Now for the big show...or so we thought

After a wonderful overnight at the Sopa Serengeti Lodge we headed out for a day of wildlife viewing on the Serengeti. We were told that we were here at the right time to see the large migration of over 2 million wildebeest, zebra and other antelope across the Serengeti.  Unfortunately for us they were not on the Serengeti.  Our guide Damas explained that due to lack of water, weather patterns, and by extension global climate change, the herds movement was no longer predictable.  Damas said that for years and years they could predict where the herd we be at a certain time, but no longer.  The herd was actually much farther south in Tanzania. So we missed the big show.

On a brighter note, we still got to see a lot of animals and the Serengeti landscape itself, which was breathtaking.  The grasslands and the kopi rocks are right out of the movies.  Damas took us to one of the kopi where we saw some 400 year old Masai rock paintings.  We were also impressed by the hyena feeding on a gazelle and the wiley jackal trying to sneak in and get his share.  The vultures also slowly creep in until they are chased off.  Aidan also pointed out all of the male elephants, baboons, and zebras to us.  Oh the discovery of a child.

We left the Serengeti in the afternoon and headed toward to the Ngorongoro Crater.  By the time we reached the crater rim it had started to rain and so the last 30 km were a muddy bumpy ride.  The Sopa Lodge is on the crater rim and we arrived in time for a beautiful sunset.  I am suspicious that the fish I ate for dinner here may have been the cause of the horrible stomach ailment that laid me up for over a week. Anyway, we were up again early in the morning for a game drive in the crater.  Our days have typically been about 10 hours out driving around so we told Damas that we wanted the day to end a bit earlier tonight.

The Ngorongoro Crater is like a fish bowl for wildlife. The average height of the crater rim is over 2,000 metres and is the largest dry crater in the world.  The diameter is almost 20 km and it is 304 square km.  All of the safari jeeps follow a road circuit making it kind of like an animal viewing theme park.  This aside, it did allow us to check off the final animal on the big five list and see rhinos.  According to our guide, the volcanic soil in this area has a lot of minerals that make the tusks on elephants and the horns on the rhinos very big.  We also stopped for lunch at a very large hippo pool and happily munched with 8 hippos and many other tourists. Happily, at least, until Mike had his sandwich stolen by a bird. 

For our last night, we were at the Kirumumu permanent tented camp near Lake Manyara. It has a spectacular view of the lake and feels very connected to nature. Our tent was beautiful and had a nice hardwood floor and full bathroom in the back. Actually calling it a tent is a stretch, but its a wonderful twist on the safrari theme and works well here in the tropics.

In the morning we got up and were surprised to see that Aidan had a huge rash on his right arm. It didn't seem to hurt him so we put some hydrocortizone cream on it, ate yet another big breakfast, and jumped into the truck with Damas. Our last day on safari took us around Lake Manyara National Park. Compared to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, Manyara is tiny. At its widest it is no more than 10 km across, sandwitched between Rift Vally escarpment on one side and the edge of the lake on the other. We saw most of the same creatures that we encountered the previous four days.  What was really amazing was the numbers of baboons we saw.  We spent some time just sitting and watching the antics of baboons in the hundreds. It was also funny observing the black faced monkeys, which are also called blue balled monkeys.  Funny because the testicles on the males are a really nice powder blue colour. :-)

After our picnic lunch at some hot springs, we headed back into Arusha.  Boo hoo the safari was over.  We had a quiet drive back into Arusha where we settled into the Outpost Lodge.  By this time, I wasn't feeling not that well so it ended up being an early night.  We were also a little concerned by a rash on Aidan's arm that appeared overnight.  A bright angry looking marks up his forearm, which later raised and started turning into a blister.  We decided that we would take him to see a doctor in Kenya.  We are being picked up at 7:30 in the morning to head by mini-bus the 350 km to Nairobi.

Both Michael and I agree that the Serengeti safari was one of the top 3 things that we saw and experienced on our trip around the world. We definitely will be coming back to this part of Africa to try and see the migration and, when Aidan's a bit older, go visit the mountain gorillas.  A young man named Justice, who is studying to be a safari guide, wants to take us to the Mara River during the migration to see the big crocodiles eat the zebra and wildebeest as they try and cross the river.  How fun would that be!