Serengeti National Park Things to Do

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Located in the middle of the Serengeti is the Wildlfe Centre. It has an interesting walk on a board-walk around several displays. You follow the foot steps of a Wildebeest who is one of the central displays at the start.

Everything from metal lions to the sounds of the wild as you walk past keep you informed an entertained. At the end of the walk is a small shop with cold drinks and a few trinkets to buy.

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Obviously this is the reason that you are here! To see the wide variety of animals doing their daily chores centred on surviving. As the days get rather hot, the carnivores are out hunting early in the day and in the early evening. A typical game drive day will start at 5.30am for breakfast followed by an early departure at around 6.30am. You should see quite a bit of action at this this time then a lot less goings on as the heat of the day takes over. Many of the animals will be looking for some shade and a place to have a quiet snooze while keeping an eye out for anything dangerous to their health. In the early evening it will start all over again! Depending on your tour company you will probably have a few spare hours in the middle of the day to do your washing or what ever else needs doing.

All over the Serengeti are the remnants of Elephants at play. Being so very large they can smash up things rather quickly! An example of this are the squished trees you see littered around the park. I'm not sure how the Elephants get the trees into this state - maybe they push them over first - but with bottoms as big as theirs the trees don't stand much of a chance.

This is a very expensive way to see the Serengeti but apparently well worth it. Other on my trip did this activity in the Maasai Mara and they raved above the experience. For $US500 it's a very expensive way to see the animals though you do get breakfast with bubbles (though not the real french stuff) out in the Serengeti so something to tell the grandkids about LOL.

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Our day was almost over in the Serengeti when we came upon our grande finale! Near the road was a pride of female lions , 12 in all, enjoying their freshly killed zebra. It was a thrilling and somewhat chilling sight to see them tearing into the still warm flesh , devouring the meat and grinding the bones. There would be nothing left when they were finished feasting. They didn’t pay us any mind as we hovered taking pictures only a mere 10 feet away.
There were two sets of 3 cubs of different ages in the group.They seemed to be chowing down in perfect harmony, until the food got in shorter supply. Soon there was lots of snarls and gnashing of teeth. The young cubs were kicked away at one point and ran to their Mom, as kids do, for comfort and protection.
As the meal ended we laughed to see them lying on their backs with very full bellies in the air. They didn’t have a care in the world, at least not in this evening.

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Elephants
Today we saw the largest herd of elephants yet There were at least 50 in the herd maybe more. They were so majestic walking in singlle file in the great Seregeti plains, highlighted against the horizon. The huge female elephant was in the lead with the tiny babies tucked into the group protectively. Elephants are the largest animals now living. The elephant's gstation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). They typically live for 50 to 70 years .Sadly,like most animals in the world their numbers are declining. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals according to a March 2007 estimate .
We noticed one young elephant was missing half of his trunk . He seemed to be surviving but life wil be harder for him. It was interesting to observe how they related to each other . Very much a group. We see one young elephant was being chased out of the herd by a large female . He looked so forlorn and he made numerous attempts to join in ..but was unsuccessful. The social lives of male and female elephants are very different. The females spend their entire lives in tightly knit family groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female. Adult males, on the other hand, live mostly solitary lives.We think maybe this was a son who was being told it was time to leave. Tough love!!

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The Lion- King of the Jungle
We spotted this pride of lions very near the road under a tree. When we realized they were mating ,I almost dropped my camera in the flury of excitement. Pretty entertaining , even though I felt a bit like a voyauer.He seemed oblivious to our presense and the whole process was over in seconds. Thinking I missed it , I was delighted to learn he repeats the act many times . ( they actually get together 20 or 40 times a day when mating begins).Maybe that’s why he earned the name King of the Jungle. We laughed at their contented faces as they rested between all the activity.

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Today we have a full day game driving . We had out early. Morning and evening are the best times to see the animals.
The the black faced monkies are the first animals we see this morning. They were hanging out near an old camp site. They are so entertaining , I could watch them forever. They live in troops . In this group we see the whole diverse clan . The females tend to be the primary caretaker of the young, although several females will share the duties for all of their offspring.
The Leopard
We didn’t expect to see the elusive leopard but there he was hanging out on a branch of a tree. We took several photos before our guide discovered he had a ,what was left of a Thompson’s Gazelle drapped on a lower branch, leftover food for later. What a good photo opportunity!