Tanzanian Safari Days 3 & 4 - Serengeti

Thomas is our driver & guide. He's been working as a guide for 20 years, so he knows Serengeti like the palm of his hand. Amazing eyesight. From hundreds of km away he points at something that for our untrained eyes looks like a stone, and it is a lion. Or we would spot an animal in the distance, trying to figure out what it is: not a giraffe's neck, not an elephant's trunk... He already calls it an antelope impala female. We think he is making it up, but when we get closer, sure enough, it is antelope, impala and female. He is very good. Most guides we've seen around seem to be the same. Sometimes we find another vehicle in front of a tree, and only when we pull out the binoculars we can start to see a leopard through the leaves.

But then this other vehicle stops by. Tourist heads appearing through the open rooftop, and asking us (who also had our heads out through the top) what and where it is. The guide rolls down the window and asks Thomas the same questions. He is the first one we've seen that needs help like that. As he winds his window back up, Thomas rolls his eyes and says to us: "he used to be the cook, and started guiding only in December". So we are finding out that in the safari society, cooks are a lesser species than guides. But there are examples of people moving up a caste.

In days 3 & 4, we spent our time in Serengeti. Managed to see more elephants, giraffes, lions (including females and cubs), another leopard, and a cheetah. In the picture there is a female lion. We got really close to her. She was awake, looking out for a potential meal. Thankfully, the Land Rover with 4 poking heads wearing digital cameras didn't look appetizing to her.

Tonight we are staying at a hotel on Ngorongoro crater's rim. Fabulous view. Tomorrow is the last day. We will go down to the crater, and then back to Arusha. We are enjoying the safari more than I expected.

Mercedes