The Great Migration

This happens twice a year as 1.5 million wildebeest, accompanied by zebra and topi move from Tanzania to Kenya (and back) as they graze in the savanna.

It rains in one country, the grass is fresh, green and juicy. They graze until the land goes dry. Then they head to the other country in search of ‘greener pastures’. Rinse, repeat!

The first thing that strikes you in the drive through the Serengeti (Tanzania) and Mara (Kenya) is the sheer expanse of grassland. Dotted with the herd (wildebeest, zebra, topi), as far as your eyes can see.

There is movement: as they slowly graze; as the calves chase each other for fun; as a predator in the vicinity makes them freeze; or flee kicking up dust around them.

There is noise: from the grass being pulled from the earth and crunched; loud bleating as they communicate; their hooves as they run across the grassland heading towards the river.

There is smell: of rain, of fresh blades of grass, of dung brought in by the breeze.

Part 2

It isn’t just the view and the movement of these million wildebeest across the savanna that constitutes the Migration. The most significant part of this event is the “crossing”.

As the herd moves from one country to the other they have to cross the winding, long, and shallow Mara river. The river is filled with giant Nile crocodiles making it dangerous and scary for the herd.

Sighting a “crossing” in the Mara is considered highly eventful, and is a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity. The actual event may take a few minutes but the anticipation of that moment, the waiting, the learning, the reality of nature being superior to us, the understanding of how each animal plays a part - is by far the most exciting and significant bit of this experience.

It begins with knowing which part of the river’s bank to go to, where the view is the best. Where the crossing is likeliest to happen. Where the herd’s path isn’t hampered by us. Where one can see both banks of the river.

If there is a long line of wildebeest running towards the river using the well trodden path; if more herds join them on the way, of gazelles, zebras and topis. They are likely to cross.

If there is loud bleating, and a dust storm like movement (from the sheer number of hooves running at high speed) heading towards the river even if one cannot see the herd. There is a likely crossing.

The herd’s crossing provides easy prey for the Nile crocodiles. If the crocs sense the herd’s movement towards the river, they lay in wait just under water. One can see ripples on the surface as they move stealthily. Another clue to a possible crossing.

If it is closer to the afternoon and the wildebeest are stuck on the dry side of the river, they will likely cross before sunset.

Part 2 - Zimbabwe & Kenya 2019

We arrived at the Mara around 10am and the jeep that picked us up from the airstrip took us on a short game drive. We had seen a few species of birds, a cheetah, some lions and hyenas before we reached Mara Bush Camp to check in. After a relaxed afternoon and a sumptuous lunch, we took off to the Mara River Crossing to try our luck the same evening.

We were fortunate enough to witness a crossing of many zebras and a few wildebeests, where the hungry crocs took down at least 3 of them. It was the most magnificent evening for us, since we set out on our Kenya trip for the second time to be able to witness this exact action packed crossing we had missed last year.

The next few days had us viewing less crossings and some unfortunately missed ones thanks to a whole day out trying to chase the herd. But we got to see an unusual coalition of 5 cheetahs roaming the Mara, a female leopard who we caught alone and had the best sighting for about 45 mins walking across a lengthy stretch of the bush. We also got to see a mother cheetah and her new born cub looking for her other cubs early in the morning.

We got to sight a huge pride of lions, where one of the cubs made a quick chase and killed a baby antelope, followed by a lioness with two naughty cubs who were being stalked by a hyena, and we ended one night with a mother leopard stealthily prowling and hunting a herd of wildebeest. It was way too dark and rainy for us to catch the rest of the action.

We then checked into Governor's Camp for our final stay where our good old friend Kerore took us out every day of the 4 days looking for crossings but it rained every evening and we missed a lot of action since the herd followed the rains instead of heading to the river. However, we got to see the huge Marsh pride with 4 young lionesses with at least 12 cubs of varied ages, many bird species especially the Bataleur Eagle.

Our most unusal and special sighting was the Serval which is very elusive, and many calm herds of elephants. Finally, our last evening safari ended with the lion cub getting so close to the jeep and refusing to let go. The lionesses watching with fear in their eyes at the jeep, and mine reflecting the same. It took the guide some smart moves and reversing carefully to get the cub off the edge of the jeep and driving off in panic. This was the first time I ever felt utter fear in the bush.

The next morning, we went on a short drive viewing the marsh birds, a huge hippo pod and took our flight back to Nairobi. Here we spent a few hours in the hotel room relaxing, and finally took the night flight and returned home early morning.

Part 1 - Zimbabwe & Kenya 2019

Our 2018 trip to Kenya was not a very memorable one, what with a lot of issues with the agent who booked us into the wrong itinerary, last minute issues with a good jeep and incorrect lodges. We wanted to go back to Kenya using the agent's compensation, and chose the same time of the year to see some of the crossings. We also wanted to visit a new country and decided to head to Zimbabwe.

We took a flight out of Dubai and landed early evening in Lusaka, Zambia, then took a bus ride and crossed the border over to Zimbabwe. We spent three nights 528 Victoria Falls which was run by a South African couple who also lived on the property. A green and new home that we really loved. Our first morning was spent flying in a helicopter over the Zambezi River and the gorgeous Victoria Falls. This was followed by a good 2 hour hike on the edge of the Vic Falls on the Zambezi side. We saw a lot of flora and fauna, walked past the bridge that connects Zambia & Zimbabwe which is a popular bungee jumping location.

The next morning, we went on an early safari into the Zambezi National Park that was both on the jeep watching quite a few elephants and antelopes. We also did a 1 hour walking safari with the anti-poaching squad that showed us how snares are put up and how the squad works towards keeping both animal and plant poachers at bay. The same evening was our sunset cruise over the Zambezi river and saw quite a few water birds, and the usual crocs, hippos etc. but the sight of the sun setting in Africa is always a gorgeous one.

On the 4th morning we flew out on a chartered flight to Lake Kariba's Bumi Hills Airstrip. The ranger from the lovely Musango Camp picked us up and took us on a safari through the Matusadona National Park, and when we landed in the camp, we were informed that we had no internet connections and were cut off from the outside world. What a welcome change this was!

We spent 4 days here with the lovely Steve Edwards, the most knowledgeable and kind ornithologist. He challenged himself and took us on several boat trips, and a couple of jeep rides around the Lake Kariba and covered close to 106 different species of birds. We were enthralled and looked forward to every single interaction with him. The Camp itself is thickly wooded and is a welcome home to several species of birds, with an elecric fence around to keep the big game out, we felt safe and special on the island. As part of our outings, we did some unsuccessful fishing, fed the fish eagles and took a trip to the island village nearby.

We flew out of Lake Kariba and landed in Nairobi, Kenya for a night. Our next morning's flight took us to Masai Mara, for the second part of our trip.

Part 3 - Austria - April 2019

An evening walk around town, and the next morning to Tirol for our scheduled ski lessons. Which turned out to be super fun for the boys, and they actually learnt to ski. Both the adults managed a load of falls and gave up quite easily, what with the realization that skiing was like doing yoga on a floor smeared with oil. The Ski boots are super heavy (3 kgs on each foot) and skis and sticks and the stiff walking and in and out of cable cars, this was hard. But we had fun, and actually were happy to know that given so much heavy duty walk and weight, the cold didn’t even affect us.

With Tirol & Skiing behind us, we drove out the next morning to Leichenstein, which is a 25km long principality is a German speaking country. Beautiful, quaint with alpine landscapes and medieval castles, we walked all over its capital Vaduz. We then drove to Appenzel Village through the narrow winding roads up the hill to take in the gorgeous view.  After stopping for some hot chocolate and muffins we drove back to Innsbruck.

Our next day began with a drive to Salzburg, where the evening was spent walking through the ‘Sound of Music’ famed Mirabel Palace, the Abbey, the Cemetery, and the Fountain. Since we had nothing much planned for Salzburg, we decided to drive to Munich the next day. Regretted not spending more time here – we saw the Marienplatz, Frauenkirche and the BMW Museum, but missed the English Gardens.

Our next morning was spent with the Von Tropp family locations on the second part of our Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. With a lovely Mexican meal near the Mozart home, we wound up for the day. We drove to Vienna the next morning and drove around the city, caught some views and a lot of traffic and renovations. But our highlight was the much-needed Fondue fix, now we were truly ready to get back to Dubai.

Part 2 - Switzerland - April 2019

We took an early morning train to the cutest, quaintest, smallest car-free town of Zermatt. Our best meal through the trip was lunch at an organic restaurant here, where we had the tastiest healthy sandwiches made from bread that was freshly baked by a family run bakery in town.

We spent 5 hours outdoors walking around, getting drenched in the rain, and riding the underground funicular up the canton of Valais, to see the beautiful Sunnegga lookout. It was snowing hard up there and was freezing cold – it was like silent rain and felt so serene. We spent a night in Zermatt so we could take the early morning Glacier Express to St. Moritz – most expensive tourist spot in Switzerland.

Glacier Express - The 9 hour ride through the Alps gave us the most spectacular views – of lakes, meadows, quaint villages, snow capped mountains, valleys, and several tunnels and bridges. Parts of the tracks in some valleys were cleared off snow just a few minutes before the train passed, giving us a beautiful snow path view.

St. Moritz welcomed us with a strong drizzle and light snow. But, this didn’t deter us, we checked in and immediately went on a long walk on the banks of the River Staz. The river was frozen solid, but not safe enough for ice skaters, so it was empty but for the runners and dog walkers around its bank. We then found our way to Devil’s Place, a bar that houses 2,500 different kinds of whiskies. We needed the stiff drink, and the boys enjoyed a yummy mugs of hot chocolate after the cold tiring walk.

It snowed all night, and the morning view from the hotel room was a heavily snow covered city. Since our plans to do another funicular ride up the Alps could not happen, we did the next best thing on a mini-blizzard day. We went for a 2.5 hour tennis session to an indoor academy and enjoyed ourselves.

                                     

We waited at the lobby of the hotel the next morning, before the high-ways were cleared off the avalanches. We then picked up our car from the beautiful village of Samedhan. We drove through mountains covered with snow into green green Austria. We checked into an Airbnb place in the cute little town of Igls in Innsbruck.