Monday, January 2, 2012

Day Three - More Serengeti

Itinerary Day 3, 25th Dec: Today is a full day of game viewing in Serengeti with morning and afternoon game-drives. Enjoy the annual migration of wildebeest, zebras, as well as gazelles, great herds of buffalos, elephants, giraffes, and the spectacle of predators and pray i.e. lions, cheetahs, leopard and loads of other wild and bird life before transfer once again to Seronera Wildlife Lodge for meals and overnight. 


The Seronera Lodge was our least favourite accommodation, although it still far exceeded my expectations for a "budget safari". The rooms were small and noisy. We could hear people in other rooms coughing, talking and using the toilet, and the floorboards, though beautiful, squeaked with every step. That said, the food was good, the grounds were beautiful, the lounge and pool were gorgeous, all having been built right into the "growing rocks" of the Serengeti. Theses enormous boulders were tossed across the plains like pebbles by an ancient volcano. They are called "growing rocks" because the effect of erosion is to expose more of them over time so they appear to be growing out of the soil.




Faux cave painting in the lounge. It shows nicely the way the hotel was built into its lanscape.

Swimming pool build into the rock

A view of the lounge/restaurant building
An Agama Lizard suns on a rock
Rock hyrax were delightful

Super hyrax!


Here, on Christmas Day, I was felled by some sort of bug. After breakfast, I sent Paige off for the morning with Tiger and went back to bed. Didn't wake up until 12:30! We had the afternoon "off" so as to do some evening game viewing starting at 4. When Paige got back from her morning outing at 1, I had some soup and then went back to bed. Managed to join them for the evening viewing, but I felt awful. Back to bed by 9 pm where I slept for another ten hours! Glad I went out in the evening, though. Here are the pics.


A 200 kg Hartebeest

No, not the Littlest Hobo - a jackal

Cute creature with an important job and a bad rep.
 Our destination this evening turns out to be a hippo hangout on a small river. There are probably 40-50 of these huge creatures wallowing about. We learned that they have dual natures. In the water, they are both social an vocal. On land, where they roam to graze, they are solitary and completely silent. Weird, eh? They are also attack humans more often than any other animal in East Africa.

I am hippo, hear me roar!


And here's another horrible hippopotamus fact. They scent mark with feces rather than urine. Since poo does not spray particularly well, they fan their tails extremely rapidly while evacuating so as to spread the product as widely as possible. Even when the urge hits them while in the water. This is not attractive to watch.
A rapt photographer and a dyspeptic observer.

Sometimes nature is hard to like.




What are we looking at with such attentiveness? Crocodiles slowly eating the rotten, bloated carcass of a hippo the size of a pickup truck. This did not help my tummy any! 







The spotted hyena's coat makes for good camouflage
Spotted Hyenas have 21 distinct vocalizations consisting of whoops, grunts, groans, lows, giggles, yells, growls, laughs and whines. Their hind legs are a lot shorter than their front legs, and it gives their gait a bear-like quality. They have an interesting mix of cat and dog qualities. They hunt and scavenge, performing an important role in the ecosystem. We liked them.


As we wended our way back to the hotel, we saw elephants, baboons, wildebeests, giraffes and zebras. I keep having to pinch myself to believe I'm really here.
Maribou storks coming home to roost.
Good night, Serengeti. Hope I feel better tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. My goodness! What an incredible adventure you've had. With your spirit, I'm sure you'll take to Istanbul. Hopefully you'll love it as I have.
    Good luck in 2012!
    Ann Marie

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  2. Bonjour Mme Lindsay.
    Je ne sais pas si vous vous souvenez de moi, je suis Gomis Elsa, nous nous sommes connues lorsque voue étiez venues à Sèvres avec Paige. C'était une bonne amie à moi (vous m'aviez invité à aller voir Kirikou lol, je ne sais pas si vous vous en souvenez). J'ai demandé de vos nouvelles à Mme Nardot, et elle m'a gentillement donné votre site. J'aimerai vraiment avoir une réponse de votre part et Paige. Vous pouvez m'écrire sur mon mail: nastou92@hotmail.fr. A très bientôt j'espère! Elsa

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