A simple signpost marks the south entrance to the Serengeti National Park, three torturous hours or so after the Oldupai Gorge. I feel a momentary stab of anxiety at this desolate place- we must have our exit pass stamped for leaving Ngorongoro/Oldupai by 2:30. The parks are strict about the 24-hour pass. There is not a ranger post or uniform in sight, just dust and a handful of Maasai herd boys. Jim points out that there is only one road, a terrible road, but it is the only one. We will get to a ranger post soon enough. When we do arrive at the formal gate a park employee is happy to stamp the exit pass and give us advice on Serengeti, the last park we will visit in Tanzania.

The Serengeti is so big it is broken into sections. Seronera is in the eastern center, the Masai-Mara area is north on the Kenyan border and the western corridor borders Lake Victoria. The Maswa Game Reserve holds down the southwestern section; there are few roads there and I can well imagine how sorry they must be. The wildebeest are in the north in huge numbers, crossing the Grumeti River towards the Mara but we elect not to drive that far – it would mean two days driving on bad to awful roads and one day hoping to get very lucky and witness a crossing. We opt for the public campground at Seronera. Camping is $30 per person per night. Conservation fee is $40 pppd and the vehicle fee, based on weight, is $50 per day. Then there is the 18% VAT. So figure $200 per 24-hour period. It is worth every penny.

Timing is everything for a 24-hour permit. Ideally entering at 3:30pm gives plenty of time to do an afternoon drive/recognizance and plenty of time to make the exit gate upon departure day. It is 34 kilometers to DikDik public campsite from the Serengeti entry gate; we have to be at DikDik by 7pm. Lots of time to explore, right? There are rock koppies in the distance; they symbolize the Serengeti to me – unending grass plains broken by these hills of rocks and trees. I can’t wait to see one up close, and this one is special indeed. There is a pride of lion with cubs hanging around the rocks. We barely make it to our campsite in time, there were so many lion to stop and admire, not to mention birds and countless ungulates. Welcome to the Serengeti.

Mapmaker Veronica Roodt has produced a map/guide for this park and it matches up well to the Garmin; there are game drive tracks all over the place and it is good to have two sources. Still, early the next day we find ourselves on a track that doesn’t appear on either Garmin or the Roodt – how does this happen? Fortuitously as it turns out. We spot a lioness with two cubs in the long grass. She appears to be alone and the cubs are fair-sized, not nearly as tiny as the ones we saw at Buffalo Camp. There are no other lions around we can see. We can suppose she is meeting up with her pride rather than trying to raise the cubs on her own, but we will never know that. We drive on – the road is good, there are many prey animals about. If we were cheetahs, we’d be right here. And wouldn’t you know it – here are two cheetah on a dirt mound sitting high and surveying the possibilities. It is 10am. Unlike other cats, cheetah hunt in the daytime. We find a good viewing point and park, waiting is our modus operandi. There is no one else in sight and we can see a very long way. Who knows what will happen.

Are these cheetah mother and son? It looks that way – one is clearly female, smaller and more delicate. The male would likely be her son, mating pairs aren’t generally seen hunting. These two are nonchalant about the prey around them. Some meters away there are springbok, big and small, and lots of warthogs – good cheetah food. There are zebra with foals as well, meaty but dangerous. Cheetah can’t afford to get hurt, there’s no pride protecting them. Time passes. We shift around in our seats – we won’t be able to photograph much and sometimes it is just more fun to watch and not worry about the camera. About an hour later, the female rises up. The springbok males have started jousting and rushing about. The female springbok rush around as well and one baby bokkie runs this way and that, not knowing where to go – and the cheetah make their move. Slowly they stride, then they trot, then the female rockets forward with the bokkie in her sights. A zig, a zag, a shower of dust and up she comes with the baby bokkie firmly in her jaws. Success! Her son lopes over, he was happy to let mom do the hard part. We see all of this; it is the sighting of a lifetime for us. There was no one else watching.

And on it went. The Serengeti gave up lion and leopard like they were common impala. Elephant, giraffe, zebra, hyena and eland were regulars in camp. There were Ruppell’s and Lappet-faced vultures, D’Arnoud’s barbets and red/yellow barbets, superb starling and Shelly’s starlings. . . the list of birds to investigate grew by ten-fold. We stayed an extra day it so was intoxicating. How sad it to was leave this splendid park. Everyone anywhere who helped to make Serengeti happen and who keep it well-tended deserve much praise. May the Serengeti always be here.