Part Two
The Northern Serengeti
After an utterly crazy week where every hour met with more utterly crazy stuff, we were now expecting a calmer week, a week of relaxation, an oasis of tranquility in all this utterly crazy stuff.
We had already been told that the crossings had finished and all the wildebeest were moving south towards their breeding ground, albeit two months early.
No worries. There would still be plenty to do in this area dominated by the Mara river. We were looking forward to a few days to unwind our hammered emotions.
Never mind. Better luck next time.
We left our new camp at the usual early hour. The camp was about half an hour south of the Mara, so we headed north in the hope of catching some action. The plan was to cross the Mara ourselves over the only bridge (more like a ford really) available. Better than swimming I'm told.
Every morning around here you will see lots of hot-air balloons coming from the Maasai Mara. Clearly ballooning is a Maasai tradition.
Elephants too abound here. Mostly on the ground.
Much more of them later.
I guess that this counts as a unicorn?
So here we are, at the Mara.
The river passing through the Serengeti and Maasai Mara has been divided into 10 or more theoretical wildebeest migration crossings. The wildebeest however are not strong on theory, and seem to ignore this, crossing pretty much anywhere, making spotting a crossing an art form mixed with roulette.
This part of the river is actually near Crossing Zero, and there were other potential crossing sites further west that await the invention of negative numbers.
Hmmm. Now this was odd. There, on the other side of the river in the distance was a small herd of wildebeest. Presumably left over from when their mates crossed.
Therefore there wasn't much chance they would do anything. Was there?
Hang on. minute! They're heading down the river banking.
OMG! They are actually crossing!
And we had only just got there!
They were heading right for us! Incredible!
There was little panic.
There was the occasional struggle, but nothing untoward.
There was some relief on getting over to this side.
It was all over very quickly. Such a small group doesn't take long.
Nothing died.
Nothing eaten.
Except breakfast for us.
Next to some hippos of course.
Our own crossing had been delayed. But before we crossed we saw another herd of wildebeest. Considerably larger this time. We began to think that maybe the experts had been wrong about the lack of wildebeest north of the Mara.
They looked like they might cross, but they decided against it.
We began to think that this week might go ahead as originally planned. Already we'd seen a crossing, but it didn't look too dangerous did it?
Would the danger of this river become more evident?
Well, yes. And it didn't take long.
Yes, this river is dangerous.
Yes, crossing it is a gamble.
And not just for the wildebeest.....
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| Unconventional underwater photography. |
In the next chapter we finally get to the other side of the river, and discover how to make babies.
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