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| SERENGETI SAFARI, Tanzania. September 26 - October 1, 1998 6 day safari from Arusha to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti and Tarangire Parks. |
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| Click on thumbnail photo to enlarge |
| Our Serengeti Camp |
| Ngorongoro Crater lake |
| Jeff and his little Maasai buddy |
| Our camp on the rim of Ngorongoro crater |
| Our broken down Safari truck |
| The Safari Stats: Participants: Brad, Paolo, Jeff, Geraldine, Tanis, Jen & Wendy Guide: Masai Cook: Gideon Breakdowns: 22 (between 2 trucks) Lions: 10 (including 2 hunting lionesses!) Cheetahs: 3 Leopards: 2 Hyenas: a few far too close to our Serengeti camp! Rhinos: 3 (from far away) Elephants: over 100 (their abundancy surprised me!) Giraffes: less than 100 Monkeys: over 100 Baboon attacks: 1 (on Jeff!) Hippos: 40 Crocodiles: 3 Huge birds: Quite a few! Including many ostriches (which taste like beef!) And hundreds of flamingo! Zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, antelope, warthogs, etc.: Too many to count! |
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| Lions of the Serengeti |
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| Ngorongoro Crater Rim |
| Serengeti Elephants |
| Serengeti Zebra |
| Maasai Village |
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| The Serengeti - Our very rustic camp (photo) was the site of the Jen-stalking hyenas and Jeff's baboon attack. You can see the baboon walking in the background! A late night trip to the outhouse turned out to be a little more frightening than expected for Jen as the glowing eyes of the local hyenas were alarmingly close and Brad with the flashlight was nowhere to be found (as I bolted back to the tents like a chicken)! We met some young Maasai on the road during one of our many truck break-downs. Jeff shared the Canadian flag, some gum and Egyptian pounds with one young Maasai warrior (photo). Far too often on our way to the Serengeti, our safari truck was broken down at the side of the road with its hood up with Gideon examining the engine and Masai sucking gas out of some tube (photo)! Ahh, the adventure and excitement of Africa! |
| Ngorongoro Crater - A huge, incredible, ancient volcano crater, 600 metres deep with an area of 260 sq. km! The "Jurassic Park" of safaris with abundant wildlife-viewing all year round due to the contant water supply in the crater. In the first photo, the clouds cling to the lush rim of the crater as an elephant feeds amongst the huge acacia trees. Not far from here we spotted two lionesses stalking (without success) the huge herd of wildebeest and zebra that roamed the crater floor. The second photo is of the large lake near the centre of the crater, surrounded by animals: zebra, flamingo and wildebeest in the background and impala in the foreground. Our camp was atop the crater rim, elevation 2400m, which meant chilly nights and amazing views of the entire crater from a distance! A hungry kite (hawk, top right corner of third photo) swoops down and grabs a piece of chicken right out of Jen's hand! We visited a Maasai village one day while our truck was being repaired and it turned out to be one of the best days of the entire safari! The children seemed almost as fascinated by us as we were of their village as we walked around, toured the banana fields and even stopped at a local "bar" which served us fermented banana beer! Mmmm? No, not really! |
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