Dunia and Moru Kopjes

Friday, 21^st January

This morning we went after breakfast to the Sopa Lodge, not to far from Dunia, where there is a doctor.  There I was treated free of charge and given some ‘dawa’ which has already cured the pain!  There was I, having nightmares of evil ‘dudus’ burrowing through my ear into my brain, or at the very least an infection bursting my eardrum while far from any kind of medical facilities!  Visions of being medivaced out and ruining our safari plagued me all night.  Modern communications, improved infrastructure and increased tourist traffic have shrunk Tanzania as much as everywhere else.  No longer is the middle of the Serengeti an isolated place devoid of medical facilities or reliable methods of communication into which one could disappear and never be found.

Buffalo near Moru Kopjes

We then drove to Moru Kopjes, although the plains were empty of wildebeest, zebra or gazelles and we had no expectations of seeing any exciting wildlife.  First we went to take a look at the flamingos on Lake Magadi.  Then we continued to the kopjes themselves.  We thought we might see a pride of lions sunning themselves on a kopje, but there wasn’t any sign of any predators and the road didn’t pass close enough to look properly.  We were not able to get close to the kopje with the cave paintings and the ‘gong’ rock, where in years past we had picnicked.  However, it is very beautiful and I was really happy to see this lovely place once again. 

One of the group of kopjes which make up the Moru Kopjes

A vervet monkey enjoying eating the flowers of an acacia tree

These vultures were waiting for a turn at the carcass of a wildebeast

Warthog enjoying the mud in a rut in the track

We returned to the camp for lunch and then set off for Seronera.

We saw a herd of more than 30 elephants on both sides of the road as we set off!  They had been around the camp in the night, but that hadn’t disturbed our sleep.  We also saw a lone cheetah on the plains.

A cheetah hunting on the plains

Elephants near Dunia Camp

Seronera

The drive to Seronera was filled with memories, though as we got close it wasn’t so easy to know where we were because the roads have all changed, and multiplied, and the vegetation has become denser and the trees taller than they were.  The river and the hills and kopjes are the same, however.  We found our way first to SRI, or Serengeti Research Institute.  We were shown around the labs, office and library by a young accountant only recently arrived there himself.  Everything is pretty much the same as when we left, except that the generator is much bigger and housed properly in a large concrete shed.  The water supply no longer comes from Bologonja and the pipeline is beyond repair, but everyone now has enormous black polythene tanks to store rain water.  After our tour of the institute, we wandered off to see the house where we used to live.  There we were very hospitably greeted and shown around by Richard and Sian Hoare who have lived in it for the last 8 years, and have altered and extended it almost beyond recognition.  Richard is a vet heading up a Messerli Foundation funded Wildlife Veterinary Programme.  It seems that SRI has continued to function with scientists working there from all over the world.  Now of course there are phones and satellite TV and internet.

Serengeti Research Institute from the kopje behind the labs

This house was the hostel for new arrivals and single researchers

SRI can be found amongst this group of kopjes

Helmut talking to one of the administrative staff outside the labs where he used to work.

The view from the veranda of the house we used to live in.

Our old house, now occupied by the vet Richard Hoare, and his wife, Sian.

We left our hosts at about 5:30 and set off to find our camp, which was supposed to be very near to Seronera, just the other side of Makoma Hill.  No-one seemed to be sure exactly where it might be because there are dozens of camps scattered around the area.  After a few wrong turns and being redirected by the staff at two different camps, we finally found Makoma 2 Wild Frontiers Camp, quite a long way from where we expected, about fifteen minutes before sundown.  We were getting rather worried.  This camp is much less sophisticated than Dunia and we think that the cook must have been to the same school as the one at Rhino Lodge!  It certainly feels a little more like camping, however.  Nevertheless, the staff are very friendly and helpful, we were welcomed and looked after very well indeed and the facilities are adequate.  There seem to be no animals at all anywhere around here, not even wart hogs!  It is quite a long way from Seronera – at least half an hour’s drive once one knows the way.  We ate supper and enjoyed a jolly evening with the other four guests, young Japanese Australians, and their driver, before going to bed around nine o’clock.  There is electricity at the camps, but the lights are too feeble to read by or to encourage one to stay up late.

Our tent at Makoma 2 Wilderness Camp

Sunrise at Wilderness Camp