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March 3

Camping on the Sarengeti

Masai Man

Ngorogoro Crater

I got up at 6:30 and took a shower and shaved. Breakfast was served at 7:30: fruit, toast and eggs. A Masai man cleaned up the truck and hung around camp. Another came as well. Eric and I took pictures of him for 200 shillings each. We got on the road at 9:00, leaving Masai country and entering Mburo country. These people are farmers. The land and buildings reminded me of Uganda. We stopped for gas in Karatu, and soon entered the Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area. We climbed high up onto the rim, and stopped at the overlook. I saw an elephant below through binoculars. We would come back here later for a closer look. Now, we descended toward the Serengeti plain, entering Masai land again. We stopped for lunch: a fried butter sandwich an egg, a piece of chicken, an orange, cookies, and a melted chocolate bar. We soon entered Serengeti National Park. There, in the hot mid-day sun, we saw a lot of gazelles and some astriches. Mirages shimmered across the plain in the heat.

Breakdown on the Serengeti

Soon, the vehicle stopped - and it wouldn't start. Something was wrong with the carburator. Our driver, Richard, disassembled it and worked on it a while. We got out of the vehicle while he worked, but stayed close, mindful of possible predators nearby. Eventually, Richard got the vehicle running again. We arrived at park headquarters and paid the entrance fee. By now it was about 3:30. We were running late, so we left immediately for a game drive before making camp. We quickly found a sleeping male lion, and several females nearby. Shortly, we found several more lions, including a male and female together. They were all sleepy and didn't care that we drove very close. Driving across the roadless plain, we saw a huge herd of zebra, a few giraffes and ostriches, lots of gazelle, and more lions. We also saw a crocodile.

Thomson Gazelle

Lions on the Serengeti

Around 6:00, we drove to our campsite. Several people wanted to camp in the grass off to the side, but the driver said it was safer to camp close to the other people in the central dirt area. We set up three tents. I would share one with Eric. We went down to the showers just before sunset, but there was no water. For dinner, we had soup, mini-steaks, potatoes, vegetables, and a fruit cup. The stars were beautiful tonight. We saw the Southern Cross and Megellanic Cloud. I scanned the forest edge with my high-powered halogen headlamp, catching the eyes of some bat-eared foxes, shining bright yellow. (When you look at an animal while wearing a head lamp, their eyes reflect the light directly back at you.) We heard gazelles fighting in the woods.

I went to bed at around 10 in the tent I shared with Eric. I slept well until I was awakened by rustling noises just outside the tent. Some animal was outside, and I was nervous, not knowing what it was, and not wanting to unzip the tent to find out. Eric awoke too, and I felt it brush against my back through the tent wall. I wondered if the foxes had come looking for food. I had some cookies in my pack. Or lions? A shadow passed over the vent on top of our tent, and I knew it was something big. Then I heard one of the ladies in the next tent say "My God, there's an elephant just outside our tent!" I didn't want to disturb it, so I stayed very still, hoping it would watch its step. By the time I unzipped the tent and looked out, the elephant was in the forest by the latrines. The people in the next camp noticed the elephant and alerted their driver. "No problem" he said, "he is our friend." He added, "Don't get too close!"

A couple of huge porcupines were outside rooting around the cooking area. They ran off when I shined a light on them. Later, they came back and I took a picture with a flash, scaring them again. The elephant stayed in the woods all night, and I slept on and off until shortly before dawn.

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