Day 307 – Tanzania

August 8, 2010 – Mto Wa Mbu to Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Tour Day 2 – Serengeti National Park

After breakfast, depart for Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge. Afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park, overnight Seronera Campsite.

Breakfast is great with a good variety of treats – eggs, pancakes, sausage, fruit, toast, coffee, tea… need I go on? Happily filled to the brim, Eric and I help Andrew and David pack up the camp, though I’m not too sure how they feel about the help. They’re very professional and are used to doing everything on their own. But too bad for them – we’re not used to being pampered and we’re not good at sitting still!

We settle into our cruising machine – a customized Toyota Land Cruiser – and set off towards the Serengeti. Eric and I are so excited we can hardly sit still, so Andrew distracts us with some great views of Lake Manyara.


In order to get to the Serengeti you first have to drive through the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. The road essentially takes you along the rim of the crater, but unfortunately it’s covered in a heavy fog this morning – looks like there’ll be no sneak peeks for us today!

Well except for this one, that is.


As we descend down the outside of the crater, the fog begins to dissipate and we’re assaulted with amazing views of the terrain.

The Maasai people have inhabited this area for hundreds of years prior to it becoming a national park and they’ve since been allowed to remain in designated portions of it. Throughout our drive we see their villages and their livestock grazing, which is fascinating.


Andrew makes frequent stops throughout our journey… sometimes they’re for us to answer the call of nature and sometimes they’re for us to learn about nature.

At one point he pulls over to teach us about one of the eight types of acacia trees of Africa, the “Whistling Acacia”. It’s named as such because when it’s windy, the wind whistles through it.


But the really cool thing about it is it has a very unique symbiotic relationship with a type of biting ant. The ants live in the pods that grow on its branches and when they sense a threat to the plant, hundreds of them will emerge out of their hiding places and swarm the attacker. Pretty cool, eh?

Lunch is a picnic at the side of Olduvai Gorge, which is famous for being the place where Mary Leakey found footprints of our earliest known ancestors, the hominids.


45 minutes after setting off from lunch we reach the unofficial gate of the Serengeti. It’s “unofficial” because it signifies the boundaries of responsibility between the two parks – the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater – but you don’t actually pay your money here.

Instead you have another hour of driving to reach the “official” park gate. When we finally arrive, Andrew takes care of business – checking us in and paying the fees – and Eric and I walk up to a look-out point where we really begin to grasp the enormity of this park. “Serengeti” is a Maasai word meaning “endless plains” and from up here it make perfect sense – it does seem to go on forever.


After the administrative requirements are taken care of, the four us pile back into our truck and begin our game drive to the camp. It doesn’t take us too long to spot three lionesses enjoying some shade from a tree near the road.


We’re also introduced to two types of gazelles, the Thompson and the Grant’s.


This is a Grant’s Gazelle on the lookout for danger.

Another new antelope we encounter is the Topi, which is related to the Red Hartebeest but has different markings on its body.


The big surprise of the day is that our camp isn’t fenced in. Throughout most of Africa, campsites in national parks are very secure in order to keep the wildlife out. But not here – we’re truly in a position to interact with nature… though we both hope it’s just with herbivores.

Our evening ends with an impromptu sunset drive to the camp store. We say the “camp store” because it’s supposed to be for the campers, but we have a suspicion the guides don’t tell any of the campers about it and just use it as their escape from the tourists. Andrew has probably broken a few unwritten rules bringing us here, but since drinks are on us, he doesn’t seem to care.

And for the record, he was the consummate professional and only had a coke… Eric and I had the beers.

When we get back to camp, David is busy cooking up another feast for us.


To our absolute pleasure tonight’s meal is spaghetti bolognaise. We haven’t had spaghetti for over 6 months – not since we were at Lynda & Ian’s in Indonesia – and we are stoked.


I know it looks like I’m missing a tooth in this picture, but it’s just a shadow.