I recently visited Singita Grumeti, the reserve in the western corridor of the world-renowned Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. During my visit, I had the opportunity of meeting many inspiring new people that work for Singita in our various lodges there, learnt about the Grumeti Fund, was introduced to many new mammal and bird species and I was able to get a better understanding of how the work of the Grumeti Reserve has contributed to the protection of wildlife, the land and how it’s benefited people living around the reserve.

During my six weeks on the reserve, I was fortunate enough to see massive herds of wildebeest and zebra migrating northward into Kenya and this in turn increased the chances of seeing the interactions of species hunting cooperatively, scavengers like hyenas and vultures portraying their role in the circle of life and watching the open landscape with scattered trees of the Serengeti/Mara ecosystem changing every day!

Some of the spectacular moments included witnessing a demonstration by the K9 unit, capturing many different bird species with my camera and compiling a list of over 200 species with 60 birds being new species (lifers) to me! Also finding a female leopard with two cubs along the Grumeti River, camping along the Grumeti River, watching a cheetah hunt from start to end, seeing hot air balloons floating over the vast landscape, getting to see the Mara River and spending hours exploring the bush with guests from all over the world!

*Images of:

• The plains below Singita Sasakwa Lodge
• Guide training with Alan Yeowart
• The Grumeti Fund K9 unit
• Bird slide test & safaris from hot air balloons
• Tanzania/Kenya Border in Lamai & Hildebrandt’s starling
• The elusive black-headed gonolek & red-cheeked cordon-bleu
• Grey-crested helmet-shrike
• Black and white colobus monkey