Just prior to our Serengeti Safari, we were informed that the U.S. Department of State decided to upgrade the travel advisory in Tanzania from a level three to a level four. The reason why is still a mystery since Tanzania has not been reporting their COVID case load, from the beginning. Per SIT’s guidelines, this means that, unfortunately, we have to relocate the program. Now, where to relocate is the million dollar question. Originally, SIT had in mind to move us to Uganda. However, following some student input, it was decided that Kilifi, Kenya, would be the best option due to its coastal ecology being similar to that of Zanzibar, which is where we were scheduled to spend the second half of our Tanzania program. They gave us two weeks to complete the transition. What this meant in the short-term was that we would have to up our Swahili learning intensity if we were to secure the credits before departure.

With one week of intensive Swahili (4.5 hours a day plus homework) already under our belts, we were left with one more week to prepare for our exam. That meant adding on an extra hour every day. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was, our walimu (teachers) were excellent and made learning fun. They also made it a point to get us out into the community to practice Swahili in real world situations, which helped a lot. One such excursion entailed a trip to the market.

Now, if you are a local living in Tanzania, chances are that you don’t shop at one of the few supermarkets they have, those are for tourists and are overpriced, accordingly. Instead, you get all of your shopping done at markets like the one pictured above. The photo does not adequately capture the true scale of the market. In reality, these markets can encapsulate several football fields with little to no space between any two of the hundreds of stalls present. It’s intense! For this excursion in particular, we had a specific list of food items already in mind given to us by our walimu. Thankfully, we knew how much to pay for each item, ahead of time, because those venders take every opportunity to overcharge a mzungu, not that I blame them. Negotiations were slow as our walimu insisted that we only use Swahili, but the venders were very gracious, which negated a lot of the pressure.

Once we returned to our B&B our group, designated the Guac group, we used the items we purchased at the market to… you guessed it, make guacamole! It turned out pretty good, too, if I do say so myself.

The following day, we had our Swahili exam. Everyone passed with flying colors thanks to our excellent walimu. Shoutout to Mama Beatrice, Mama Ni, and Mama Helen for putting up with us mzungus. Now with our Swahili credits secured, we set our sites to the Kenyan Coast!

Following our three nights in the Serengeti, we headed for the famous Ngorongoro Crater where we were to spend our last night and day on Safari. The crater pictured below is the remnants of an old volcano which collapsed inward on itself more than 2.5 million years ago, following a major eruption. It is worth noting that it is this same eruption that is responsible for the Serengeti plains today. When the volcano erupted, much of the ash was carried westward and settled where the Serengeti savannah currently resides. When the ash settled, heavy rains cemented the ash to create a hard, clay-like layer which remains to this day just a few meters under the surface. It is because of this layer that larger shrubs and trees cannot survive in the grasslands, not being able to sink their roots deep enough for the dry season. Consequently, you are left with grass filled plains as far as the eye can see.

The descent into the crater feels like a descent into an ancient world untouched by time, que the Jurassic Park soundtrack. Surrounded by high cliffs on all sides, the crater is 264 km² of lush grasslands, patches of dense forest, and seasonal lakes and streams. Many of the same species that call the Serengeti home also live in the crater, just on a smaller scale. Everything from Wildebeest, to hippos, to hyenas, the crater has it all!

One of the coolest sightings on the trip so far came when we saw a herd of buffalo, at least a hundred strong, acting a little strange. We drove closer to investigate. Upon further inspection, we discovered that the buffalo were chasing away a pair of lions who had wandered too close to their young. Having decided the trouble was no longer worth it, the pair of lions searched for some shade to recuperate in. Our land rover, providing the only shadow for miles around, was the obvious choice. Before we knew it, the duo waltzed right over to our vehicle and plopped down in the shade to relax. The result, one of the coolest animal encounters I’ve had in my life.

Following the close encounter with the lions, we headed over to the lake region to see what we could find. As if the crater hadn’t been good enough to us already, it provided us with a rare sighting of the Black Rhino — talk about a cherry on the cake! The Black Rhino, up until this point, was the only one of the Big Five we had yet to see. Our list was now complete! Although it was far away, I managed to combine new technology with old by holding my phone up to my binoculars and snapping the pic above. Thus concluded our five day safari, we could not have ended on a better note. Special thanks to our Range Rover drivers Samuel and Julius, our excellent camp crew, wildlife expert Kaiza, Activities Coordinator Oscar, and Academic Advisor Dr. Oliver for ensuring our excursion was a success!

Following a week of intensive Swahili instruction, our quest for the big five brought us to none other than Serengeti National Park! You probably recognize the name Serengeti, and with good reason as it is one of the most famous national parks in the world. The Serengeti contains the largest intact mammal migration in the world with a mobile heard of wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles numbering 2.2 million. Boasting an impressive 30,000 km², the park is also home to the largest concentration of predators both large and small, including everything from lions down to the serval cat. It is home to over 500 species of birds, both permanent residents and migratory, and its unique geological history has ensured a variety of ecosystems. It spans from the famous grasslands (pictured above) to woodlands and small hill ecosystems throughout. I promised national geographic level pictures and I am here to deliver (be warned of the massive impending picture/video dump).

This video above showcases our initial ride into the Serengeti. Along the way, we saw an estimated 500,000 wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle. The clip offers only a small glimpse into what we saw for at least a half hour of our drive; nothing but black dots peppering the horizon for as far as the eye could see. It was evening by the time we got to our camp at the heart of the park. I didn’t manage to snap a picture of our camp this time, but much like in Randilen, it was full-blown tent camping. We often went to sleep to the sound of lions patrolling the perimeter of our site. Seeing hyenas between you and the bathroom at night was not an uncommon site; just don’t show fear and you’ll be fine.

We were to stay in the Serengeti National Park for only three nights, and so the following morning we wasted no time piling in the land rovers and getting to work. Similar to when we were in Randilen, our goal was to conduct perpendicular road counts of all mammals spotted in four different ecosystems of focus, riverland, grassland, woodland, and disturbed habitat. The question of our research would be to determine whether certain species are more apt to be found in certain areas of the park over others. As an added bonus, we would also record animal behavior of every spotted herd/individual to assess species tendency. Now that our methodology was in place, all that was left was to set out and find some animals. In this regard, the Sergeant did not disappoint.

Perpendicular road counts over the two days of recording yielded ten unique mammal species including Topi, Olive Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Hippo, Impala, Buffalo, Elephant, Dik Dik, Water Buck, and Giraffe. Off the record sitings (meaning species spotted outside the realm of our research) included Cheetah, Leopard, Grant’s Gazelle, Thompson’s Gazelle, Wildebeest, Hyena, Serval Cat, Jackal, Hartebeest, many species of birds including Flamingos and Crowned Cranes, and the king of the jungle (Lion). Most often these “off the record” species were spotted on our evening game drive where the predators were more apt to move. One of these evenings, in particular, we were taken to a massive watering hole. At first, we were all confused why our guides had taken us to such a place. At first glance the pool was empty, but then the rocks started making sounds (see below).

Analysis of data yielded mix results for both groups based on a number of different factors, but it was found that certain species of mammals do prefer certain habitats within the Serengeti. For example, our group found Elephants residing exclusively within the grassland habitat while species like the Giraffe and Dik Dik preferred the resources of the woodland. All in all, the Serengeti was very good to us yielding three more of the legendary Big Five; those being the Lion, the Buffalo, and the Leopard. That leaves only one more species to go. So, with the elusive Black Rhino in our sites, we set a course for Ngorongoro!

Enjoy some extra videos of the wildlife below!