Interdependence in Action: The Journeys of the Serengeti

One of my favourite things about Africa is seeing the sun set over flat savannah landscape often with silhouettes of acacia trees and sometimes animals roaming in the distance. As the stunning glow of the sunset fades, Jupiter, over 350 million miles away, comes into view dominating the early evening sky, until becoming submerged by many thousands of stars visible in the absence of light pollution. Within them, the most distant object visible to the human eye, the Andromeda Galaxy at around two-and-a half million light year away, can also be seen. What is less immediately apparent though is how despite being so far away, they both have a connection to the origin and development of humankind, as well as perhaps also to its immediate present and future.

Sunrise above the Serengeti 

After experiencing the Mountain Gorillas in the dense, thick vegetation of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, travelling across the equator, the thick forests along rugged terrain gradually began to fade into the flatter and more open, extensive landscape of the savannah, a unique and unusual landscape for its region, and one which has played a major part in shaping life on Earth as we know it today. Like the Amazon Basin in South America and neighbouring West Africa, East Africa should also in theory be similarly dominated by thick, dense rainforests. The formation of the Great Rift Valley though, around 30 million years ago, saw the forests disappear, with many tree species not being able to grow through the volcano ash deposited in the soil, other than a sparse distribution of acacia trees. While the tree growth is hindered, the growth of grass thrives, sustaining the vast herds of herbivorous mammals, mainly zebra and wildebeest, who feed on it.

Migrating wildebeest and zebra

The journey brought by the formation of the Great Rift Valley also altered the journeys of the rain, giving the Serengeti its own seasons, which are marked by rain rather than temperature. The escarpments shield the savannahs from rainfall coming from West Africa, with of the heavy rainfall in the Serengeti usually take place between January and February with the warm water vapour from the Indian Ocean being blown across the plains where it cools to rain, from where many great more journeys begin merging into one of our planet’s most spectacular sites, the Great Wildebeest Migration, where huge herds of wildebeest, zebra, impala, gazelles and other species of mammals the savannahs are home to set off on epic journeys following the rains for fresh grass and maybe also pools of fresh water.  

Seeing the savannah from above at close proximity, flying in a hot air balloon, the traces of the journeys made by the many migrating animals can clearly be made out, almost looking like a network of country lanes. Looking out over the vast grasslands from above, one can see just how appropriately named the Serengeti is. Meaning ‘endless plains’ in the Masai language, the scale of just how long the migrations made by the many thousands of animals each year are. When boarding the basket for a hot air balloon, passengers are seated sideways rather than upright while the basket is on its side, similar to how astronauts are seated during launch. The roar from the balloon’s burner during the launch can almost make one feel like they are an astronaut being blasted into outer space! Being seated in the astronaut position made me imagine myself not just as the astronaut I inspired to be when growing up, but regarding how I often felt growing up with undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome, as an astronaut visiting Earth from another planetary system, looking for signs of extra-terrestrial life, something which the criss-cross network of tracks made by animals would be exciting to see from such a perspective.

Tracks left by migrating animals viewed from balloon flight

Following the various animal tracks from above, one can see what the tracks have led migrating animals to, often to pools filled with fresh rainwater which have since dried up. Seeing animals from above, one sees how they often make their natural surroundings their guide. To the migrating herbivores, the journeys of the rain almost act as their form of ‘sat nav’ to guide them to their next source of food and water, while to the predators, to whom the Serengeti is also home to, including leopards, lions, cheetahs and hyenas, use various features of the landscape as hiding places and vantage points to snare their next source of food. Dotted around the grasslands are ‘kopjes’, islands of volcanic rocks, on which lions can sometimes be seen using as vantage points to look out for their prey while leopards use trees to good effect as hiding places, making them so hard for the human animal spotter to find. Back on the ground, seeing a cheetah in action during a kill shows how predators have evolved to catch their prey with an incredible acceleration of speed. As well as the many tracks made by migrating wildebeest, darker and broader tracks can also be seen, which are the tracks of journeys made by hippos, who migrate to find pools of water, in which it is easier for them move being such large animals. Stopping at a hippo pool, I was lucky enough to witness the birth of a baby hippo!  

New born hippo and mother

The rift, which is still being pulled apart today, not only reshaped the landscape dramatically, but also contributed to altering the course of evolution, which would later see early hominins living on the plains become increasingly more bipedal (the ability to walk upright). Though it is now known that earlier forest dwelling hominins, ancestors of humans, had bipedal abilities, as chimpanzees and gorillas also have a small amount of bipedal ability, where it became habitual as we experience it today was likely around two-and-a-half million years ago while the forests were disappearing and had to adapt to new ways to survive in open grassland. At around the same time, a beam of light left the Andromeda Galaxy, which can be seen on a clear night above the Serengeti plains, just as it was around when some of our earliest known ancestors began to habitually walk upright in the Olduvai Gorge region located in the Serengeti's eastern plains, where many fossils of and tools made by our hominin ancestors.

Ascending the rift valley escarpment dotted by volcanoes and eventually reaching the largely flat and open grassland savannahs of the Serengeti could easily have been mistaken for leaving behind one continent for another over a much greater distance, being so different. Seeing Jupiter shining brightly in the early evening Serengeti sky brought it home to me that the journey I was experiencing was made possible by many great journeys, including interplanetary journeys brought about by the effects of the magnetic field of the Solar System’s largest planet in stretching Earth’s orbit, contributing to its molten core being geologically active. The great geological journeys powered by Earth’s molten core, including that of the Great Rift Valley itself, continue to constantly reshape the planet’s surface features with some being almost like a ‘geological record’ of different worlds the planet has previously been to what it has become all merged together into relatively close geographical proximity. These great geological journeys have also played a major role in the evolution and distribution of the variety of lifeforms the planet supports, including ourselves.

Leopard hiding in tree

Adjusting to different landscapes from mountainous to flat and different environments from dense forests to open grassland savannahs, are both a great way to practice mindfulness through mindful movement as well as to cope with the challenges of adjusting to change I often struggle with in relation to how I am affected by Asperger’s Syndrome. Deeper noticing also opens one up to the development of the habitual bipedalism that has largely become a ‘comfort zone’ to us as humans. When going through the thick vegetation, I found myself out of my trekking comfort zone not only in going off path, but also in having to almost crawl to get under low lying branches. The gorillas have an advantage over human visitors to their territory with their arms being longer than their legs. Through the physical experience of descending from a rugged mountain forest vast grassland savannah, not only did I feel I could see how the habitual bipedalism developed here by our ancestors around 2.5 million years ago became advantageous, but I also felt I could feel at a sensory level how it helped to reduce body exposure to the boiling sun.

Cheetah chasing its prey

The advantage of habitual bipedalism to the modern human tourist visiting the Serengeti allows us to be able to see out over the vast grasslands to enjoy the spectacular sights of the great migrations, the big cats in action was well as the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Combined with awareness though through our other senses and faculties, it also enables us to show how movements of wildlife, including the Great Migration, and how life evolves don’t occur in isolation through a series of separate events, but more so from continually ongoing processes inter-dependent of one another both here on planet Earth and beyond, geological and inter-planetary.



Special thanks to Serengeti Balloon Safaris including our wonderful and highly entertaining balloon pilot Ferrel Gray
Huge thanks to Absolute Africa for arranging the experience, including our guide Manashe and driver Steve