Day 3: Ngorongoro to Serengeti

Zak was amped to get going this morning. He said he knew we were going to have a good day of game viewing and we did. We saw tons (literally) of animals including close ups of hippos, cheetahs, lions, and others. We even saw a female lion stalk and (unsuccesfully) charge a group of zebras and wildebeest. Around midday we left the Ngorongoro and headed West toward the Serengeti. The main road running East and West between Ngorongoro and the Serengeti is surreal. The distance is not all that great - it would be a short drive on a paved freeway – but we all spent enough time bouncing along in old land rovers over interminable washboard gravel to start considering the odds on the likelihood of shaking loose a filling. As we survey the lion colored grass stretching to the base of distant dark hills, we wear sunglasses, but more as a protection from worldly dust than heavenly sun. Out of necessity we cover our noses and mouths with bandanas but the windows remain open to let in the breeze and let out the dust which only seems to hang more thickly in the car when the windows are closed.

We travelled to the Seronera Valley area of the Serengeti. Everyone has heard of the Serengeti and for good reason; it was as spectacular as it was purported to be. The scenery was striking - broad grassy plains dotted with flat-topped "umbrella" acacias - and the concentration of animals is simply amazing. I expected to see many of the varieties we encountered - elephant, giraffe, cheetah, hyena, zebra, gazelle, and even two leopard - but I was surprised by how much we saw in a relatively small area. The most spectacular animals for me, from a sheer oddity perspective, are the ostrich and giraffe, followed closely by the starkly-striped zebra. Then, of course, one also has to consider the warthog, the elephant, the hippo, and the hyena. It's almost like Dr. Seuss was the artistic consultant for the animals of Africa. The most spectacular animal from the perspective of lithe beauty: the leopard.

We arrived at our tent accommodations on the Serengeti only to find them not quite up to what we were expecting. However, given the lack of alternative lodging, my mother and sister decided that, as long as they could have a warm shower, a decent bed, and we could play games in the dining tent at night, they would be OK. Their concerns were not without some justification. This is third-world Africa and we really were pushing the boundaries of their comfort levels. We guys were of the opinion that camping with beds and servants was just fine and the kids thought the whole experience was just great. The staff had their own cook tent nearby where they prepared wonderful meals over a small propane stove and baked bread and pizza in an old metal pot on the coals of a wood fire they kept going much of the time. We also had a waiter, Emanuel, who was unfailingly polite and smiling and was quick to provide whatever we needed.

As the sun was setting that first night on the Serengeti, from the door of our tent we were able to see a pride of baboons walking on the other side of the dry riverbed directly in front of us. They walked off single file from left to right and then all roosted in a single yellow-fever acacia, so named because this type of acacia grows near water and the early settlers attributed their illness to the jaundiced-barked trees rather than the mosquitoes that lived nearby. I joked with Anna about what reason the baboons might have for getting up off the ground and into the safety of the trees before nightfall - with the implication that maybe we should share their concern about what might come out at night - but she appeared to remain relatively unconcerned.