Africa - Serengeti Plains

Friday, November 13th, 2015

This morning, I woke to the site of the Taj Mahal and a fabulous Indian breakfast.  

This afternoon, I find myself on the Serengeti Plains of Africa.  Wow!!  How cool is that??

Flight track from India to Africa

I thought India was a wonderful pace to visit ... then I arrived in Africa.  

Interesting sidenote.  Look how HUGE Africa is.  All of these countries could fit into the continent.

The Serengeti Plain is absolutely beautiful.  A different kind of beauty, it is 10,000 square miles of vast pastureland dotted with Acacia Trees, shrubs, rocky knolls and thousands of animals!! As with India, I had no idea what to expect here.  Our plane landed at the Kilimanjaro International airport where we boarded small bush planes to take us to Seronera in the Serengeti.  

When we landed at the grass air strip in Seronera there were nine 4 wheel drive vehicles with pop up tops waiting.  We hopped into car #8 with a driver named Lema.  

We had the BEST guide on the Serengeti.  Lema spoke excellent English and shortly after getting into his car, he already knew our names.  The drive from the airstrip to the Four Seasons Hotel should have taken about 30 minutes.  It took us one and a half hours.  Lema found, and pointed out to us, all kinds of animals.  

Bruce, Gail, Pat, Lema and me.

Our car was the last to arrive at the hotel, just in time for our lodge briefing to explain  "the "rules".  Rule #1.  We were not allowed to go to our rooms after dark without being accompanied by a Maasai Warrior.
  

Cruising the Serengeti.

The other Bruce, Michael, Julie and Bruce in our safari vehicle.

There are things out there that can eat us and most of them come out at night to feed.  So I was happy to comply with that rule.  However, my scrawny Maasai Warrior looked like a "snack."  Fortunately, we didn't encounter any wildlife. 

Maasai Warrior escort.  What does he think he'll stop with that flimsy little stick????

The hotel is beautiful and sits out in the middle of the Serengeti Plain.  The view from my window was phenomenal amidst the Acacia trees and acres of green pasture as far as the eye can see.  I couldn't help but have a flash back of the animated movie, The Lion King.  "All of this as far as they eye can see will someday be yours, Simba."  

This beautiful Acacia Tree was just outside my room.

Animals wandered by the hotel and weren't at all bothered about sharing this space with us.  However, Rule #2, we were told to keep our rooms locked at all times as the Baboons like to come inside and take things from the rooms.   Speaking of Baboons, they are on the list of the 5 UGLY!  Along with Wildebeest, Hyena, Warthogs and the Vulture.

Saturday, November 14, 2015  

Early the next morning, Gail, Bruce, Yvette, the other Bruce, Pat, Michael and I loaded up early with Lema and set off for our safari on the Serengeti Plains.  Right away, we ran across a family of Giraffe.  These graceful animals may be one of my favorites.  Of this family of 5 the two juvenile Giraffes were "necking."  Lema explained that this is also how Giraffes fight.  But these two were clearly playing.

We saw herds of Wildebeest, Zebra, Crocodile, Cape Buffalo, Monkeys, Baboon, Elephants, Gazelle, and many more.  But perhaps the most exciting finds were the cats, the Lions and Leopards.

The had a lovely picnic out on the plains.  NatGeo brought in tables, chairs and all the fixins.  Just fabulous.  They haven't missed a lick on this trip.

Picnic Lunch on the Serengeti

We're in the middle of nowhere!!  

In Africa, reference is made to the Big Five.  That's the Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Leopard and Elephant.  We saw 4 out of 5.  The Rhino lives in a different part of the Serengeti.  But we saw the other 4.  We were up close and personal!!  Here are photos that I took of them:

While taking photos of this gorgeous Leopard, Lema discovered that we had a flat tire on the car.  He changed the tire while we were pre-occupied with the Leopard.  He wouldn't let us get out of the car to help.  He just wanted us to keep an eye open for the mother Leopard in case she came back while he was outside the vehicle.

 On the way back to the lodge, we ran across this pride of lions.  There were three females and nine cubs.  They crossed the road right in front of us, stopping to pose on the other side of the road.  Aren't they adorable!!

Here's another "cat" that we ran across!

After our safari, a tribe of Maasai came to the hotel to entertain us with their song and dance.  The music was African tribal and they could have performed in an episode of Pitch Perfect!!  Their a cappella performance was beautiful.  The dancing was a bit unorthodox in our world.  They would simply jump up.  Not just jump ... I mean JUMP.  From a standing position, they could spring into the air 4 - 5 feet.  I not talking bending their knees to get that height.  They  just ... boing ... and 4 - 5 feet into the air they would go.  Amazing.  I tired to get video of this performance, but it was just too dark.  So you'll have to trust me when I tell you ... it was incredible.

We had a lecture tonight by Louise Leakey.  Apparently her parents were famous scientists who discovered the origin of the human race in Africa.  Yawn!  Sorry, but this just didn't appeal to me.

The adrenaline rush of the Serengeti was exhausting.  Then  Louise's lecture knocked me out!!  I mean that literally.  (I woke up to applause from the three folks who were still awake.)  I was so tired, I skipped dinner and went straight to bed.  

Tomorrow, we depart Africa for Petra, Jordan. 

Got a kick out of the Maasai's shoes which are made from tires.

Time to go.