The Serengiti in Tanzania February 2004

When we left the crater, we headed west into the Serengeti. Literally, Serengeti means endless plains, so I've avoided being redundant calling it the Serengeti plain, but that is in common usage. This is the season for Wildebeest migration so the herds are very visible. The funny part is that due to the light rains, there "aren't many large herds", so you wonder what this photo would look like in heavy migration times.

As we were leaving the crater, we had a long drive down the road to the plains. On the way down, we say the Maasai giraffe, then the Maasai themselves getting reading for induction into adult status.

This area is filled with Maasai tribes with their villages all built as a circle of huts and their herds of cattle being driven to and from water.

Just before entering the actual Serengeti park (another nature reserve) Sumiton stopped the car and backed up to show us the congregation of buzzards we had just passed. While we were parked there, a hyena stepped in to take his portion of lunch before it all disappeared.

After a lunch break at the edge of the Reserve, we headed north through the plains. Somehow Sumiton saw something and we quickly put the car in 4 wheel drive and left the road (dirt path). About 500 yards west of the path, there lying in the ground as the pair of Lions shown here. There's no zoom lens to this picture, the Lions are that close to the car. So we quietly sat there and watched for about 5 minutes. As you can see, the male finally stood up (but I believe that was when the second car came to look).

Our next clue was a very visible gathering of the vultures (you could see them coming from miles away). Going to the gathering place, we found a Cheetah with her lunch. She would eat a bit, then sit up and just dare the Vultures to come in and take a bite.

You can see they gathered quite nicely more than a bound away waiting for the Cheetah to move on.

During the daytime, most of the Lions rest. Families gather together, often around rocky areas that provide shade (called Kopje (pronounced like copy)). The bachelors gather wherever they wish. I've subtitled this one "gazelle camp" - Doug says it's not that different from a Bachelor Deer Camp here in the states.

Finally, we found a Leopard. Well, with the advantage of the long lens, and digital zoom, I think you can see that there is really one here. They are very reclusive and during the day, mostly hide in places where you can't see them.

As we drive into our hotel area, we finally got close to another variety of Antelope - the Impala (not to be confused with the Chevy who took their name). The look very much like the Gazelle, but have the horns in the shape of a lyre.

The other unique bird we saw was the Secretary Bird - so called because it looks like a secretary with pencils stuck in her hair.