Safari - The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

This is post #2 for the day, so be sure to scroll down and check out our Kilimanjaro summary if you're still looking for ways to procrastinate at work after reading this post.

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After our climb, we headed back to Arusha for a (much needed) rest
day, which we spent trying to climb the fewest hills/stairs possible.
The day after that, we were picked up by Marco (our safari guide) for
the long, dusty drive to the Serengeti. It took about 6 or 7 hours to
get there, but it would've taken much less if we hadn't freaked out
and insisted that Marco stop the car every time we saw a zebra.


Which brings me to my next point: the zebra is far too common. Look at
a zebra, and tell me how common you think it should be. I would expect
any rational person to say "Pretty rare, Bryce. Just look at those
crazy stripes!". Exactly. Nothing that insanely patterned should be
easy to find. Really, after living with the relatively boring wildlife
colours in Canada, I expected there to be a total of like 10 zebras in
Africa. And yet, when we got to the Serengeti, we were surrounded by
(and for once, this isn't flagrant exaggeration) hundreds of
thousands of zebras. It was almost too much for the mind to
handle.

By the same token, there are a ridiculous number of wildebeest and
gazelles in the Serengeti. You can't swing a stick in the Serengeti
without hitting a gazelle (but I think that counts as poaching, so you
probably wouldn't want to try it), and we found a few herds of the
wildebeest migration moving across the plains that were so big we
couldn't see the end of them. The wildebeest is a goofy looking animal. Evidence:


By far the most intense thing we saw came near the end of our first
safari day. We found a pack of 3 lionesses hanging out in the bush,
basically just minding their business, walking along pretty calmly.
Eventually, though, their walk started getting slinkier and much more
dangerous looking, and our guide spotted a pack of clueless baboons
about 50 metres up the road. We drove up and parked beside the
baboons, and waited for a very long, very quiet 10 seconds before the
lions pounced out of the grass and the baboons took off screaming.
They all made it into trees, but it turns out lions are very good
climbers when they're hungry. Note to self: don't ever bother trying
to hide from lions in a tree.

Terrifying:


Lunch:


Watching lions hunt is really interesting in a "Planet Earth with
David Attenborough" kind of way, but there's also an intense primal
response that comes with being that close (about 10 metres) to a lion
that is dead set on having primate for lunch. Your conscious brain
says "wow, this is neat", while your subconscious says "run run run
run run run".

The second and third days of our safari were also awesome, but we
didn't see any savage theatrics to rival the lion hunt. We did see
just about every awesome African animal you can think of, though.
Giraffes, elephants (one of whom got a little upset and almost charged
our car), impalas, warthogs, hyenas, ostriches, a cheetah, and even
two rhinos. Well, we think they were rhinos. They were rhino-shaped
blobs on the horizon, in any case. Here's that irate elephant:


On our last night, we were camping on the rim of the Ngorongoro
crater, when we learned that our campsite had a minor infestation
problem - elephants. First, a big elephant came into camp and ripped
apart the plumbing system to get a drink. Then, three more elephants
came by in the night to have a drink, and generally stand around and
be terrifying. Elephants are beautiful, majestic creatures from a land
rover. From the ground, with no fences, they are monsters. Mal had a
close encounter with one as she came out of the washroom and found
herself face to face with an eye the size of a softball. Luckily,
neither of us came to the same end as the plumbing system.


That's about it for the safari, though as a word of warning I will
suggest not doing safaris with Marco. He was pretty apathetic for the
most part, and on the last day he ditched us for hours while he went
to go bail his brother in law out of the local jail. Classy guy.

P.S. The ostrich is a completely ridiculous animal.