Day 37 A Masai Village and on to the Serengeti

Wednesday January 19^th. Today was a great day. We were back on safari! Four GAP jeeps came to pick us up at 9:00 this morning. The each seat 6 or 7 people and the roof can be raised for viewing and photography. We started out shortly thereafter and drove towards the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.

We drove through a variety of vegetation and changing topography. We stopped at a couple of places to buy ice and kerosene.

Then we got to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We saw a number of giraffes and zebra on the way to the Crater rim and a magnificent view of the inside.

We stopped for lunch at a lookout picnic area. Lunch was a rather uninspired box lunch. We were warned about the black kites that would try to steal our food. We sat on a large tree trunk and watched the birds. Suddenly one swooped down from behind me an grabbed a muffin right out of my hand which was very close to my body. It knocked it out of my hand and immediately another one picked it up off the ground! The picture is of one of the attackers.

We stopped at a Masai village on the way to the Serengeti. The villagers sang to us and danced for us. Then the males showed off there jumping skills. John tried his had at it too. There was a school there and we were allowed to visit it. It was a kindergarten class of about 30 kids. The kids were singing the alphabet and counting numbers in English. There didn't seem to be any supplies but the kids were engaged and well behaved.

Our guide led us to his house and invited us in. The house is about three metres in diameter and divided into three rooms, two bedrooms, one for adults and one for children and a living/cooking area. His wife was inside suckling the youngest of three children under her cloak. There were lots of flies inside too. The rooms were dark and the ceiling quite low.

Then we were led to the shops to purchase something to support the family. John and I bought two necklaces, a bracelet and a talking stick. They started at 90000 shillings and John haggled them down to 50000.

Then we drove across the plains towards the entrance for the Serengeti. We saw herds of wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelle, and Grant's gazelle. Just before we arrived at camp we saw a waterhole with a group of hippos in it and a little further along a family of elephants and then a single female lion at a distance.

When we got to camp, just at dusk, the tents were already set up and dinner followed shortly. We had a delicious beef stew prepared by the GAP guides.

We are camped in an unfenced area that is easily accessible by animals. We saw both elephants and lions within a kilometre of the camp as we came in. So, we'll see. Early to bed....