November 11, 2005 Lake Manyara - Serengeti
Rose early and shot some photos of scenery and flowers in the
light of sunrise. We set of at 1000hrs on a very long drive to
the serengeti, around Ngorongoro Crater and through Olduvai
Gorge. The crater is stunning, and Olduvai looks to be
fascinating; too bad we don't even slow down.
The scenery here, leading into the serengeti (which I'm told is
swahili for 'great plains'), is beautiful, varied, and makes the
drive bearable. The road from Manyara to Ngorongoro is new,
paved, and smooth. From the gates onward, the road gets bad.
Very bad. Sultan is really pushing it at 50km/h in the Land
Cruiser, for about 4 hours.
Other than ostrich, and the occaisional groups of thompson's
gazelles, there isn't a lot to see for long stretches in the
Serengeti.
The vegetation ranges from very low grasslands, flat as far as
the horizon, but broken by the very occaisional hill or rocky
outcrop, to almost tropical forests surrounding surrounding
waterholes and the courses of wet-season waterways.
The game-viewing highlight comes in the afternoon, inside
Serengeti NP, where we come upon a half dozen vehicles watching
a solo cheetah stalking a small herd of thompson's. The cheetah
is very patient, but the wind is blowing towards the herd, and
the crowd of landcruisers might just have spooked them a
bit.
Eventually, he creeps to within 60m and gives a half-hearted
chase. The gazelles see him as soon as he takes a step, and he
doesn't even try to run. He just lopes at them, scattering the
herd.
Later, we come upon a group who think they're watching a
leopard, but my photos show nothing. Game drivers in Tanzania
are fined 100USD for leaving the trail, something that Jimmy,
our kenyan driver did all the time. I'm preparing to be
disappointed in our tanzanian safari.
Also, Sultan is just not a good guide. He's surly, unfriendly,
taciturn... the only time I've seen him chatty was when he was
telling the other drivers where he thought the leopard was. In
Swahili. He didn't say a thing t ous until minutes later, when I
asked him. Actually, I had to ask the cook.
Last modified: Sat Jan 07 01:07:24 Eastern Standard Time 2006
