Location, location, location: One of Serian’s mobile camps on the Serengeti plains
ALEX WALKER’S SERIAN
In a grassy spot under an acacia tree, a few hundred metres uphill from our simple fly-camp in the northern Serengeti, is a sizeable bull elephant. On other safaris, in other circumstances, this would be nothing remarkable. But there’s something about fly-camping and bushwalking that gives every wildlife encounter a particularly vivid edge. As I take a few steps forward for a closer look, it’s almost like seeing an elephant for the first time. Without the reassuring elevation of a vehicle, I feel smaller. By attempting to measure the elephant’s distance from us in paces, I feel closer. And by focusing on the faint breeze — its direction, the delicate aromas it wafts towards us and the tiniest noises it carries — I feel acutely attuned to my surroundings.
Our guide, Alex Walker, and our Hadza tracker, Njile, are scuffing the ground with their toes to check that the breeze is steady, and speaking Swahili in rapid whispers. “He’s upwind, but we don’t know how calm he is”, says Alex to me, about the elephant. “Because I’ve only been to this spot a few times before, and we just arrived yesterday, we haven’t had a chance to get to know him yet. That slight smell of turnips? That’s broken acacia. We must take care. Lone bulls can be unpredictable.” It’s a thrilling start to our morning walk. As we stride on warily, looping safely away from the elephant, Alex and Njile are in bush-detective mode, checking the ground for tracks and testing dung and broken branches for freshness.
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