7/1 To Enashiva…
We pack up the Land Rover early for a big drive that takes us out of the lower tall grass plain
and into the hilly country of the Northern Serengeti.
About 1.5 hours into the drive we come upon a scene that will unfortunately be seared into our memories. A very large male lion sits under
a tree with
a sleeping female while another male (likely brother to the first male) sits
under a smaller tree 20 yards away. We
watched for 10 minutes. The bigger male
stared at us intently and seemed pretty angry.
He even roared at us, which rarely happens since the animals are
so used to trucks. We soon found out
why.
He hears something a stands up, and we see large gashes just
in front of his hind legs going up over the top of the back, and a
thick wire squeezing his lower abdomen.
Just as we are put into shock, his brother stands up and hobbles to the next
tree… 
on three legs. His right rear foot is gone. Ironically, both brothers have
been snared in poacher traps, and neither will last much more than a week in
the wild. As much as the national parks
try to keep poachers out, they find ways, and two big healthy male lions are
the unfortunate victims on this day. 
Soon we reached Klein’s gate and leave the Serengeti,
travelling east and very closely paralleling the Tanzania/Kenya border. Loliondo is a “game reserve”, not a national
park, so we won’t be restricted by as many rules. We reach our camp there,
and get our first extended relaxation time since Gibbs Farm. Then we go out of a game drive, which is
cool because we don’t need to stay on roads.
This drive is highlighted by Sampson chasing a family of 20 
striped
mongoose! As they race across the
plain, Sampson closes in. Imagine 20
mongoose trying to enter their hole at the same time. They get stuck! Rodents flying everywhere! And one gets shut out and scrambles to the
next hole. Great laugh!
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