I catch the daily morning flight on KLM from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The airport terminal disappears from view within a few minutes of leaving the gate as we taxi through the mist and line up for take off. There is not much to see through the window but ...
We were on safari to witness the wildebeest migration in the green season, when they tend to disperse on the Plains, and we did. Wildebeest were everywhere – around us, behind us, and spread out far into the distance. Sometimes we could see lighter-colored bands of animals, which were herds ...
A contrast to the scenario from my previous post was to happen a few days later when we found two hungry sub-adult cheetah attempting to hunt in an area further west of the Serengeti Plains, where the migratory herds are unlikely to arrive until June. They were young siblings about ...
Throughout the morning we had driven across the Plains through herds of wildebeest and zebra. Day and week old wildebeest calves were everywhere. Prey was so abundant and widespread that it was hard to imagine any predator going hungry. We came across a mother cheetah and her four large cubs ...
As the crew went about their work preparing the balloon, a lone wildebeest ran up to within about fifteen yards of it before running away again. This happened two more times. Then a solitary hyaena started chasing the wildebeest all over the plains, following behind at a distance of about ...
It’s early January in the Serengeti, and the rains this year have been good for the first time in several years. Some years are drier at this time of year, and at such times the wildebeest split up in search of food and water, congregating wherever small sporadic downpours have ...
As we finished lunch we could see a massive hazy cloud approaching. It didn't look very dark or dense, but a gust of wind arrived as I was walking to my tent. In Africa a gust of wind often precedes a storm. I hadn't even arrived at my tent before ...
In December we went on a short family safari in the Serengeti. So many things happened, but these images stand out most in my mind. One day we had a puncture (flat), and Laurence (16) and Alana (13) fixed it, loosening the bolts, jacking up the Land-Rover, heaving the spare ...
Nature is often seemingly extremely harsh or cruel, but putting our values onto Mother Nature is meaningless. Nature has a way, through every action that takes place naturally, of keeping a perfect balance and order of things. On a recent safari we were on a game-drive in the northern Serengeti, ...
As we sat watching her, one of her young cubs approached us in a manner that indicated he had an unusual fascination with the vehicle.
The Serengeti is a vast ecosystem involving a myriad of players. However the star of the show must go to one of the most eccentric of all the protagonists ....
.....males have to do all the running!
