Photographed by Judi Fenson

Serengeti National Park is probably the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world. With more than two-million wildebeest, half-million Thomson's gazelle, and a quarter-of-a-million zebra, it has the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa.

DAY 4 Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge
We had dense fog early this morning, creating an expectation that we might encounter some sort of wild creature on the meandering path to the dining pavilion for breakfast (perhaps something that would like to have us for breakfast). But no such luck. After departing, we traveled on a bumpy, red dirt road with lush green vegetation on either side, climbing continuously toward the Ngorongoro Conservation area, passing in and out of areas of dense mist and fog. At an altitude of about 7000 ft. we reached the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, the caldera of an immense ancient volcano. The 12-mile wide crater is home to an extraordinary array of 25,000 animals and many hundreds of bird species. We would be returning to the crater in several days. As we headed toward Olduvai Gorge, we made a transition from the dense, misty, wetness of the crest to wide open savanna. The road dried out and its color changed from red to brown. Before noon, we stopped at a Maasai village. We paid $50.00 per vehicle to enter. After some welcoming singing by the women, heavily adorned in beaded jewelry, and jump-dancing by adolescent boys, we were given a short tour of the village, including a visit to their kindergarten where we were serenaded by the children. Afterwards we had an opportunity to bargain over the striking jewelry and other artifacts crafted by Maasai women.

Shortly after leaving the village the road became gravel that was far rougher than the dirt surface we had been on all morning. We began to encounter a variety of animals - gnus, giraffes, gazelles, and bustard birds - before entering Olduvai Park at 12:30pm. There is a small museum and visitor’s center here and a picnic area over looking the gorge where Mary Leakey made her stunning find: a 1.75 million year old skull that offered the first proof of the great antiquity of hominids in Africa. Despite its archeological significance, the gorge, a wide undulating canyon, is visually unimpressive. We had a refreshing rain shower on this mild day under the cover of the picnic pavilion.

We departed Olduvai at 1:30 and an hour later passed the border that separates Olduvai Park from the Serengeti. Hoofed animals (zebras, gazelles, gnus, giraffes) had been in view almost continually. At one point we came across a line of many thousands of wildebeests that stretched from one horizon to the other. It was too early for the annual wildebeest migration in which four-to-five million of these primitive looking creatures accompanied by hundreds of thousands of zebras and assorted other species travel in thunderous herds south through the Serengeti from Kenya to Tanzania in search of taller grasslands. That spectacle is regarded as one of nature’s greatest.

We were perhaps witnessing a preview of that annual phenomenon that reaches its peak in August and September. We stopped briefly at the Serengeti National Park headquarters and took a short walk to a very scenic overlook. Scurrying about the boulders were a variety of birds (including superb starlings) and some strikingly colored lizards. They had pink heads, red bodies and purple legs and their tails looked positively prehistoric.

As we resumed our drive, we had a very close encounter with a bull elephant and shortly thereafter, saw a pair of jackals loping along the gravel road and some brilliant green and peach love birds.

The dry savanna was replaced by lush forest and meadows reminiscent of Yosemite. We reached our lodge, the Serengeti Sopa, just after 5:00pm. The lodge has extra large suites overlooking the Serengeti. Tea and pastries were available in the lobby and picnic tables afforded close up views of bright yellow weaver birds busily darting in an out of their hanging nests in trees not 30 feet away. For dinner we were served a smoked tilapia appetizer, onion soup, beef with potatoes and vegetables, pumpkin crumble and very good Tanzanian red wine

DAY 5 Serengeti
Yesterday’s weather was perfect and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and another great day. At breakfast, we enjoyed the brilliant sun sharpening the landscape beyond the panoramic windows in the dining room. Today the road was very rough in spots but our guide, Shabba, skillfully negotiated huge holes and very muddy conditions. The dew on the high green grass in the fields along the road glistened in the sunlight. At one point we took an abrupt detour to a river to see a huge crocodile - more than 11 feet long. Impalas and giraffes grazed nearby. As we resumed, we spotted a beautiful female lion sleeping on top of a rock outcropping. Other morning sightings included some graceful herons, some ungraceful hippos, hartebeests, ostriches, crowned cranes, waterbuck, redbuck, antelope, Egyptian geese, vervet monkeys (eating flower blossoms), topi, and impalas. Then, just after noon, we saw a leopard in typical leopard pose, draped across a branch in an acacia tree.

We stopped at the Serengeti National Park headquarters to have our box lunches and were entertained by numerous birds, including a pair of speckled yellow birds who called out an impressive duet. There is a beautifully crafted boulder-lined walkway that weaves its way up to a precipice. Bronze markers along the way describe the features of the annual wildebeest migration. We were escorted by lively hyraxes, which resemble large prairie dogs. The summit of the walk offered a truly impressive view of the Serengeti, a World Heritage Site.

Continuing our drive, we saw lots of large animals (hippos, elephants, crocodiles, giraffes) and some impressive birds (secretary birds, brilliant parrots) . Our last major sighting of the day, before returning to the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, was a group of lions. First we saw 2 females in a tree near our rutted path. And then a third popped up in the high grass.

Dinner at the Sopa featured leeks in hollandaise, carrot puree soup with honey, batter-fried tilapia and decadent chocolate cake, followed by an exuberant performance of singing and dancing by a group that included some of the hotel staff.

DAY 6 Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater
Yesterday, we traversed a number of streams. On this morning we were mostly in largely treeless flat savanna, though mountains were visible in the distance. It was cloudy and cool. In our first hour, we saw baboons, cape buffalo, topis, lions, our first hyenas, and a huge tawny eagle.

We headed for a little visited, remote area of the Serengeti. To enter this region, Shabba had to sign in at a guard station. Visitors cannot enter this area without a guide for fear that they would become lost in this nearly featureless region. We were in search of lions and cheetahs. We came across a large male lion crouched in the grass next to a zebra he killed the previous night and we prudently kept our distance as he eyed us.

There are some very high rock outcroppings (called kopjes) in the area (perhaps 2-3 stories high) that attract lions. And sure enough, at the first one we reached, we saw 5 or 6 lions, including some cubs. As we continued toward the increasingly remote fringes of this area, we saw several vast herds of zebras and wildebeests.

There are no roads or paths at all in this region and we traveled for several hours without seeing a single other vehicle. Finally, about noon, out in the open near a large watering hole, we spotted a cheetah. Some zebras seemed to play a sort of game with the cheetah, staring at it, then approaching until it gave chase for a bit, then repeating this loop. Cheetahs prey on gazelles but not on zebras, which are too big for them. Nearby we happened across a hyena den. They are scary looking creatures. During the rest of the afternoon we approached some other kopjes and saw many more groups of lions.

After we left this gated preserve and returned to the road, we climbed several thousand feet. We stopped for pictures at one of the most dramatic scenes of the trip. Perched on a lush green hillside in the mist of this higher region was a Maasai village, surrounded by yellow wildflowers, with some deep blue mountains forming the backdrop. The road area around us had again turned bright red. About 5:00 pm, as we came around a bend, we got a spectacular view…

To be continued in a future issue…

Tanzania, part - one

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