Thank-you Deena Alessi-Bowden for encouraging us to do the hot air balloon ride across the Serengeti! We were questioning the price, but the experience and the gourmet champagne breakfast became one of many highlights on this trip.
The early morning start showed that the Serengeti never sleeps. Lions and Lionessess highlighted by the jeeps headlight are a good reminder to not walk around in the dark. our company was Sergengetti Balloon Safaris and 6 loads took off from this location. Then the sun rose in a splash of brilliant orange and red. I won’t lie–I bowed my head and prayed that we wouldn’t land in a sharp-thorned tree or in the middle of a lion pride.
We’d already been on twice a day safari rides, but this was so different from the air. First, I noticed the animal tracks where grass had been beaten down. Lions flanked the zebras to the left and hyenas flanked on the right. We rose up to get a higher view and then drifted down just above the treetops to look at animals closely. There was a hippo in the pool below, but I missed the shot.
The migrating animals form long lines. This zebras seemed never-ending below us. Thousands of Buffalo followed in their hoof prints. A lion scaned animals 360 degrees around from the top of a termite mound.
Too quickly, it’s time to land.
a pefect landing. The clients are squatting inside the basket holding onto support lines. time for champagne. This is a tradition in ballooning since the very first ride was in France, 1783. gourmet breakfast with mimosas and a choice of 3 entrees all freshly cooked.
Before i move on from the Serengeti to our last days in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, let me show you a few of the 105 birds we checked off a list.
The Maasai named the Serengeti and the word perfectly describes the savanna stetching from horizon to horizon. This UNESCO World Heritage site has the largest concentration of game over 6,000 square miles ( after the most recent aquisition, land now connects on the West with Lake Victoria). It borders Kenya on the North, The Maswa Game Reserve on the Southwest and Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the East.
small aligator
No guns, no hunting, and no night driving ( between 7 PM and 6 AM) are deterrents to poachers killing animals in the National Parks for Elephant Tusks, Rhino horn, and food. Villagers work with park rangers, and conservation programs are active–such as GPS tagging of Rhinos for daily monitoring. Anti-poaching units now carry AK-47’s and use canine tracker dogs with quick response times. Hunting is only permitted inside the Game Reserves. An example license for a lion hunt costs $78,600 exclcuding the trophy fee and sadly, bait used. Although I am not a hunter and the thought of this makes me grit my teeth, the large carnivore population needs to be controlled by regulated hunting of old males, which ensures reproductive success for younger veral males.
There are over 1 million Wildebeests and roughly 300,000 zebras that migrate year-round for water and fresh grass. These two have evolved into bestie travel buddies with the zebras showing the beests the best places to cross the rivers.
Elands, Zebras migrating together
zebras fighting
Other herbavoires migrate too–Elephants, Oryxes, Elands, Thompson Gazelles, Topis, Buffalo, and Hartebeests.
2 cheetahs in the open, cooling off in the mudoverfed hyena cooling off his sore belly in a mud puddledead gazelle dragged into the canopyleopard with dead gazelle in treeadorablenot so adorablebaby jackals living in a termite hillmajestic Eland migrating with zebrasearly morning sunbathing on granite outcroppings called “kopjes”
Giraffes follow elephant-toppled trees to get leaves, not because they migrate and big carnivores hunt from the perimeter of the migration. We saw a lot of stalking behavior, but it’s interesting that only 20% of attempts are successful.
lioness hunting zebra while her cubs follow.
hunting cheetah
a Leopard at the bottom of a tree where he hid a dead gazelle. The mate keeps circling closer to the tree in the background—not believing that his mate is dead.
The Serengeti is the birthplace of humanity with cultural and historic sites dotting the area.The Olduvai Gorge is where Mary and Louis Leaky excavated early Homids. We went to a Maasi, Ikona rock painting site and the unique Gong Rock where I’m certain many celebrations were held.
Gong Rock ontop a huge kopjes ( exposed granite dotting the landscape) shield paintings
Love these hippos! Did you know they can hear, see, and smell underwater? They don’t migrate, but they hangout in year-round water sources. While we think they are cute, they are really vicious. biteA single bite is strong enough to crush bones, tear through boats and snap a crocodile in half ( or human). Their jaw opens 150 degrees and can span 4-5′ wide. Certainly, they aren’t dainty at 2,500-3,500 lbs.
There’s only one way in and the same way out on a dusty road. And it’s worth it–even if you have to wear a buff or mask to get to Serengetti National Park. We started driving up the Rift Valley towards the world’s largest crater ( 12 mile diameter and elevation of 7,500′). Ngorongoro Convervation Area is jungle-like and bathed in fog. Animals seem to drift like ghosts along the roadside and then disappear as if they were never there at all.
jungle zone at the craterBam! Crest the top and there’s an instant change to flora and fauna
At the highest point we begin our decent into the grasslands that border the park. Masai villages dot the area with round mud-baked homes and colorfully dressed people roaming through the grasslands pushing livestock onwards. Alongside the road, local people sell whatever they have grown, harvested or made. The dust from fast driving vehicles rises like the fog did earlier in the day. Even with air conditioning on and windows rolled up– dust coats everything.
Masai villagetraditional herders
After we enter the Serengeti National Park, we immediately see herds of Zebra, Gazelles, Impalas and circling hyenas looking for opportunity. We don’t stop often or for long. Our mission today is to get to the Overseas Adventure Tent Camp where we will live for the next 4 days.
side stripped jackal and a Thompson GazelleKori Bustard Grants Gazellewho you lookin’ at?large confusion of Wildebeestsnapping lioness Cokes Hartebeest2 more lioness ( same tree so they hunt togetherTopi
We were in Serengeti camp 1 ( there are 4 run by Overseas Adventure Travel) Our camp had 10 traveler tents with attached bucket hot shower rooms, a flush toilet room and a sink with running water partioned off from the two twin beds. Nights were cool in July, but extra heat wasn’t necessary. The dining tent was in the middle of the compound, and the cook tent and staff tents were located a little behind our sleeping tents.
zebra eating grass next to the tentBob in the dining tent elephants by staff tent
The first night we heard the “whoop-whoop” of hyenas and the bark of zebras all around the area.
Next up: Serengeti safari drives and more night visitors.
Adventure Quest 