Safari was everything we thought it would be, and more!

We chose to do a five day/four night safari, with three nights camping and one night in a fancy lodge. It was just the two of us, a cook and a driver/guide.

Our first stop on safari was Lake Manyara National Park. The Park is located about 3 1/2 hours drive from Moshi. We started the day at about 8:30 in the morning and drove to the campground outside of the National Park. The cook, Gosi, set up our tent and unpacked the Land Cruiser, then we set off with our guide, Babu, into the Park.

The Park was amazing. We just drove around on dirt tracks and animals were everywhere. Elephants, baboons, impala were all around the Cruiser. It gave us a good sense of what the next several days would be like. We drove to the Lake. The Lake is very shallow and is very alkaline. It attracts tons of flamingos, which were very far away because the lack of rain made the overall size of the Lake very small. But we could catch gimpses of pink clouds in the distance as flocks took flight and glinted in the afternoon sunlight. Babu was very knowledgable about the local flora and fauna, amazing us with facts and figures.

During our dinner at the campsite, we met Sally and Owen, a couple from Australia. They were doing the same sort of tour that we were doing, with another company. We had a great conversation and hoped we would see them again.

The next morning, we packed up and headed to Serengeti National Park. It took us about two hours to get there. On the way to the Park, we passed farmlands and small shops along the road. The road was a paved two lane road. It was very smooth compared to the dirt roads we were getting used to. The newly paved road was paid for with the assistance of Japanese funds, and the ribbon cutting was actually the same day we went through. Many local folks gathered on the side of the road to watch the dignitaries pass by.

On the way to the Serengeti, we needed to pass by the Ngorongoro Crater, which is home to impressive wildlife also, but we would do this part of the safari at the end of our trip. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to the Olduvai Gorge, where the famous Leakeys (anthropologists from England) discovered homonid fossils and, nearby, tracks of early human ancestors walking upright. The Center had a good display of information which, of course, neither of us can recall right now. It was basically where humans started. The tracks have been covered up to preserve them, so we saw a plaster model.

The Serengeti Park is massive. It is mostly grassland along with scattered wooded areas, swampy lands, freshwater pools and rivers, and since we were before the rainy season, it was fairly dry. We arrived about noon. We were given boxed lunches prepared by the cook and sat in the shade while Babu gathered our registration papers for the Park. From here on, it was a dusty track with many ruts for most of the way around the Park.

Our game drives in the Park never failed to surprise us. We saw all sorts of "gentle herbivores": zebras, gnu/wildebeest, giraffes, ostriches, topi, hartebeest, impala, gazelles, and dik-dik. Then, we started seeing the carnivores: lions, cheetah, leopards, crocodiles. We managed to catch a few hunts - these were quite engrossing. The thrill of the hunt and the blood-lust always grabbed our attention. We'd drive along, then spot some lions resting under a tree. The lions would at first seem tired and lazy, then one or two of them would spot some delicious zebra trotting nearby. This would get them up and moving, slowly crouching and crawling towards the unwitting prey. Occasionally, we'd lose sight of them in the tall grass, but then we'd see their ears pop up. This could go on for 20-30 minutes, so patience was a necessity. Then suddenly, the prey would be in striking distance, and pounce! the chase would be on. Lions don't have much stamina, so the prey must be fairly close by in order for them to catch their meals. So it's always a short burst of energy and excitement before the dust settles. We saw four hunts, two were successful, the other two, they got away. We also happened to be driving by a watering hole where some zebras were drinking, when we saw much splashing and frantic stampeding away. Then we caught sight of a poor little zebra running by with a chunk missing from its front flank: crocodile attack.

There were some other interesting things going on in the Park, the lions were mating and the wildebeest and zebras were migrating across the Serengeti in search of fresh grass. The mating lions were paired away from the rest of their pride, and they would mate every 15 minutes while on their "honeymoon". The zebra and wildebeest formed huge mixed herds of thousands.

We visited some hippo pools where the hippos would lie in the cool water, sometimes fully submersed for up to ten minutes. One pool was so full of hippos - at least 50 - that it just stunk so bad, we couldn't stay there too long.

We also saw tons of different birds like secretary bird, cranes, storks, vultures, eagles and hawks. We saw a cerval cat, a caracal (smallish big cat with big pointy ears), rock hyrox (small rodent-like creature related to: elephants!), and of course, elephants themselves.

The last night of the safari, we stayed at the Serena Lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. This was our big splurge for Matt's birthday. The view from the room's balcony was awesome, overlooking the crater floor.

The next day, we drove along the floor of the crater, and lucked out by seeing a rare (for the area) black rhino.

Here's our pics. our camera isn't the best for safari, so if an animal is close up, it was really that close!:

elephant

cheetah

us at campsite in Serengeti

view of Ngorongoro Crater floor

elephant family

flamingos in crater lake

giraffes

gnu aka wildebeest

too bad we don't have smell-o-vision for this hippo pool. Phew!

cuddly hyena

male lion

Matt with cheetahs

Robin with our guide Babu

Robin with lions

safari traffic jam: a familiar sight when a big cat was around

sunrise over Serengeti

warthog

zebra