The drive north is long (around 5 hours) but the scenery is spectacular and for the most part the road less bone-rattling. Reaching the rolling hills of the north by mid-afternoon we drove through the long golden green swaying grasses to find the forward parties of the Great Migration speckling the landscape in all directions. The black-brown herds of already around two hundred thousand wildebeest, just a small portion of the two million still to come honking their comical calls and feisty males giving chase to daring interlopers.
Our four days in the North Serengeti found us hopping daily to a new camp; all different and all spectacular. Lamai; an organic adobe style creation blends into a rocky hillside with an airy open feel and incredible vistas, Sayari is a sleek and luxurious tented camp with a large pool for the boys to let off steam, Kaskaz Mara a simpler, more intimate tented camp where we were surprised with bush sundowners and dancing and finally our safari ended at the spectacular Kuria Hills; a safari camp with a luxurious boutique resort feel, private plunge pools, glass fronted ‘tents’ and impeccable staff and service.
Our game drives in the fresh early morning air or in the soothing cool breezes of late afternoon took us through seas of ever increasing herds and found us a huge leopard who eyed us imperiously from his rocky sunset throne and a pride of lion with young cubs tearing into a wildebeest carcass while nearby an enormous maned male watched us unflinchingly through the grass not more than fifteen feet away.
Inky, star-filled nights were accompanied by the ceaselessly honking, all-night shin-dig of wildebeest, the whooping of hyena and deep throaty lion breaths as we lay in crisp cotton sheets and soaked in the last few days of our safari adventure.