Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Arusha
From Tarangiri National Park, we had a long drive – skirting Lake Manyara, up the Rift Valley Escarpment, over to the Ngorongoro Crater rim, and on across the Serengeti to our camp near the western side of the park.
I snap a couple of quick photos as we drive through a town along the way.
We arrive at the entrance to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Here the pavement ends and we will spend the next 11 days bumping around on gravel roads.
A brief stop at the Ngorongoro crater viewpoint. The crater is 10 miles across and is abundant with wildlife. We will explore the crater later in the trip.
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In the Conservation area, some activities such as herding are allowed as long as they don’t interfere with the wildlife. The area is dotted with Maasai homes.
At a rest stop, one of our Land Rovers develops an electrical problem. Our resourceful drivers set about making a repair.
In the meantime, we have a picnic lunch on the steps of the Olduvai Gorge monument.
Back on the road! Sometimes the roads are dusty.
Other times the roads are wet and muddy.
We cross over from the Conservation area to the Serengeti National Park.
Wildlife abounds, and we begin to make stops for viewing. Below is a Secretary bird. These substantial birds strut through the grass hunting insects and snakes.
A couple of tawny eagles.
We had a rare sighting of a cheetah family – a mother and two youngsters. One of the young ones attempted to catch a mongoose. In the photo below, a group of mongoose on the left are scurrying to their home in a nearby termite mound, with the cheetah in hot pursuit. The mother cheetah, on the right, watches the action.
The cheetah does a flying leap onto the termite mound. A couple of mongoose are still trying to get into their burrows.
The cheetah failed to catch a mongoose, and prowls over the termite mound. The other young cheetah watches from the left. We were told by our guides that this event was practice for the youngsters. If they were really hunting for food, all three would have been involved.
Meanwhile, on a nearby rock outcropping, a family of lions is asleep. Lions hunt at night, and spend up to 18 hours a day sleeping.
At a river crossing, in addition to the stork, there is a crocodile lying on the rocks. We saw the crocodile every time we crossed the river.
Finally, we arrive at our private camp. This is a temporary camp, and will be dismantled after we leave.
Our accommodation is these spacious tents.
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At the back of the camp, these boilers heat water for our showers. The fuel is compressed sugar cane stalks.
At the back of each tent is a bucket on a pole. The crew fills the bucket with hot water and hoists it up so that we can have a gravity fed shower.
Our camp cook showing off his charcoal briquet fired oven.
Meals were served buffet style in the dining tent.
We ate at long communal tables. The food was excellent!
View across the plains on a moody evening:
Each morning we would go out for four hours on a ‘game drive’. We would usually be back at camp for lunch, and then do a shorter game drive in the evening, before dinner.
Thomson’s gazelle.
A secretary bird, with it’s head feathers erect.
A group of lions resting in the shade.
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A family of elephants on the move.
The elephants cross the road right in front of us, taking care to protect the very young baby.
And off they go to new grazing grounds.
Certain creatures inhabit the rock outcroppings. This is a klipspringer.
These tiny antelope are adapted to clamber about on bare rock. They are usually found in pairs. Often one is grazing while the other keeps watch.
A male agama lizard shows off his colours!
A dung beetle. Dung beetles might be small but they are an important part of the ecosystem. The beetle lays its eggs in the dung, forms a ball and rolls it to a good spot where it is buried. The dung thus fertilizes the soil.
Here’s me getting ready to photograph another giraffe:
Say hi to everyone!
Another cheetah sighting! A pair of cheetahs was spotted moving through the grass close to our camp.
We watched the cheetahs for quite a while, until they wandered away from the road. (In the Park, vehicles are restricted to the roads.)
Crossing the river the next morning, we spot the crocodile enjoying the sunshine.
In the grass right next to the road, a lion rests.
We arrive at the hippo pool. The hippos gather in this big pool in the river, and spend all day in the water keeping cool. Hippos are sensitive to heat and sunlight, and only come out to graze after dark.
Hippos can spend several minutes submerged, so hippos kept appearing disappearing here and there. There was also a certain amount of jostling, roaring, and defecating on each other.
Hippos can’t swim, so they like to hang out in water just deep enough to submerge themselves.
Yawning is an impressive threat and dominance display.
Moody skies back at camp.
On the road again – we stop for gas. (It’s a Puma gas station, but there are no pumas in Africa…)
Flamingos!
There are several shallow, alkaline lakes in the region. Flamingos stalk the shallows feeding on crustaceans.
Traveling down a very muddy road, far from anyone else. It is good to travel in groups, in case a car gets stuck (one of ours did…). Our destination is Ngong rock, the rock outcropping in the distance.
At Ngong Rock, one of our guides carefully scouts for lions.
Seeing no lions, we are allowed out of the vehicles to climb the rock.
We spend 20 minutes in silence, just to be there.
Our tour leader Michael, in his Lawrence of Arabia outfit.
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After our Ngong rock meditation, our guides set out a picnic lunch.
Immediately after lunch, we spot this pride of lions on the other side of the rock.
A kori bustard – the largest flying bird native to Africa. This bird is all puffed up in an attempt to attract a female.
Another family of elephants with a very young baby.
Elephant damaged tree. In the dry season when the grass is brown, elephants will knock over trees to browse on the leaves. They will also strip bark for the moisture underneath.
Back at camp, we get some fun and welcome exercise with hula hoops. Can you spot the giraffe in the background?
The Land Rovers get packed up for our departure from camp.
We thank and applaud the camp crew for looking after us so well.
Today we will drive out of the Park and into the Ngorongoro Conservation area.
In the eastern areas of the Serengeti, the grass is shorter. This is a favoured area for the wildebeests and zebras at this time of year. Herds of these creatures dot the plains for as far as one can see.
We spot a couple of spotted hyenas. This one is roaming the plain.
And this one is hanging out in a puddle to keep cool.
A couple of vultures in a tree indicate that there is carrion nearby.
These marabou storks are hoping for carrion too. Marabou storks are reputed to have the largest wingspan of any land bird. They have a varied diet from frogs and insects to carrion.
The scene of the action: Vultures and a marabou stork crowd around a dead wildebeest calf.
A large Nubian vulture moves in and scatters the rest of the birds.
The Nubian vulture is aggressive and chases the others off the kill.
We spent two nights at the popular Ndutu Safari Lodge. There is an airstrip nearby so the lodge was busy with many groups. Quite a switch for us from our previous private camp.
Early one morning we gather for the second walk of the trip.
We had a slow and leisurely walk to the lake, admiring birds and plants along the way.
Balloons rose above the lake in the calm morning air.
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Back in the vehicles, the traffic churned the plain into mud around a sparse acacia tree.
In the tree was a leopard cautiously observing the ogling tourists. As we are in the Conservation area, vehicles are no longer restricted to the roads, and can roam the plains at will. This puts more pressure on the wildlife. We didn’t stick around.
Driving off road has its hazards. A sharp branch punctured a tire.
Our guides generally tried to avoid the crowds, and were expert at spotting wildlife. This cautious lion looks both ways before crossing the road!
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Another collection of vehicles means there is probably a lion in view. Sure enough, the lion can be seen on the beach.
We did go over for a quick look. This lion looks very comfortable.
Navigating through a herd of wildebeests on our way to the lake.
At the lake there were flocks of lesser flamingos. Littering the shore were many bones. Mostly they are the bones of wildebeests and buffalos that became stuck in the mud.
For our last night at Ndutu lodge, they served us dinner outside.
The next day we drove to the Ngorongoro crater. We drove down into the crater and spent the afternoon exploring.
On the way to the crater we stopped at the Olduvai Gorge. This is the world renowned site where the Leakey’s spent decades unearthing ancient hominid fossils.
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The road down the crater rim was paved, as it was very steep. As we rounded a bend we were confronted with a cloud of dust. The dust cleared to reveal this boulder in the middle of the road!
All the nearby drivers and guides gathered to assess the situation.
Amazingly, these guys managed to push the rock over the edge, where it rumbled down the cliff for a long time.
We were rewarded with this dramatic scenery once we got down to the crater floor.
We had a picnic lunch in this shady grove.
Exploring the crater floor, we come across a saddle-billed stork in a marshy area.
These storks eat fish and frogs. This one has caught a small snack.
European storks and pelicans abound. The European storks are here for their winter holidays…
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There are many crowned cranes in the crater. The cranes roam the grass eating seeds, insects, frogs and snakes. The crowned crane is the national bird of Uganda.
Lions resting, as usual.
A rare treat to see a rhinocerous!
Buffalo, on the other hand, are numerous. In groups they are generally benign, but isolated males can be aggressive and dangerous.
Zebras are everywhere!
After a long day of driving and exploring, we are welcomed to our camp on the crater rim. The elevation here is around 7,000 feet and the climate is tropical rainforest.
We spent two nights in these forest tents.
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We headed out in the dark the next morning in order to be the first ones into the crater. We were rewarded by the sight of a hippo out grazing. Usually hippos are not out during the day, but it was a cloudy and cool morning.
This hippo is happily grazing the lush grass along a stream.
A lone bull elephant on the move.
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The elephant slows to drink from the wetland…
…and then continues across the road.
Most of the elephants in the crater are older bulls.
This small creature is a serval cat. One of the smallest cats in Africa. This is a rare sight!
We watch the serval cat for a while hunting rodents in the grass.
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By mid-day the tourist vehicles are numerous. We got caught in an actual traffic jam. Land Cruisers were lined up in both directions to catch sight of some lions we had seen earlier in the morning.
Away from the crowds, we are treated to expansive views from a hilltop.
Picnic lunch, as we are exploring all day long.
Another spotted hyena.
Flamingos by the central lake.
And finally, on our way back to camp, this zebra uses the Land Rover for a good scratch.
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The next morning, we leave the wilderness behind. We drive around the crater rim, through the park gates (and back onto pavement!) and down into the populated areas.
A brief stop at a wood-carving workshop.
Our final night on the Safari tour is at the luxurious Gibbs Farm.
We arrived just before lunch, so we had the whole afternoon to relax and enjoy the surroundings.
We had a wonderful and well-appointed room
Gibbs Farm grows most of their own food.
After the garden tour, Jan finally gets her hands on a sausage from the sausage tree!
The following morning, we thank the guides. This morning will be our last drive with them.
The obligatory group photo.
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We drive from Gibbs Farm back to Arusha. Most of the group will fly home that evening. Jan and I, however, have a day in Arusha before leaving.
Walking around in Arusha was an adventure.
The shopping streets were a bustling hive of activity. The hazardous sidewalks were packed with merchandise.
Most shops were small – this one is typical. Jan is selecting some fabric. The place is small but there is a lot to choose from.
Jan goes upscale at this tiny Atelier located next to a metal shop.
We ended up with a colourful collection of fabric and garments.
Shortly after midnight, we board our plane for the long flight home.
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