Serengeti Plains/ Olduvai Gorge

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July 11, 2008

Serengeti Plains / Olduvai Gorge

With another early morning start we headed out into the Serengeti plains on our way to Ngorongoro Park in the mountains. On the way we saw lots of the usual big animals and a very large herd of about 50 Elephants.

Today we had a few problems with the fuel lines in our Land Cruiser and got stalled, after an hour or so, on the road from the camp. We’re not surprised with the beating the vehicles take with these roads. We eventually got a lift with an American couple and their guide in another vehicle and continued on with them while they fixed ours.

We enjoyed the morning with them and finally got a look at a Leopard. A long ways off in a tree, but we can say we saw a Leopard. Following lunch in the Serengeti we met up with our guide and vehicle and continued on to Ngorongoro.

We were very lucky to see the migrating animals in Masai Mara as there were next to none left in the Serengeti. There will be a lot of very disappointed people that travelled here to see this spectacle only to find it happened already. We did get a very nice close up look at a good sized pride of lions with 5 cubs. Great pictures !!

We thought we had seen it all when it comes to bad roads but this piece of so called road put a whole new meaning on “bad roads.” This was very uncomfortable “very deep, wash board” and dust for about 3 hours. Not fun at all and probably not safe as well. The condition of these roads is completely unacceptable for the number of vehicles and tourists making this trip. For this reason alone we would not recommend this part of the trip to anyone until they do something to correct this issue. They are quick to charge high prices to visit these parks but obviously the money does not go to maintaining the infrastructure.

As we left the great plains we stopped by the Olduvlai Gorge on our way and found this very interesting. This is where Dr. Leakey and Mary Leakey found the, over 3 million year old, human-like footprints preserved in the volcanic ash that kind of changed the way scientists looked at evolution. Another very interesting place but literally almost no road to get into it !!

We arrived in the evening in time to get a look from the viewpoint over the Ngorongoro Crater ( actually a Caldera ) that we will visit tomorrow. This is a depression left following a very large volcanic eruption in the mountains. The floor of the Ngorongoro Crater covers over 300 Squ. KM and is completely surrounded by 600 Meter high crater walls. As this is a kind of closed eco system it has its own weather and wildlife. We are looking forward to spending the day in the crater tomorrow.

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