was the best presentation ever and tasted just as good!!!

I went to my tent at 10:30 and called a few friends (calls included here!!!) and could not believe all of the night sounds of buffalo, hyena, zebra and wildebeest just right outside my tent!! I kept trying to peek out and see them and there was an almost full moon so lots of moonlight, but they managed to allude me. I finally fell asleep about 3:00am and slept soundly until the sunrise, what a lovely way to awaken.

I just had the chef’s special omelet of bacon, mushroom, cheese and spinach with hot toast and fresh marmalade and local hot tea!!! While having breakfast zebra, wildebeest, ostrich and buffalo are grazing out on the lush green plains. I am staying in today and enjoying the nice bathtub, having a massage, pedicure and manicure and lounging around the pool!! AHHHHHH – I love Tanzania, it is always the same in many good ways but every day, all day long, new adventures are happening all around you!!! This may be my last post until I return officially to my USA office on Oct 15th. Thanks for joining me on this adventure!!

WOW!!!! I am not sure where to start!!! This morning we left Bilila at 5:45 am and headed directly back to central Serengeti to see if we could see some more leopards. On the way we passed giraffe, wildebeest, Thomson gazelles, hippos, warthogs, baboon, hartebeest and hyena. At 7:05 our guide (who is excellent, of course) spotted a leopard sitting at the base of a tree about 75 feet away. We were watching it intently, when it lay down. Then we saw a leopard sitting at the base of the tree and thought, there must be 2 leopards. Indeed there were!! As we were watching along came a hyena sniffing the bottom of the tree where the leopards had just been, The 2 leopards seemed to be surrounding the hyena and possibly going after it. Just as they got within a few feet the hyena escaped. We stayed for 1.5 hours before any other vehicles approached. During that time they were playing and chasing each other rolling around just like house cats. It was so much fun to watch.

We finally left and went about 1/2 mile and came across 1 more leopard with a kill in the tree. Just behind that leopard was a cheetah with a kill as well. The cheetah was being harassed by 2 jackals trying to steal her food. At 9:12 am we were at a lioness right next to the road lying in a dead tree. At 9:25 we were at a mother cheetah with 2 cubs!!!! We continued out to Masaai Kopjes and saw reedbuck, dik dik, more jackals and more giraffe. We decided to return to Bilila to enjoy the afternoon since our morning had been so jam packed with super sightings!! On the way we encountered one group of 23 giraffe crossing the road, 46 elephants and another group of 12 giraffe, a very large herd of wildebeest migrating, hartebeest, zebra and more Tommies!! WHAT a day!!! Final count so far – 37 lions, 7 cheetah & 5 leopards!!! (And I ran into my good friend Phillip who is the restaurant manager at Bilila!!!) Now after a super lunch of prawns tempura, I am writing this blog post!!

Oct 5th – evening at Migration camp – we had a special treat of a mother genet cat and her baby right next to us while we sat around the bon fire – the baby was so small and so cute- an experience -I will not forget!!!

Oct 6th – After a wonderful breakfast we departed Migration Camp and headed towards central Serengeti. We saw baboon, warthogs, wildebeest, hartebeest, ostrich, zebra, topi and then came across 4 lioness, some cape buffalo, grants gazelle, jackals, secretary birds, hyrax, giraffe, monitor lizard with a small baby monitor lizard, impala, hyena, elephants, and at 11:04 we were at our first leopard with a kill in the tree. It was about 30 feet from the road but quite well hidden. At 12:07 we were at a 2nd leopard, which was a baby. Some jackals, waterbuck, 14 Elephants and about 200 cape buffalo and then 9 lions rounded out our game drive for the day.

I ran into two old friends along the way, whom I have known for 14 years, Ellieta was at the Seronera airport (he is now assistant manager at Kirawira) and Vincent was at the gas station (he is manager at Mbuzi Mawe) it is always good to see my local friends!!!!Who always make me feel very welcome and right at home!!! I also ran into Nickson and Peter who used to work with ADS. To top off the day I had one of the best massages ever at the spa here at Bilila. I highly recommend their treatments!!! A fabulous dinner and then early to bed!!!

Tomorrow we will have a nice breakfast at Bilila and then drive up to Grumeti Game reserve where we will be staying at Sabora. I am excited to return once again at one of my most favorite places to relax. I will try to update you again from there.

I am having difficulty uploading photos, so please bear with me. Asante Sana!!!

We left Bushtops yesterday and headed south towards Migration Camp. Right away we came across 4 lions, 9 elephants, girraffe, buffalo, warthogs and thomson gazell. By 11 am we were at a cheetah which was beautiful. Many Eland, Klipspringer and banded mongoose were also spotted. Two more cheetah, 6 more lions, hartebeest, ostrich and hippos rounded out our game drive. We arrived at Migration camp just before the sky opened up and we had a heavy rain shower and lightning which was a wonderful way to end the day. It is so amazing at how green everything is when it is supposed to be the DRY season and everything is supposed to be dry and dusty.

This morning we were pleased to be greeted by a genet cat in the lobby right before our early morning departure for game drive. Right away we spotted 2 big male lions moving quickly as they were searching for an apparent intruder into their teritory. About 50 feet from the car the lead male started roaring from the depths of his soul….the sound filled every crevice of my body and soul and will remain in my memory forever. You could see his breath as he expelled every roar, trying to be convincing to the intruder, that the territory belonged to him and the intruder should go away!!! It was more amazing than what I could have imagined!! Had our game drive ended at that point it was more than enough. We continued on the lobo game loop for a while and saw 11 more lions, elephants, cape buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, reedbuck, baboon, waterbuck, dik dik, and many birds and other wildlife as well. Back to the lodge for lunch, bush update and some relaxation.  Another thunder storm can be heard in the not so far distance and soon we will be treated to another light show from nature!!! Tomorrow we head to Bilila in the Central Serengeti. Enjoy!!!

 

Last night it rained cats & dogs, so this morning everything was green and lush. We left at 6 am this morning after a super sunrise and a light breakfast and we headed to the Mara river to possibly catch a river crossing. Along the way we saw many animals, topi, wildbeest, zebra, giraffe, ververt monkey, varieties of birds, hippos, crocks. We stopped and set up our table along side the Mara River to enjoy the scenery and also a full breakfast. After Breakfast we continued with our game drive and were fortunate to see a couple of crossings. The zebra crossed and the wildbeest followed, skirting the crocs who were just waiting for them to do so. Fortunately for the zebra and wildbeests the crocs did not seem to be too hungry and everyone crossed successfully. After crossing, some decided to cross again and go back over to the side of the river, from which they had just come. Again, fate was on their side and all made it. (My pictures are too high resolution to upload from my good camera on the bush internet connection, but I hope you enjoy the low resolution from my not so good, other camera.) More pictures to follow upon my return from the bush!!

We returned to Bushtops for a late lunch and some relaxation. Lunch was delightful and in fact, I took some photos of our appetizers and dessert but I ate my fish and chips before I remembered to take some photos. So sorry!!

I have just landed in the Serengeti and had a wonderful game drive today. We saw allot of wildlife today in our short game drive including wildbeests, zebra, giraffe, hippos, crocs, impala, reedbuck, elephants, warthogs, mongoose, vultures and assorted other animals. We were excited to arrive some what early at Bushtops Tented Camp so we could experience all that they offer including complimentary massage, beverages and first class service!! I hope to be able to keep you updated along the way!! until then….. all the best, mama simba!!