Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

February 7, 2010 – Serengeti Showdown

This is Dave and Darcy with a dispatch from the Serengeti. We arrived in the park late yesterday afternoon and Jacob offered to take us on a game drive in a remote area that he liked. Jacob had driven a few miles down the road when a tropical downpour let loose. The roads deteriorated quickly so he wisely decided to abandon operations and head back. Even so, we had to cross a swollen stream and just after Jacob warned us to hold on, the front end dropped and water came right over the front hood of the Land Cruiser! Darcy and I continue to be greatly impressed with Jacob’s driving skills and the Land Cruiser’s prowess. Shortly after, we arrived safely at the Sopa Lodge.

The next day started at 4:00AM in the rain and in the dark. For about two hours, we drove down goat trails that any sane person would rate as impassible! The ruts were deep, the mud knee deep so that the Land Cruiser jerked wildly from side to side. We did see some giraffes and a hippo in the headlights which was very cool. As the sun began to rise, we arrived at the balloon launching site, where three enormous yellow and green balloons were ready to go.

The balloons launched to a spectacular sunrise, drifted over a large number of giraffes and some hippos wallowing in a swampy area but we weren’t lucky enough to pass over a migrating herd of wildebeest. After landing, we enjoyed a 5-star breakfast in the savannah with about 50 other adventurers from all over the world! Very nice!

Jacob met us at the landing site and suggested we take a short detour where we stumbled upon nature in its rawest form. The scene we were about to witness was right out of a National Geographic special. It started out with a lioness in a tree, surveying the savannah for game, and ended in a showdown with six lions and an entire herd of cape buffalo at odds with each other.

Jacob had just pointed out a lone mother cape buffalo and calf and commented that they were in grave danger. Shortly after, the lioness jumped down from a tall acacia tree and began stalking. At about 50 meters from the calf, the lioness broke into a full charge and the mother water buffalo went into a mad rage. The cat couldn’t separate the calf and mother water buffalo, and the mother eventually charged and treed the cat.

Then a big male lion entered the scene from another direction, followed by another male and two more lionesses. A huge fight broke out between the lions and the cape buffalo, with lots of huffing and roaring. At one point, the big male lion got too close to the cape buffalo and she launched the cat into the air with her horns. Just when things couldn’t look worse for the mother cape buffalo and her calf, an entire herd of buffalo came to her rescue! The buffalo cows surrounded the mother and calf and the big bulls chased off the lions. The lions, apparently defeated, left but looked over their shoulders as if to say “we’ll be back”.

Jacob is amazing! He seems to know exactly where the action is and bends over backwards to get us there. We have seen the Big Five (lion, leopard, cape buffalo, elephant, and rhinoceros) and captured all of them on digital photographs or videos.

Dave and Darcy