We entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The animals are protected, but people and domestic animals are allowed to live in it. It used to be part of Serengeti National Park, but then all the Maasai were displaced. The conservation area was separated out for the Maasai.
We drove along the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, but we were driving in a cloud. The windshield wiper sprayer was not working, so Jack had to squirt water onto the windshield as we were driving. He was very efficient. Ombeni was our guide.
We drove past one viewpoint that had a visibility of 40 feet. We stopped at a second overlook that gave us a glimpse of the crater far below. As we looked back the way we came, we saw that the clouds were lifting, a little. The rim of the crater would not clear completely until early afternoon. The accommodations on the rim have an expensive view of the inside of a cloud at this time of year.
We saw ostrich, zebra and giraffe on our way to Oldupai Gorge. The giraffes were descending a hill and crossing the road. One of the babies could not navigate the terrain, so his mama took him back the way they came.
We watched the giraffes for a while. Some moved back up the hill while others moved down into the plain.
We heard a brief lecture at Oldupai gorge and then continued onto Serengeti National Park. We saw a jackal and some Thompson gazelles. Serengeti means "endless plain" in Maasai.
We entered Serengeti and then drove an hour to the entrance station. We ate a box lunch from the lodge and enjoyed the view.
The picnic area was packed with tour groups waiting to get entrance tickets to Serengeti.
We drove across the plain, seeing many gazelles. We turned of the main (dirt) road to a secondary (dirt) road, towards a kopje (the pile of rocks from the Lion King), looking for a lion. We found the Agama (spiderman) Lizard instead.
We saw a heartbeest in the distance, but could not get a good photo. I went to the super (digital) zoom and have an impressionist painting.
We had a good look at a yellow-billed stork. We spotted an immature black-headed egret, with an Egyptian goose in the background.
We had our first good look at a reed buck.
An elephant posed perfectly on a ridge.
We saw a soaring stork and were so exited to get our first glimpse of a lion.
We were near a small river and kept exploring. We drove a little further and then headed back. On the return trip we were rewarded with out first close encounter with a lion. At first, we could only see the lion's hind quarters, but then the guide, David, drove as close as possible to the lion.
Just to give an idea of how good the zoom camera is on the Nikon P900, compare a picture without zoom to a picture from the same location with zoom.
We spotted a lapet-faced vulture on a kopje on the way back to camp. We met some other guides on the road and they gave our guides the scoop. Just off the road in an acacia tree was a sleeping leopard.
The guides could not believe our luck in seeing a leopard so close on our first day in the Serengeti.
After watching the leopards for a while, we headed back to camp. Along the way we had our first good look at a cape buffalo, including a calf.
Before dinner, we sat around a camp fire and toasted the Serengeti. We were treated to a beautiful sunset from the front door of our tent. During the night, we could hear the sounds of wild animals.
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