Serengeti and Ngorongoro

We set off for the Serengeti , stopping in Arusha, the safari capital of Tanzania, for supplies, then on to a small town named Mto Wa Mbu which means Mosquito River, where we set up camp. Its hot and humid here, and to no surprise malaria is an issue, so we have to cover up.
The next morning we went in 4 x 4s (with a roof that lifts off so you can stand up for game viewing) through the Ngorongoro conservation area to reach the Serengeti National Park. In this conservation area the Maasai are seen everywhere in their striking red and purple blankets, which were adopted from the Scottish tartans and became their trademark. They live in villages, herding goats and cattle, as well as attacking tourists for money for crafts, pictures, or nothing at all. Also in the conservation area we saw huge herds of wildebeest and zebras, migrating to follow the long rains which are coming soon here. Wildebeest, also known as gnus, are really ugly – you know the old joke, wildebeest goes in to a bar, bartender says hey why such a long face.
Once in the Serengeti we went in search of the big five – the animals most dangerous to hunt, not the biggest – elephant, rhino, hippo, lion, leopard. There are also the ugly five – warthog, wildebeest, hyena, hippo, and marabu stork which is the ugliest of all with a naked pink neck.
At our campsite, we were warned that if we needed to get out of our tents at night we had to shine our headlights around, and if you see eyes out there think again. If the eyes shine red it is a carnivore, worst case scenario a lion, if the eyes shine blue and are set on the sides of the head its an antelope. When going to sleep you could hear hyenas whooping nearby, they are frightful creatures with longer legs in front to hold up their massive jaws that can crunch bone. In the middle of the night you can hear the lions roar, they can be heard for miles. So needless to say everyone tried to stay in their tents all night but most of us got up, made a dash for the toilet block, and survived. Well except for one guy from our group who got locked in the toilets block for an hour.
In the morning a few of us went for a posh balloon ride over the Serengeti. We were picked up well before dawn and driven to the balloon site for a safety briefing before crawling in sideways for takeoff. We sailed over the vast plains, coming down to brush the tops of the tall grass and up to see the vast herds of wildebeest and zebras. After the flight we had champagne to celebrate, a tradition since the French invented the balloon, followed by an open-air champagne breakfast with turbaned waiters.
We did another game drive on the way back to camp, spotting a leopard in a tree. When you see special things like that several jeeps gather and hang around to see if there is any action. The poor thing was just chasing a butterfly or something.
Another drive in the afternoon, one of the guys on my 4 x 4 has taken so many photos of animals as they turn away that we decided he should publish a coffee table book titled Bums of Africa.
We had a great day with lots of close sightings of every animal you can think of, but when returning to camp to make 7 pm deadline after which rangers will force you out, the animals were just ridiculous. There was a family of 8 young lions right by the road rolling around and playing with each other, a massive herd of zebras on both sides of the road, you could have reached out and touched them, a few giraffes, baboons on the road, elephants, buffalo, everyone coming out to play at dusk.
We are learning all kinds of things about the animals we are watching, such as elephants communicate through rumbling tummies, male lions are really lazy, and cheetahs are very hard to spot.
Another night of avoiding being eaten by a lion or trampled by an elephant (you probably wouldn’t hear an elephant approaching over grass due to pads on its feet) and we left the Serengeti for the amazing Ngorongoro Crater. But before leaving a cheetah sped across the road in front of us.
We spent hours travelling the roads standing in the trucks, stopping for a short lunch break at a lake where you had to eat in the vehicle or risk being attacked by massive kites, the bird kind. In the crater there is a strange forest reminding me of Jurassic Park, alkaline waters attracting flamingoes, and lots of flat plains teeming with animals.

After that back to Mosquito River for another night of swatting. We gave our stinky clothes that we
wore the last few days (we could take only a small bag in because we were in the 4x4s) to the local wash
lady who hung them to dry on a fence. Then it poured all night.