2017 - Tarn's Tanzania Safari Trip: June 7, 2017 - Full day of game drive in Serengeti National Park

We started our game drive at 8AM and immediately spotted lots of impalas, gazelles, zebras, giraffes, and elephants.

Serengeti National Park covers 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi)of grassland plains, savannas, forest by the river bend, and woodlands. Savannas are comprised mostly of grasses and a few scattered trees, and exist in areas where there is a 6-8 month wet season and a 4-6 month dry season. In Serengeti National Park, we saw a lot of flat-top acacia tree in an umbrella shape with branches and leaves high off the ground.

Serengeti National Park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by Kenyan, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is famous for its annual great migration of over 1.5 million white-bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra.

Since there is no foot traffic allowed in Tanzania’s national parks, we just enjoyed the park and its animals in a luxury Land Cruiser. Only 2 of us on a 6-passengers car with the top popped up, it is a true enjoyment.

Augustine communicated with other guides via CB radio. Pretty soon, he got messages on whereabouts of a leopard. The leopard was just minding his own business resting and looking around on a tree branch. We stayed very close and made many close-up shots. Then he(or she) decided to just climbing down the tree and walked away to another tree further in distance.

Later, we learned that there were lions gathering nearby. When we got there, we parked at a pretty good spot to see 3 lions (mom and 2 cubs) at a very close distance. To our surprise, more lions moved in and stayed at the same spot just minding their own business. To the end, the herd was 5 lion moms with more than 10 cubs gathering at the same spot for sun bathing and moving around. Thanks to Augustine, we got the best seat in the house for taking close shots.

Then, Augustine got more info in regard to lions resting on a sausage tree. When we got there, we saw 2 female lions on the tree resting. Nearby, there was a group of elephants, large and small. After these elephants drank water in a nearby pond, they moved toward this sausage tree to rub their skin against the tree trunk. At the same time, these 2 lions were still on the tree watching elephants' activities underneath. At one point, a large elephant got too close to one of the lions and she had to reach her arm to touch the elephant trying to get the elephant away. It was an amazing scene.