advantage of being in East Africa for the first time. So I signed up with a six-day camping Safari called the “Serengeti Experience”. It was a bit rushed, but the scenery was gorgeous and the animal viewing amazing.From Nairobi we headed south and our first stop was Amboseli National Reserve, a small park just north of the Kenya/Tanzania border. The number and variety of animals here was quite amazing. I particularly enjoyed the huge flocks of flamingoes. This photo shows some Thompson’s gazelles at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro (located across the border in Tanzania).
After Amboseli, we headed south and west into Tanzania and made our way to the Ngorongoro Crater. This amazing natural feature is a crater about 20 km
across that was a natural collection area for water and thus animals. On the way down the crater rim, we saw this hawk (identification assistance would be gratefully appreciated), and the crater floor was full of a variety of birds (including some big guys like ostriches and kori bustards) and mammals including elephants, wildebeests, buffalo, zebras, hyenas, warthogs, gazelles, baboons, etc. It was amazing. We passed a family of lions, photographed here, sleeping at the edge of a pond. They didn’t even bother to look up and see who was watching them!
From Ngorongoro we made a brief stop at the Olduvai Gorge area (famous for discoveries related to early human development) and then headed to the Serengeti plains. Because the grass was a bit too high for the comfort and safety of the grazers, the big migrations to the Serengeti had not yet begun. There were still, however, some huge herds of wildebeest to be seen, such as the one photographed here with a stack of zebras. We were also fortunate enough to observe all the big cats – more
lions, a leopard, and my first cheetah sighting!Our final stop in Tanzania on the way back to Nairobi was Lake Manyara National Park. Like Ngorongoro, this lake also was surrounded by high hills that formed a natural barrier and kept the animals contained. A highlight for me was driving through a moist and dark forest and then emerging into a beautiful grassy wetland full of white pelicans with a large lake in the distance.
The whole experience was a visual and travel overload, but I wouldn’t have missed it for a minute!
4 comments:
Heidi your blog is fantastic. We all are a little envious. In fact describing to you now how Mt Rainier looks across Lake Wash in the morning light seems a little dull compared to Mt Kilimonjaro and lions basking in the mid day sun. We love you, Dad
Heidi, I appreciate the email alert, so I can look at your new news and photos, and also review earlier postings. Wonderful animal pictures! I admire your persevering with your work and dealing with the "cash col" problem. sally hufbauer
p.s. I just came back from the last (sigh) Easter egg hunt and lunch at your parents' house. Big crowd, lots of good food, lovely weather, Now it's showery, nothing like the rain you describe!
Thanks Dad and Sally for the comments. It is wonderful to hear news from home. Don't worry, I will always be glad to hear about news of rain and Mt. Rainier from home. Sorry I missed the egg hunt! Heidi
Hi Heidi, your hawk looks like an augur buzzard, based on the photos and range maps in my book of African birds of prey. Nice shot.
If you want a diversion some day, check out the FRG web site - we have four peregrine falcons on migration from Chile to the arctic (and three who aren't migrating!) Here's a link to our lead bird Arena. You can get to the other birds' pages from there.
Cheers,
Pat
Post a Comment