Serengeti National Park
Days 37 to 42 - 15th to 20th July 2019
We passed a few Masaai villages on route to Serengeti. The Serengeti proved to be everything we dreamed it would be - other than the VERY bad roads, cold showers and atrocious ablution blocks in the public campsites.
Because we could only get 2 nights in Kogatende special campsite number 7 and the rest would be public campsites, we decided that we would have one night in Dik Dik , one night in Lobo and then push north to Kogatende which is on the Mara River, then back to Dik Dik for a night, before the last night at Ndabaka.
Between the Gate and Dik Dik there were huge herds of Thompson's and Grant's Gazelle, the occasional elephant, some resident wildebeest and zebra, and quite a few lion.
A highlight on our way north to Kogatende was a cheetah sat on an anthill, and just hundreds and thousands of wildebeest.
We met the ranger at the Kogatende Air Strip - a very friendly guy. We asked him where we find SCS 7. He said that due to environmental issues all special campsites had been moved from the river and were now along the main road going south. He said that number 7 was really far away, and he could rather give us number 1 which was 4.3km south of the air strip.
He sent one of his assistant's to show us where it was. We don't know how he knew where to turn into the bush as there was not even a hint of a road. Eventually we arrived at S01*36.165' E034*52.983' in the middle of a field of long grass, surrounded by wildebeest. It was quite scary - although some of the grass had been flattened by wildebeest lying in it - one wouldn't see a predator coming through the grass. We however enjoyed being put to sleep by the mooing wildebeest who did not let up all night. Because of the dryness we weren't allowed to make a fire.
Unfortunately there are no public campsites far up in the north, so one has to book a special campsite if you want to be near the river. The campsite was not great at all, but it did pay off - we must have seen seven or eight crossings the following day!
We passed a few Masaai villages on route to Serengeti. The Serengeti proved to be everything we dreamed it would be - other than the VERY bad roads, cold showers and atrocious ablution blocks in the public campsites.
Because we could only get 2 nights in Kogatende special campsite number 7 and the rest would be public campsites, we decided that we would have one night in Dik Dik , one night in Lobo and then push north to Kogatende which is on the Mara River, then back to Dik Dik for a night, before the last night at Ndabaka.
Between the Gate and Dik Dik there were huge herds of Thompson's and Grant's Gazelle, the occasional elephant, some resident wildebeest and zebra, and quite a few lion.
A highlight on our way north to Kogatende was a cheetah sat on an anthill, and just hundreds and thousands of wildebeest.
He sent one of his assistant's to show us where it was. We don't know how he knew where to turn into the bush as there was not even a hint of a road. Eventually we arrived at S01*36.165' E034*52.983' in the middle of a field of long grass, surrounded by wildebeest. It was quite scary - although some of the grass had been flattened by wildebeest lying in it - one wouldn't see a predator coming through the grass. We however enjoyed being put to sleep by the mooing wildebeest who did not let up all night. Because of the dryness we weren't allowed to make a fire.
Unfortunately there are no public campsites far up in the north, so one has to book a special campsite if you want to be near the river. The campsite was not great at all, but it did pay off - we must have seen seven or eight crossings the following day!
Fortunately no crocs, but, sadly, a youngster did drown
good post
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