Safari in Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater- Northern Tanzania

Banded Mongoose

Claire and Olivier, from Quebec

Serengeti Plains

Crown Cranes

From camp in Mtuambo, we headed out toward the Serengeti, 5,700 sq miles of wild bliss.  To get there, we passed through Ngorogoro Crater wildlife preserve, a giant green crater formed in the Great Rift Valley by some volcanic action.  In the backseat of the Land Rover, Mark and I were grieving.  We were thrilled to be heading toward the Serengeti, but for $795, we had hoped to have better seats.  We were relegated to the back of the Land Rover where we had to strain our neck and back to see out the dusty windows.  Paulo, the cook, sat between us and took pity on our strained bodies.  He motioned that we could open the sun window above our heads and stand on our seats to get a better view.  Our spirts instantly lifted- we were free!  We popped up into the wind and let our hair fly.  From our perch, we could see wild donkeys and Maasai men and children walking in their black tire sandals and tending to their goats and cows that roamed the hills and valleys.  Maasai warriors with their spears were seemingly everywhere.  A few of the wooden-poled Maasai villages had Land Rovers parked outside, evidence of cultural tours taking place.

Elephant Crossing, Ngorogoro Crater

Nightfall in the Serengeti

Leopard Spotting

Sunrise in the Serengeti

Cheetahs sunning on an ant hill

Our driver, Hugo, hauled ass through the dirt roads toward Seronera Campsite, the middle of the Serengeti.  We were loving the views, but at 40-55mph over dirt roads, it was tough to get a good picture of the wildabeast migration.  They were beautiful creatures with their faded leather skins of toupe to brown to black.  I loved the scruff under their necks, like a prettier version of an oversized goat, and I got a kick out of the way they randomly bucked and galloped to play.  This was the perfect time of year to see the 1,000 wildabeast babies that were being born each day.  The hills and plains were filled with wildabeasts and zebras (the two types of animals travel together for protection, just like the impalas and baboons).  The zebras were adorable because they rolled in the mud with their legs in the air while the babies stood like newborn colts with brown felt fur and big eyes.  Some young zebras bucked around for fun while the adults stood rear to head, a way to swat flies off of each other while watching both directions for lions.  By far, my favorite animal, was the magnificent tall giraffe with its beautiful long neck and sprawling legs, exquisite paintbrush tail, and seemingly fake eye-lashes.  I loved watching them regally move over the land, slowly pausing to eat the leaves from the trees.

Around 5pm, we dropped our cook and gear off at camp and headed back out for a 1 hour Sunset Game Drive.  We were sure we’d witness magic on the game drive because already camp was surrounded by water buffalo, herds of elephants, and dozens of banded mongoose (gosh, they’re adorable).  On our game drive, we observed hillsides and plains filled with black-striped Thompson gazelles, pairs of tiny dik diks, and horned grant gazelles.  A hyena ran off into the horizon.  Upon hearing our vehicle, warthogs tightened up, hoisting their paintbrush tails straight into the air and trotting off at top speeds like soldiers in a running march.  Hippos bobbed lazily in a swamp, and we kept our eyes peeled for anything extraordinary.  We were scouts on high alert.  Up the road from our jeep, we spotted a couple of Land Rovers with binoculars in hand.  We pulled over to see what they were looking at, apparently nothing.  Just as we were debating about pulling away, Claire spotted a leopard.  We were in awe as it skulked through tall grasses and sprayed a tree.  Further exciting us, it prowled across the road, rubbed against a tree, wandered back across the road and jumped up into a tree to present an even better view for our camera lenses.  The stocky spotted cat sprawled out across the limb, dangling its feet below.  We were in rapture.

I'd like to take you home with me to be my pet

Dirty hyena

Warthogs, ie: Pumba!

Two rhinos in Ngoro crater

Wildabeast migration

Back at camp, hyenas paid no notice to the armed guard protecting our camp from wild beasts in the night.  Hugo, our driver, had warned us not to leave our shoes out for fear of hyenas.  Sure enough, hyenas tore through camp at about 2:30 in the morning.  I nudged Mark, to have someone awake with me in case something happened, but they left as quickly as they had come.

The following morning, we woke up for tea at 6:30am, daybreak.  Our 5-6 hour game drive would bear spectacular views, but our hands would be chilly.   An ugly spotted hyena raced across a field with awkward jerky movements.  These were fierce, dirty creatures that attack in packs.  I flashed back to the Lion King.  With the colorful sunrise peeking through the trees on the horizon, the sunrise was every bit as beautiful as the Disney movie portrayed.  Wild ostrich and jackals roamed the grasslands, but we were in search of bigger, rarer creatures.  Every giant ant hill caught my eye- could it be a lion?  One anthill particularly caught the light.  I asked if anyone else saw what I was seeing:  two cheetahs sunning themselves on top of an ant hill.  We stopped to stare.  It was amazing.  Through binoculars, we each took turns marveling at their spots and the details of the cheetah’s teared eyes. 

Lions

Ngoro crater

Mark and Annie on a game drive

Seronera Campsite

Maasai greeting vehicles passing by

A few hours in, we saw two jeeps in an area where lions tend to hang out.  Our driver didn’t want to stop, but we each insisted.  Reluctantly, he pulled over and our knees nearly gave out with excitement.  On the banks of the creek, a pride of 12 lions lounged in the sun, totally exposed to our camera lenses just 50 feet away.  It was incredible.  We couldn’t believe our luck.  Our cameras clicked away for at least an hour.  The detail in their ribs was amazing.  One lion wore a tracking collar.  In the tall grasses off to the side of the other lions, the father of the pride blended into the grasses.  Occasionally, he turned his head to have a look and we went nuts with ooohs and ahhhs.  Around the corner from the lions, a yellow belly stork and Crown Crane (the national bird) bathed without concern.

Baboons

Maasai tire sandals

Lions



Zebras



Water buffalo

Wildabeast

I could have stayed all day near the majestic giraffes on the hillsides, but with eyes full of elephants, zebras, and wildabeasts, we progressed to Simba campsite on the rim of Ngorogoro Crater.  From the rim of the crater, we stared 610 feet below to the lush green plains with streams of water throughout the 304 sq km preserve.  Depending on the time of year, the area can be lush green or desert brown.  As we set up camp, Allen proudly delivered news from the outside, protests in Libya were looking like Gadaffi would soon be ousted.  Claire and Olivier were delivered to their ritzy $400 per night lodge.  The photos they later showed us revealed spectacular views from their room and the wrapping veranda.  I was happy for them, but mortified when Allen on three separate occasions invited himself into their beautiful room, something along the lines of “Don’t be surprised if we show up to camp on your floor.”  Yes, it was cold, but we paid to camp, Allen, not sleep in the Hilton at someone else’s expense.  Allen was pushing the limits of tolerance in each of us.  Mark and I bundled up in every article of clothing we could find and created an oven in our tent.  We slept so soundly, we didn’t notice the warthogs rummaging the campsite in the night.

The following morning, we polished off the remains of the hot coffee.  The drinking chocolate had already been emptied the night before in a feeble attempt to restore warmth after the chill of post-rain.  Claire and Olivier rejoined us and shared stories of a beautiful feast at the Hilton, a different world where they felt like shabby backpackers amongst the truly wealthy of the world.  They spoke of European families on vacation with teenagers who didn’t appreciate the safari or pricy accommodations.  “We want to go to Zanzibar; This is boring,” they complained.  Oh, teenagers.  You’re so good at pushing your parent’s buttons, and the work you put in to complaining is really quite remarkable.  The simple act of your parents refraining from throwing you over the balcony to the lions is really a testament to their love for you.

Our morning game drive led us down into the depths of the crater through sections of mossy green trees and rolling hills.  Cattle, goats, and Maasai warriors dotted the sweeping views of the crater.  The plains made it easy to spot wildlife, particularly the tall, dark grey single male elephants with their gorgeous ivory tusks.  We drove over a dirt road where a family of elephants peeled bark off of trees with their trunks.  In a field to our right, a baby elephant frolicked playfully like Dumbo with his big ears flapping.  I was in love and wanted to take him home with me. .. him and a giraffe... create my own little petting zoo in the backyard.  Large numbers of water buffalo ranged wearing horns that reminded me of the Wendy’s girl’s braids.  Pink and white flamingos soared over the lake.  In the distance, we spotted a boulder-looking object.  Hugo informed us that there were no boulders in the crater and that we were indeed seeing a rhino.  Olivier was skeptical; we needed a closer specimen to officially cross it off of his Big Five list.  We managed to see 8 rhinos that day which was very rare.  I’m sure it had something to do with us hassling our driver, Hugo, to pull the heck over.  He was resistant to our requests to see the animals and downright obstinate when it came to our instance to pull over near other jeeps.  We didn’t understand his attitude.  He failed to slow down for our photos until we threatened to form a mutiny.  Needless to say, Hugo did not receive a tip for his failed service.  Before heading back to Arusha, we stopped to have a box lunch at crater lake.  Hugo told us to stay in the vehicle for lunch because the birds were known thieves.  Olivier had had enough of Hugo’s commands, so he and Claire plopped down under a shade tree and commenced lunch.  Instantly, a bird swooped down and stole Claire’s sandwich right out of her hand.  We were laughing hysterically, yet felt bad for her.  I gave her my sandwich and we soldiered on.  It was another beautiful day in Tanzania, and we certainly weren’t going to let a bad driver and thieving bird destroy the last day of our $800 safari.  The 4 of us popped our heads up above the jeep and let the wind scatter our hair as we headed up out of the crater.  It was a lovely day for a safari.