Mara River Crossing
This might come as a shock to my Calgarian friends, but “the greatest show on Earth” is actually not the Calgary Stampede - it’s the Great Migration. Thanks to Asaria’s love of talking and my love of asking, here are some interesting facts I learned about this sensational event:
The Great Migration is the largest herd movement of animals on the planet
more than 2 million animals (wildebeest, zebra, gazelle) follow the rains in search of grazing and water
each animal covers 800-1200km on its journey along the migration routes (the circuit takes them from the south of the Serengeti in Tanzania, up through the Serengeti and across into the Masai Mara in Kenya and back again)
with up to 1000 animals per km², the herds can be seen from space
We are all now equipped with some new fun facts for social events - you’re welcome!
On our fourth day of safari, we arrived at Karibu Mara River Camp in the northern Serengeti. This would be home for two nights while we hoped to be lucky enough to witness the annual wildebeest migration crossing. Only ten minutes from the Mara River, this site was a proper tented camp with the tents arranged so that each one has its own view into the bush, making it feel quite private.
You know the routine by now - we arrive, we receive a drink, a damp cloth and a safety brief, and proceed to our tent. Unique to this lodge, we also had a tutorial on operating a radio as we had to use one to connect with the main lodge when we needed an escort to retrieve us. After changing into something a bit warmer, we walked back to the main lodge to sit by the fire. A herd of wildebeest meandered past nearby as we enjoyed our sundowners.
Eventually, a staff member called Edward joined us around the fire and shared stories from his life growing up in a Maasai community. He was an excellent storyteller, unable to remain in his seat due to his enthusiasm. My favourite was a story he titled “the accidental lion hunt.” Edward had been tending his herd of cattle when he thought he saw a herd of gazelle napping nearby. Thinking that he would be rewarded handsomely if he returned home with a kill, he crawled as close as he could get before leaping into the clearing. When his feet hit the ground, he had the horrifying realization that it was not a herd of gazelle. It was a pride of lions. Both parties were equally shocked. He ran for his life and managed to escape, but in the chaos a few of his livestock were lost. He was not celebrated the way he had hoped when he returned home that night. Poor guy.
Typically Asaria would disappear soon after making sure we were settled into a new camp, but this time we asked him if he would join us for dinner. He explained that there were guide quarters completely separate from the main areas of all accommodation where he was expected to stay. We also recognized that may have been a polite way for him to take a much needed break from us after being in a small, enclosed space with us all day. This time, Asaria accepted our dinner invitation and we talked about many things including what he had planned for us the following day. His suggestion was to wake up earlier than ever (before breakfast) to get to the river early and be properly poised for a crossing before the sun was fully up. By this point, we trusted his judgement fully so agreed we should wake up at an ungodly hour and get on the road. Asaria said goodnight to us and went to coordinate our “breakfast to go” for the next morning, while Lindsay and I were escorted to bed.
The next morning we woke up excited about our first attempt at catching a river crossing. I was sending up prayers to David Attenborough that he may shine down some blessings upon us that day. We were escorted to the lodge to meet Asaria while it was still dark. After collecting our breakfast we headed out to the vehicle. By this time, the sky was lit up with stunning shades of purple! It was a beautiful (slightly chilly) drive to the river that morning as the sun came up. There are a few specific sites where animals attempt their crossings. This can change over the years though, as apparently after some flooding in 2018 and 2020, the Mara River slightly changed its course which created new bends in the river, causing a shift in the crossing points used by the animals. The more you know.
During our conversations with Asaria, we had learned that he was a senior safari guide and was held in high esteem throughout the industry in Tanzania. We could see how respected he was whenever we crossed paths with other guides both on the road and at our accommodations. Due to his many years of experience, he had “special” spots he wanted us to wait in, so that’s just what we did. He got us properly situated (with the truck top raised obviously) and then proceeded to make us our morning coffee. We enjoyed a simple breakfast and coffee from my new favourite barista as we listened to the Serengeti come to life around us.
After breakfast had been cleaned up, we had nothing but time for me to ask more and more questions. We were very curious about the rules of a crossing and what we could expect if/when the animals did decide to move. The wildebeest were congregated on the ridge line across the river, so if they did cross they would be coming right at us. Asaria told us that wildebeest, or Gnu, are not the brightest creatures. My understanding is that they each have 1-3 brain cells, sometimes even sharing those few cells between a couple of individuals. Oftentimes the herd will gather at a crossing point, but none will take the first plunge or accidentally fall into the river signalling a crossing, so they’ll be there for hours or even days.
The rules of a crossing are this:
You must be parked a specific distance from the river while you wait for the crossing to begin (this distance differs depending on which crossing point you are at)
You cannot begin to approach the riverbank until the first animal is at least halfway across the river
You must stay in your vehicle (ugh)
You must leave sufficient space for animals that have successfully crossed to pass freely
Once that first animal has hit the halfway mark, your guide suddenly becomes an F1 driver and you are flying towards the riverbank at unfathomable speeds. The first time this happened, Lindsay and I were crying with laughter by the time we reached the banks. Asaria had told us to sit down and hold on, but we hadn’t really taken him seriously because he’d said that before for very mild driving situations. This time was different and we reached the viewing spot wide awake after being briefly airborne in the rover.
Watching the crossing was exciting on so many levels. If you’re like me, it’s a spectacle you’ve been watching on TV for years and so are working through big emotions as you come to terms with the fact you’re now seeing it live with your own eyeballs. It’s also stressful to watch as the few minutes it takes for an animal to cross is arguably one of the most dangerous moments of its life. Some of them don’t take the trail down to the water but decide instead to just….jump off the cliff. Others make an unfortunate misstep mid-crossing and are trampled and drowned. It was interesting to watch some of them try to utilize their limited brain-cell resources; there was one animal that tried to cross between two stones and got stuck between them. Instead of backing up and continuing a different route, it just….stood there and was left behind. We did witness one unfortunate member get pulled under by a crocodile. While it was swift, I still didn’t look back in that direction for a few minutes just in case.
Those that emerged victorious were numerous, their thundering hoofbeats and grunts drowning out everything else. There were some that made the crossing successfully, but were limping or not weight bearing at all when they pulled themselves out of the water. Their success would unfortunately be short-lived as they would likely be preyed upon during the night. I tried not to think about that. Nature can be heart breaking.
After the last wildebeest crossed, we left the riverbank to explore the northern Serengeti for the rest of the day. Asaria brought us to this massive plain that felt very much like something out of Jurassic Park. As we drove through, we were surrounded by creatures - elephants, zebra, wildebeest, fox. Eventually we stopped and I was thrilled to learn we were allowed to get out of the vehicle! Asaria had brought us to the border of Kenya and Tanzania where we could stretch our legs and to Lindsay’s delight, take many photos and videos of ourselves. We met a man from Montreal who had also stopped there; he was on a safari holiday in Kenya and was stepping over the border to Tanzania!
We then continued our game drive throughout the afternoon and returned to camp as a massive storm was rolling in. I am a huge fan of thunderstorms on a normal day, but the ones that roll through the plains are incredible.
On our escorted walk to bed that night, there was lighting flashing across the sky so brightly that our escorts flashlight was barely needed. Inside our tent, the wind picked up so much that our chandelier (yes our tent had a chandelier) was swinging! We fell asleep that night to the big storm sounds from the coziness of our little beds.
Our final day in the north began with coffee and breakfast at the riverbank in hopes of seeing another crossing. David Attenborough smiled down on us and we witnessed a crossing of about 800 animals! Other notable things that happened this day:
my love for tiny bananas remains strong (if you know you know)
Lindsay had to go pee behind the truck while we waited for a crossing
we watched two young (2 years-ish) elephants running around playing together - so cute!
Asaria took us to see a vile hippo pool filled with hippo s%!# and included a floating hippo carcass that the living hippos didn’t seem concerned about in the slightest. I took a lovely photo of Lindsay here for posterity.
We arrived back at Kubu Kubu to take some fabulous photos on the veranda. There was a massive herd of wildebeest crossing the plains while we sat and debriefed our last full day in the Serengeti.
The next morning we departed Kubu Kubu for our last Serengeti game drive as we made our way out of the park. We passed by a large herd of zebra and wildebeest which at this point had sort of lost its lustre. Asaria explained that these two species are often seen together because wildebeest cannot see but have an excellent sense of hearing, while zebra have excellent eyesight to see predators approaching from afar. Therefore, they like to stay close to take advantage of one another’s skills (and in the wildebeests case, the few additional braincells provided by the zebra are a welcome bonus). It’s amazing how quickly you become accustomed to seeing something. On our first day of safari we spent ten minutes looking at a handful of wildebeest through binoculars, and days later we no longer felt the need to stop at all.
Later in the morning we came across a solo lioness resting under a tree. We had stopped to watch her when suddenly, another little head popped up - she had a cub with her! He was only about one month old and was quite possibly the sweetest little baby I’d ever seen. We weren’t able to get any closer to see him better because of the game drive rules in National Parks. They differ from reserves in that your guide must stay on the marked paths during your game drive, while in a reserve there is more flexibility and you are able to take the vehicles off the road. Our little lion cub was being a bit cheeky and didn’t stay visible for long, but it was a real treat to have seen him!
Nearby, we came across a pride of sleepy lions resting across a small creek. There was not much movement but it was the largest group we had seen all together. Some other sightings throughout the day included:
buffalo
2 leopards, one up close and one further back on a rock ledge
a lady yelling at me because I was taking too long viewing the leopard and she wanted her turn to pull closer
a MASSIVE grasshopper that broke the rules and entered our vehicle
zebra
elephants
We then went back onto our least favourite dusty road (the one we thought previously was the fastest safari on earth) and made our way towards our final park, Ngorongoro Crater. This area would be our best opportunity to find our final member of the Big Five - the rhinoceros!