Monday, July 15 and Tuesday, July 16
Serengeti National
Park,Tanzania: Dik-Dik Campsite
We spend the next two nights in the Serengeti. The name Serengeti comes from a Masai word for endless plains, and they really appear to be. The park is 14, 763 square kilometers and virtually completely flat. We can see to the horizon in every direction. Here, the size of the herds of browsers and grazers is overwhelming. At one point, we see a herd of over 1000 zebra passing in front of us in a seemingly unending line.
One morning, we spend a long time watching a lioness stalking gazelle. She waits by the river, hoping the gazelle will get thirsty enough to come close to her. The gazelle can sense that she's there, but while they don't get too close, for some reason, they don't just take off. Everyone else in the car wants to see a kill. I'm the only one cheering for the gazelles, and, in the end, the lioness retreats, and our team wins: Herbivores 1, Carnivores 0.
Later on, we see a number of vehicles all crowding around, and figure something must be going on. When we get close, we see vultures picking over a zebra carcass. I am, admittedly, grossed out until Franclin reminds me what the park would smell like if there weren't scavengers around to clean up after the kills. While I can appreciate the necessity of their work, and even marvel at the ecological efficiency, I still think it's pretty nasty to watch.
Click here to see more photos from the Serengeti.
The campsite, similar to the one at the Crater, is perfectly fine, but crowded and not particularly scenic. Troops of baboons come into the camp and try to pick through the garbage. I can start to understand why the Africans don't think these animals are as cute as I did. That night, about about 2:00 a.m., we heard lions roaring Xð, and very loud. I was just hoping that my mom had not decided that she needed a middle of the night bathroom run because I would have a very hard time coming home and explaining that I'd lost her in Africa. The next morning, Franclin and Dennis told us that you can hear lions roar from over a mile away, and that it would be very unlikely that they would come into camp. Still I wasn't going to take my chances wandering outside the tent in the middle of the night.
The second day, we're on a quest to see a leopard, the only one of the traditional "big five" that we haven't seen before. We drive for an hour or two looking for one. We're moving pretty quickly in a wide open area, and all of a sudden, Willie, our driver, says that he sees one. We're looking where he's pointing and have no idea what he's looking at. We drive a little closer, and we're able to make out something on the branch. A little closer, and we can actually see the leopard. The leopard sits and looks at us, and we're able to get some great shots, but even more impressive than the leopard is Willie's ability to spot it, while driving, from probably a quarter of a mile away.
We drive back to camp, very satisfied, standing up watching the sunset and feeling the wind blow through our hair. While the experience is very enjoyable, it's not great for our hairdos, and my mom steps out of the vehicle resembling Don King.
Today is Ross's 40th birthday, and the cooks make him a very tasty cake. It's amazing what they can produce in a dutch oven. Ross manages to find a place to buy a case of beer so we can celebrate appropriately.