Africa Trip 2024 - Day 4, Another River Crossing

[This is post #7 of what will be multiple posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE.]   

It is now September 13, Day 4 of our safari itinerary.  We were up dark and early.

Power Outage.  When we checked into the room the night before we discovered there were multiple electrical outlets and were told there would be power all night in the room.  That was reassuring given the many items that needed to be charged overnight.  Based on our research ahead of time, electrical power overnight in the rooms is not a given at all camps.  None of the camps are on the grid.  They generally depend on solar for electricity, although some also have a generator.  

Unfortunately, during one of the times I woke up overnight, I not only heard a lot of animal noises outside but I also noticed our power was off.  It was not a huge problem, since we already had our headlamps ready to go.  We had been using them routinely for moving around outside in the dark. 

Rambunctious buffalo.  Happily, the power did come back on before we needed to leave for breakfast.  It was only later we discovered the power outage was due to a herd of buffalo.  Apparently they had gotten rowdy some time in the night and had somehow broken an electrical cable.  Just life in the Serengeti I guess.

Sunrise over the Serengeti.  Our goal was to get started as early as possible since many of the animals tend to be more active overnight or near sunrise and sunset.  Serengeti National Park rules do not allow travel in the park before sunrise or after sunset, although the guides seem to know they can fudge that a little.  Sunrise was about 6:30 am.  We did not quite make it out by our original goal of 6, but we had finished breakfast, had our camera gear in the vehicle, and were on the road as the sun was breaking over the horizon.

Wildebeest and their friends everywhere.  We had barely left camp when we immediately encountered lots of wildebeest heading towards the river.  Another river crossing seemed promising given so many animals going in that direction.

Wildebeest heading towards the river at sunrise

Mixed in among the wildebeest were quite a few zebra.  Fazal explained that wildebeest and zebra often are together.  We were particularly excited to see this little foal with his mother.  Ahhh, so cute.

We were not aware that this was necessarily a baby time of year, but we saw lots and lots of little ones of all types.

Breakfast time for this little one

This little guy may have been small, but he hustled right along and stayed up with the big ones.

We were enjoying seeing all of these animals as we made the short drive to the river.  To our surprise we also discovered a giraffe mixed in as well.

A long wait.  There were huge numbers of wildebeest on both sides of the river.  On multiple occasions it looked like one group or another was gathering at the edge to make a break for it.

Looks like they are preparing to cross, but just another false alarm.

In every case it turned out to be a false alarm.  None of them would take the first step to cross the river so we sat and waited.  They seemed content to munch on the grass wherever they were.

The long wait gave us plenty of time to check out other activity.  There were numerous interesting birds, all of which were new to us. 

Temminck's Courser

Bare-faced Go-away-bird.  Yes, that really is what it is called

Lilac-breasted roller, the national bird of Kenya.

We saw some hippos on the other side of the river.

Much further up river we could just barely see a mother hippo and her little one crawl up onto the bank.

 

 

By this time it was almost noon and we were hardly the only ones hoping to see the wildebeest make a river crossing. 

 

Back to camp.  Most of the wildebeest had retreated to shady spots under the trees.

 

We decided to retreat too and go back to camp for a leisurely lunch.  We then spent some downtime in the room including preparation for moving to another camp in the morning

Back to the room to prepare for moving to a new camp in the morning.  The apparatus on the roof is the solar water heater.  The amount of hot water was limited, but it was very very hot.

Late afternoon along the Mara River.  After our midday break it was back to the river hopefully to see a river crossing.  It was a beautiful late afternoon.  Most of the wildebeest and zebra in the distance seemed content with the grass they had.  Even the fish eagle in the tree seemed happy to just chill out.

Quiet time along the Mara River.  Note the fish eagle sitting in the tree checking out the river for possible prey.

 

Fish eagle

Finally they cross.  There had been many false starts today, but just a little down river it looked like the herd might finally be preparing to cross. Notably several zebra were in the lead checking things out.  According to Fazal, wildebeest are incredibly stupid.  They don't think, they just follow.  However their buddies the zebra will often check things out to see if a crossing seems appropriate.  Most zebra are not foolhardy enough to lead the crossing, but somehow they communicate to the wildebeest whether to go or not.  

Zebra checking out whether to cross while the wildebeest line up behind.

I don't know whether all of this was really going on or not, but it made a good story and it certainly looked like what was happening.  The zebra seemed to check things out then made a hasty retreat while the wildebeest started to cross.

The first wildebeest take a few tentative steps into the water

The crossing begins in earnest, with lots more lining up

The animals seem to begin to panic and move much faster as an increasing number of animals stampede from the rear

Note in the video below the panicked wildebeest in the distance running at full speed once they realized a crossing was in progress.

Almost as quickly as it started it was over.  Again some zebra went down to the river.  When they turned around the wildebeest did the same.

For whatever reason, these zebra came out and turned the rest of the wildebeest back.  The wildebeest did not protest, they just turned around and walked back away from the water.

Although further from the action than the crossing the day before, it was fantastic to see the whole process develop and get a good view of them actually crossing the river.

Hippos.  By this time it was beginning to get late.  However that meant it was time for the hippos hiding in the water to start waking up.  They tend to stay submerged during the heat of the day, but come out at night to graze on land. 

It had been another great day in the Serengeti.  Tomorrow we will explore further up river, then head south to a different region of the Serengeti and hence a different set of critters.