On to Serengeti

 Saturday August 31

We arose early this morning to fly to Seronera, a regional airport in the center of the vast Serengeti National Park. The park  covers more than 11,000 acres. Serengeti comes from the Maasai word “siringiti” which means “vast plains” and what an apt name! We will spend 3 days in the eastern section of the park where the rains have not yet arrived, and then three days in the north, hoping to see the massive herds that migrate to the fresh grass after the rains.

We drove from the airstrip for several hours to our camp near the eastern edge of the park, stopping along the way to view animals. We saw 16 different types of mammals from the small (rock hyrax, slender mongoose) to the massive (hippos, elephants and giraffes) on the drive to camp, but no predators. We had a late lunch upon arrival, and then settled into our tent. Our tent is very comfortable, with screened sides and a view of the savanna. We went out again on a late afternoon game drive in the vicinity of the camp.  During dinner in the open main tent, we listened as hyenas called to one another. 

Pictured: giraffe eating acacia, plains zebra, rock hyrax