The 45 minute flight from Manyara air-strip to the golden sweep of the Serengeti was something that I won't forget in a hurry. The change in terrain was quite remarkable. The lush greens of the rift valley, turned into the rugged lowlands of the Serengeti after our little Cessna buzzed the peaks of the crater pocked Rift escarpment. This escarpment seemed to be the natural barrier between the Ngorongoro to the south and the Serengeti to the north.

Having seen and heard so much about the infamous Serengeti, I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of wildlife below. Bizarrely, I saw nothing that resembled any form of life whatsoever. The terrain did change yet again though. At one point the grasslands were just a seemingly endless golden plain, but this eventually morphed into rock outcrops and more bush-like terrain. The latter was pretty characteristic of the Northern Serengeti, where we were to be basing ourselves for the next few days - and as reports would have it, the wildebeest migration would be in this neck of the Serengeti at this time of year. And so our plane landed in Lobo, which is simply yet another remote air-strip tucked amongst open bush-land, with a small cavalcade of safari trucks on hand to greet us.

Alex, our guide from Elewana Safaris was there to meet us. Alex informed that we were about an hour's drive to our accommodation at the Serengeti Migration Camp, and so we would undertake a bit of a safari on route. Shortly into the drive, and Alex is navigating a winding trail through a large cluster of boulders. It wasn't long before we saw our first Serengeti wildlife; enter the Klipspringer, yet another small African antelope, although a little bit bigger than the Dik Dik.

Klipspringer, North Serengeti, Tanzania

Our drive continued, and we observed the usual Tanzanian suspects, in the impala, Thomson gazelle, and zebra. Alex informed that after we arrived at our accommodation, we would venture out later in the afternoon to go leopard spotting. That got us excited. The leopard was the only animal of the Big 5 to elude us so far. We had seen Buffalo, Elephant, Rhino, Lion and now we just needed this amazing cat to complete the five. After what was at least 2 hours, we eventually did arrive at Serengeti Migration camp, and at that the most lavish of accommodation we had experienced so far.

A wooden walk bridge took you into a well appointed reception area and lounge. We were greeted by our hosts, and taken to our room - well it wasn't a room - it was the most luxurious of tents I have ever stayed in. In fact, although it resembled a tent, it was a well appointed cabin. We had about half an hour, before lunch, and then some time for our leopard safari, so I spent a bit of time exploring in and around our tent come cabin. I spotted some amazing looking lizards, sunning themselves on rocks behind the cabin. I was informed later, that this was an agama lizard, and one that is quite common in Tanzania. But, I thought the purple and orange flecked lizard was kind of regal all the same.

Agama Lizard, North Serengeti, Tanzania

It was then on our way to lunch, that we came across yet more fascinating wildlife. There was a family of Rock Hyraxes living at the bottom of a tree, in one of the camp's gardens. They were cute things, and reminded me very much of the possums we would find back home in Australia. One young looking hyrax is in the photo below.

Rock Hyrax, Serengeti Migration Camp, Tanzania

After our lunch, we waited what seemed an eternity to get going on our leopard safari. Alex and our hosts informed that we were better off heading out in mid-afternoon, to avoid the hoards of Tsetsi flies which were a bit of a nuisance. But, after some huffing and puffing, we got going. The area we were heading to, was the Grumeti River. A two hour drive from the hotel, and we found ourselves hugging this winding river, looking out for the tell-tail signs of a leopard. No, that's not a typo. As Alex informed, quite often the way to spot a leopard in a tree, was to look out for a lone tail dangling from the branches. They are so well camouflaged that looking for anything else would probably prove fruitless. We must have driven along the river for a good 40 minutes, before Alex exclaimed "leopard" and he backed up the vehicle to get a better view. Margaret and I were looking frantically in the trees for it, but it took Alex' keen eye and patience to point him out to us. Literally, a mere 30 metres away, a majestic leopard sat in the nook of some tree branches. Now, that we had him in our sights, my SLR and 300mm lens came out. Even at this range it proved difficult to get the leopard, the back lit trees made it extra difficult. Nonetheless I managed to get a couple of good photographs, and the magic of Photoshop enabled me to reveal the leopard and do justice to this elegant cat. The two photos below, show the leopard as it looked in it's surroundings, and the other is an enhanced close-up in Photoshop.

Leopard, North Serengeti, Tanzania

Leopard, North Serengeti, Tanzania

Seeing a leopard had us elated for the rest of the afternoon, and the fact that we didn't see another, or indeed much else in the way of significant finds in the afternoon, didn't bother us one bit. We were quite content when we arrived back at camp. We showered and had dinner, listening to the grunt of the hippos from a waterhole a mere few hundred yards from the camp grounds. At dusk-fall, we were instructed that we were not to walk between our cabin and the hotel reception without a staff member, or more to the point, an armed guard. We were in the middle of Africa, and there was plenty of wildlife about that could inflict some serious damage. Namely lions, elephants and the occasional errant hippo.

The following day we had a long safari drive ahead of us. We were going to make a straight line south, to the Central Serengeti. So, we set off very early. The early morning sun was quite spectacular on the golden grass. I photographed quite a lot of zebra on the trip so far, but the shot of the zebra and foal below was probably my best one, given how great the light was.

Zebra, Northern Serengeti, Tanzania

The drive was indeed long. We did see quite a lot of wildlife on the way, but perhaps the highlight of the journey south was the visit to massive hippo pool. This particular hippo pool was much larger than the one we had seen in Ngorongoro crater, and like the crater's it seemed a bit out of place amongst the relatively dry terrain of the Serengeti. But, nonetheless, here was a hippo pool and it's occupants were extremely active this morning, and proved fascinating to watch. There were just so many hippos jammed into this one pool, grunting, thrashing in a claustrophobic mud-melee. We quickly forgot about the long drive we had just undertaken, and gawped at these creatures from the safety of the river bank. What was also interesting, was that the hippos were not the only denizen of this particular mud-bath. A number of crocodiles, lay like statues at the extremities of the pool.

Hippo Pool, Serengeti, Tanzania

Eventually, we did find our way to the plains of the central Serengeti. The central Serengeti was yet another feast for the eyes. Because there were less trees, and the plains so much more open it was relatively easy to spot wildlife. Giraffes and zebra stood out particularly well. That said, lions were a little harder to see, as they were so well camouflaged by the golden grass. We were driving along very slowly at one point, anxiously looking for signs of lions, when Alex, got a bit excited and floored the accelerator. He had been listening to his radio, and picked up the fact that there had been a lion-kill about half an hours drive away. So off we went.

We thought this lion kill was a bit of a red herring, as we had seen nothing for a good while. But sure enough, we eventually came across a herd of safari trucks, huddled around a lion kill, scavenging for that optimal photo. We joined the throng. It was an incredible sight. A pride of lions had slaughtered what appeared to be a hartebeest. (Rumour suggested it was a zebra, but the legs were not striped, so I didn't buy it.) The lions must have been feasting for a good while, as all that remained of the hapless creature was a stripped carcass. After watching them for a while, Alex our guide asked us if we wanted to go for lunch now. We said no, we were quite happy to keep watching. He then said, but we can't eat here, we need to go. Margaret, stuck the feet in, and didn't shift. We were quite happy watching the lion scene from the safety of the sun-roof. But eventually, Alex's whining proved a little too much, and I suppose we were a bit hungry after seeing the lions gorge themselves, so we headed towards the Serengeti visitor's centre to get our feed.

Lion Kill, Central Serengeti, Tanzania

The visitor's centre was quite good actually, and there were a number of wildlife documentaries being shown. But, we weren't there to watch a documentary, we were here to view the real thing, so we set off looking for game once more, and made our way back northwards. As we neared camp late afternoon, Alex spotted another leopard. This time, we could see a leopard in a lone tree, characteristic tail drooping. It was farther away than the leopard we had seen the day earlier, but what was interesting about this find, was that the leopard had a carcass with him. It was quite odd really. Earlier in the visitor's centre I had watched a leopard protect it's kill by pulling it up into a tree, and sure enough, hundred of kilometres later, this leopard had done just that. Alex, guessed that the leopard's kill was probably a Thomson gazelle.

Leopard and Kill, North Serengeti, Tanzania

It had been a long day. We had seen yet so much. We were quite happy whiling away the late evening on the sun-deck. Enter another fascinating creature. The sun-deck was visited every evening by a couple of spotted genets. These are wild cats, and about the same size as the domestic variety. There was no end to the amount of wild-life Africa had to offer. Eventually we had dinner, and gratefully accepted our armed escort to the cabin where we crashed.

The following day was Migration day. we had already seen ample Wildebeest, predominantly in Ngorongoro, but Alex was going to take us further northwards to the Kenya-Tanzania border to take in where most of the herd was. As with every other aspect of our safari, this was yet another long drive. For the most part, this game drive delivered what it said on the tin. Herds upon herds of gazelle, zebra and wildebeest. The wildebeest migration is nature's juggernaut. They just keep on running, despite inevitable losses that will occur to lions, crocs, and other mishaps on the way. As we were visiting in July, the migration at this point crosses the Mara River, heading from the Masai Mara in Kenya to the Tanzanian Serengeti in the south.

The Wildebeest Migration, Mara River, Tanzania

As we approached the Mara river, we came across a herd of elephants. We hadn't seen this many elephants since the Ngorongoro crater, so it was quite a nice surprise. Eventually we came to the Kenya border crossing. Alex, had to sign a form, and then we were in Kenya. Alex made a bee-line for the Mara river bank. We were wondering whether we'd see wildebeest crossing the river, but it wasn't to be. Instead we were greeted with yet another tumultuous mass of writhing blubber. Yes, hippos. Even more than we had seen on route to the central Serengeti. What was different with this vision, was that many of the hippos were sunning themselves on the river's edge. Alex, informed that we should stay on the higher ground overlooking the river bank - as any closer would attract their wrath. Yes, more people are killed by hippos in Africa than lions. They are quite territorial, and despite their bulk, could easily out run you over a short distance. So we weren't going to chance it. The photo below gives you some perspective on how many hippos there were.

Hippos on mass, Mara River, Kenya-Tanzania Border

We headed back to camp with our fill of masses and super herds. It was a such a unique spectacle, we had to keep pinching ourselves to see if were dreaming. Our last night at the camp was a notable one. The sunset was exceptionally glorious and we had a nice dinner with the hosts of the camp. But was most memorable, was being woken up at around 4 in the morning, by the roar of lions outside our cabin. Margaret and I woke up with a start. I hinted at going out onto the balcony to take a look, but Margaret informed quite forcefully that I would do no such thing, unless I wanted to be an early breakfast. So, I thought better of it. It was like an MGM sound-track for the next 10 minutes, before it subsided. Later in the camp reception, we heard out host say that the lions were wandering through camp, and had to be scared off by staff. Minutes later, our very same host informed newly arrived guests that the lions heard last night were a kilometre or two away. The roar of a lion carries easily on the early morning air apparently. Margaret and I watched amused at the change in story. Yes, we were in Africa and the animals do what they want. Waiting in reception for our ride to the airport, I spotted a Buffalo Weaver in a nearby tree. Magnificent bird. Below is the shot.

Buffalo Weaver, Serengeti Migration Camp, Tanzania

And so our safari concluded with a visit to Lobo air-strip. Our Cessna was late in arriving, but we made it back to Arusha in time for our guide to take us to lunch, and then onto Kilimanjaro Airport for our flight to Zanzibar. The 9 day safari was an absolutely magnificent trip.

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