At last we were in the Serengeti –
Question: Was it worth all the fuss and cost and time?
Simple answer (looking back) – YES
Question: Would we come again?
YES
….
We did the admin at Ndabaka gate which is north west of the park at the Western end of the Western Corridor
The Rangers on the gate were very pleasant and spoke English well, the ablution blocks were clean and one could even buy coffee.
And so we entered the Western Corridor of the Serengeti – our aim was to do a game drive and go to the Seronera info centre, buy a guide book/map on The Serengeti and then make our way to the Ngiri public camp and plan the next 4 days.
We saw Monkeys, Baboons, Zebra, Wildebeest, a wide of birds, giraffe, buffalo along the way.
This Marabou (Undertaker) Stork was one of about 10 cleaning up something dead in the bush on the side of the gravel road about 5km into the Western Corridor. There was a lot of water in the ground in this area, almost like areas of marshland
These are some of the rest of the Marabou gathering – they were unperturbed by our slowly approaching vehicle and eventually casually moved aside so we could pass through:
The western corridor in the Serengeti has two rivers as dominant features of the area. The major river is the Grumeti River which runs in a westerly direction for about 100 km from Serengeti Central towards Lake Victoria.
The Mbalageti River is about 20km south of the Grumeti River. The rivers run in parallel with grassland in between.
Along this stretch we saw our first of many Wildebeest, Zebra and a relaxed Baboon
At Seronera information Centre we enquired after Veronica Roods “The Tourist Travel & Field Guide og the Srengeto National Park” – they unfortunately had none in stock all they had was $15 Map, which we declined. We felt a bit pressured at the Seronera info Centre due to “guides” hanging around offering their services – you pay them a negotiated rate to show you the park – they drive in your car with you. Besides us not having room we prefer making our own mistakes and the joy of self-discovery plus we felt because you had to stick to the roads. We found out later (day 4) that befriending guides can pay dividends as they network with each other. That was after we had made some mistakes but had made many self discoveries.
We were told that Veronica Roods book should be available at the Seronera Airport info centre.
It being late in the day we made our way to the Nyegere (Ngiri) Public Campsite.
Many thanks Andre & Ester Badenhorst and Alex Smit who we met at Kisolanza Old Farm campsite for so willingly sharing information and insights into the Serengeti – it was useful info.
Ngiri Camp is a public campsite which means it costs a little less than a “special campsite” and it has facilities that are shared with other campers. Ngiri is also the campsite that is used by big Overlanders. We arrived and Jules cleverly inspected all buildings and found a building which had a solar power system – so we moved close so that our extension leads could tap into the power source. But we had left a vital power adapter at Mwanza Tunza Lodge (UK to SA adapter).
So we had to make a plan – this is Barry cutting and rejoining plugs and adapters from kettles with UK plugs onto SA extention leads – it worked
This is a pic of the large food preparation and kitchen building
This is the large open room with solar power.
The ablution block had cold water (no donkey) so we used our kettle (Acquired in Lusaka) and boiled water and used our camp shower – rigged up in the showers.
The first night we were there alone and heard hyena, lion and jackal in the distance.
Lion and hyena have been known to come into Ngiri camp in the past – but not this time.