Day 53 Monday March 4 First Day of the Safari

 by Henry

Had an early and very filling breakfast at the small family-run Serengeti Villa Hotel. Watermelon, mango, and ginger is often pressed as a morning juice.

We were picked up by our safari vehicles at 6:30 AM for our 3-day 2-night safari. Six tourists per vehicle. Mongi was our driver and he has been a guide for over 15 years. Emmanuel, one of our cooks, rode shotgun.

We passed Clock Tower in central Arusha, the supposed geographic midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town.


Breakfast stop for our caravan of seven Toyota Land Rovers with six-cylinder diesel engines. These are built in Japan, then modified in Africa for heavy duty safari use. Due to the rough roads, they need a lot of maintenance, and have their suspensions rebuilt every two or three years.



We stopped at an art center/tourist trap displaying beautiful and unusual African artwork of all types. They were also selling Tanzanite, only mined near Arusha.


Entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, 155 km from Arusha. 


In this large expanse of land, Maasai tribal members are allowed to live and raise their livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys) in harmony with other wildlife.


Ngorongoro is a giant extinct volcano. The caldera (19 km across as its widest point) of Ngorongoro crater contains salty Lake Magadi. The caldera is 264 km².

We skirted the rim of the massive caldera, and then dropped down on the other side to enter Serengeti National Park. In contrast, Maasai are not allowed to live or herd any livestock in the Park.


Geography from an informational board. 


As we drove deeper into the Serengeti, we popped the top on the Land Cruiser. The blasting wind notwithstanding, Tim probably stood for a good 50 km.

The vastness of the Serengeti plains defies description. Unbelievable numbers of wildebeest dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. Zebra and gazelle everywhere. 


Always elegant standing, or in motion. 


Elephants meandering against a stunning backdrop.

Our pictures generally can’t compare to any pictures on the Internet. Notable animals seen today: giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, lions feeding on a zebra, hyena, elephants.

We also saw many bird species, which Linda might list on her Instagram post. 


Our landing point was a public campground at the other end of Serengeti National Park. With our group of about 50, we traveled with three cooks. They shared the kitchen space in the building with cooks from other tour groups to prepare our dinner. 

Soup and dinner was late at 8:30 PM and we all feasted heavily.