Africa

This red headed lizard got so worked up about defending his territory from us that he chased after the truck.

Ostrich hen & chicks

African tortoise

Owl annoyed about being awake

baboons were everywhere

All too soon it was getting dusk, so we went back to the campground. Dinner was great, the tent was fine, the neighbors were quiet, but the bathrooms were wet - really wet. I do realize that Americans have unusually high standards in indoor plumbing, but everywhere we went on this trip the bathrooms had no drainage. The high class hotel, the lovely bed & breakfast all three campground bathrooms were literally designed to flood every time you turned on the water. I would really like to know if there is an explanation for this.

It rained for a few hours that night, but quite miraculously I slept though it. And after Camilla hummed her way through breakfast we were on our way to Serengeti.

We stopped at Oldepai gorge where the oldest human ancestors have been found. And I chased some more red headed lizards (these were not as intrepid as the red head in Manyara was).

This is my best photograph from the whole trip. Camilla kept telling me to quit wasting film on those dinky birds, but these are seriously pretty little birds

Then we were out on the Serengeti itself. Serengeti means endless plain. It may not be truly endless but the zebra, gazelle and wildebeest who make up the 'great migration' seemed to stretch on as far as the eye can see.

Wildebeest

wildebeest & zebra

Thompson gazelle

male & female ostrich

This cheetah was walking toward us across the Serengeti. She had a small cub with her, but the tall grass covered him as I took this photo.

hyena

The campsite at Serengeti had more wildlife visitors. Mongoose, elephant, giraffe and lots of colorful little birds wandered through camp

Camilla's photo of me

That night it rained. Again. I thought this was supposed to be the dry season? After it finally quit I just had to creep out and pee. I made it about 8 feet from the tent when I heard a loud noise QUITE close to me. I RAN back to the tent and when I grabbed the tent flap Camilla (who had just been woken from a sound sleep by the noise) hit my hand thinking it was some strange creature invading the tent. I had so much momentum that I was inside anyway quick enough for Camilla to recognize me before she could take aim again. "Did you hear that lion" she said. "Hell yes" I said. "But I don't think it was a lion."

When it was light outside I went out to find my flip-flops and look for tracks nearby. About 8 yards away from my shoes were tracks of a cape buffalo. Ok so it wasn't a lion or hippo, but they do occasionally kill people. It certainly scared me.


flip-flop left behind	hoof print in fresh mud	my night visitor

The third day we spent in search of hippopotamus. I am not sure why hippos - as I really have no great attraction for them, and if Camilla expressed an interest I didn't catch it. She asked to see elephants - which were the first things we saw- I asked to see everything and a cheetah if possible. So I guess hippos were part of 'everything'.

Hippopotamus kill an average of 10 people a day. Really. So after telling us this, our guide only let us out of the truck when were near known hippo pools. All of the public restrooms in Serengeti and Ngorongoro were right next to the hippos. I wonder how many of those 10 a day are Americans who give their guides too much trouble!

Anyway at first we only saw hippo tracks:

the tops of hippo heads:

Then we saw hippo parties:

Then we saw a hippo out for a stroll:

Then we chased a hippo and really pissed him off :

look at that mouth!


	The jackal was trying to get the lion to leave so he could clean up the crumbs, but all the lion did was roar at him. Lionesses do all the work and lions just eat the kills, so this lioness was panting and hot. She decided to go lay in the nearest shady spot - which was us!


		This leopard strutted like a runway model