Tanzania - Serengeti Plains

Friday, September 13'th

We left the 'Simbad Camp Site' on the western rim of the Ngorongoro crater quite early that morning. It had been a freezing night, Temperature below 10°C. It took me an hour to get a comfortable temperature in my sleeping-bag and then, I had to go to the bathroom. Back in the tent after 5 minutes and then another hour of teeth

The camp dismantled and breakfast consumed all within an hour and off we went toward the Serengeti plains and the park. Together with 'Masai Mara' in Kenya, Serengeti form one of the largest wild life sanctuaries in Africa. Before descending from the Ngorongoro rim we did the 10 minutes

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From the fertile slopes of the volcanoes we went down through cultivated landscape, there wasn't much soil left, most of it had eroded. Then we entered the savanna. Around the Serengti it looks like there is a bufferzone, we saw a lot of giraffe in this area. It is astounding to see these animals move. When they run, it seems like it is all in slow-motion because of their balance point being so high. I can see where the Jurasic Park animators got their inspiration from.

We entered the park through the eastern corridor at 1PM. At first we drove to the

The drivers returned with news that a lion has been spotted at a 10 minutes drive outside the picnic area. Then they had some disturbing news. A truck like ours had been attacked inside the park by bandits (probably from Zaire, Burundi or Rwanda) and two or three of the passengers had been killed.

We drove off and our expectation was fulfilled, first we encountered a male walking a few hundred yards of the road. The ground was firm enough for us to leave the tarmac onto the plain itself to get some close-up pictures of the predator.

The Lion was walking towards a Sheila with four very young cubs. The mother hardly noticed us but the kittens were

Quickly we were spotted by other overland teams, among others a Phoenix group whom we should come across many times around the Victoria. Before it was getting too crowded we decided to leave and drive deeper into the Serengeti.

During the midday heat the large animals like to find some shade and a couple of miles north-west of the picnic area there are some large boulders (Kopjes). These are formed by erosion, much like the Devils Tower in USA. Only the granite is left and stand as small islads in the green sea of grass on the plain. Here we spotted a group of 10-12 lions dozing off in the breeze but none close enough for photos. There were plenty of game out on the plains that day. Wildebeest, Antelope, Gazelle, Impala, Wart hog, many birds and occationally a predator on the run in the distance. We saw Leopard, Hyena and Jackal.

At Tea-time we found ourselves in the middle of the National Reserve, close to one of the lodges (Seronera Wildlife Lodge) and decided to go inside to get a drink. It is a really nice

In the Loby there was an advert for a hot-air baloon ride which would take place the next morning. It would be concluded be an apealing Champagne-breakfest but the price was not within our budget-range.

While we had been inside the lodge a couple of baboons had entered our truck and had emptied our dustbin all over our the seats. We had secured the top of the truck the best we could but those little rascallions are clever enough to remove the screening. Nothing was stolen/broken so half an hour clean-up later we drove off to the campsite five miles to the North-East.

During the afternoon, clouds had gathered and a thunderstorm was about to break loose. Just before the rain I got this picture. Notice the double rainbow, I have never seen this phenomenon as clear before.

We reached the Campsite in half an hour, after a couple of detours, just as the rain started to drop. Quickly we put our tents up and afterward the huge kitchen tent.

Then came the rain, a massive flood and the road was now a mess. In the distance we could see the headlights of other Overland Trucks heading our way but they had some difficulty in keeping their vehicle on the road. Soon we discovered that our Phoenix friends from the Lion encounter that same afternoon also had arrived. The only spot left on the premises was off the campsite and on the plain.

The downpour only lasted for two hours, and until we could go outside we were comfortable in the kitchen tent with hot-cocoa and more travel-tales. Ian told of his white-water-rafting experience on the Zambezi (my rafting in Brazil sound like a seaside holiday in comparison). On the Zambezi there are about twenty torrent or rapids to pass, and the team Ian was in started to sing the "There may be trouble ahead" (Lets face the music and dance) when they were going into the next rapid. When I hear that song on the radio today I picture a bunch on crazy rafters in a rubber dinghy risking their lives. Almost every time they were thrown overboard, it was no picnic, lives were at risk.

The hard rain had changed into a light spatter and we went outside the tent. That night it was the most magnificent thunderstorm I have ever seen. Even though the rain stopped after two hours the lightning and thunder echoing forever, lasted way past midnight. It was a spectacular sight but out of reach for my Konica pocketcamera.

We went to bed early to get the most out of the next day. Our visit to to Serengeti was limited to one day, 24 hours and if we wasn't out of the park by 1PM we would have to pay for an extra day. Hopefully we would get a chance to see the predators hunt around daybreak.

Saturday, September 14'th

The next morning we were up before dawn. The other groups at the campsite had already cleared out, we heard them clatter with their tentpoles at about 3.30AM so now at 5AM we had it all to ourselves. Quickly we dismantled the camp and had a quick breakfast before we headed off to the slippery wheel tracks across the plains.

We got two hours of driving without any hunting in sight when we spotted two hot-air balloon slowly floating towards us. On the way we passed their Champagne-breakfast being prepared next to a small creek.

I guess the passenger didn't get any gamehunting that morning too because of the rain but at least they didn't encounter the problems we ran into half an hour later.

Despite our 4WD the mud was turning from a soft thin consistency into heavy slush and soon all four wheels was turning without the truck moving an inch. I guess we were 300 feet from a tarmac road but it took a long time, just to move the truck a couple of yards.

We used the sand dunes to put under the wheels, drive the truck ten feet forward, move the dune and so on. Then the

Fortunately for them they were twenty passengers and they only had to push the vehicle a few feet. Then they all walked to our rescue and within 15 minutes we all had pushed the truck the 200 remaining feet. But the Phenix people had given far more work to the job than we had, by the look of mud on their clothes so they started a Mudfight. You know a snowball fight. Well, this is the same thing except instead of just getting wet you also get dirty.

We also heard from the Phoenix people that the western corridor is impossible to pass and this is just what we had planned. Then we had to use the northern corridor, a small detour but then we would have a beautiful drive along the Lake Victoria.

But first a total cleanup of the truck, there were mud everywhere and we were getting low on drinking water. We found a ranger station in the park (Banagi) with toilet/bath and other facilities and sluiced the truck and passengers. Nice and fresh we continued and the timing was perfect, it seemed like we would cross the Ikoma gate at 1PM, 24 hours after we entered.

On the way out of the park we passed through a huge grove of Acasia trees and a Gigantic flock of wildebeest

Near the Serengeti border we spotted a crocodile and a small flock of elephants hiding a few hundred yards away in the bushes. The pond fit the Kipling description of the Limpopo-river, the place where the elephant got its nose pulled into a trunk by a crocodille, grey-green and greasy. A good place for the giant reptile to wait for prey, cloaked by the muddy waters, but today it was resting on the bank.

It had been the best trip to Serengeti. The driver claimed that they had never seen so much game in the park.