Serengeti: 29th July 09

Spent the morning driving to the Serengeti in jeeps – the group split into 4 so we were with Jules and Ruth, a young married Aussie couple and John, a 60 year old teaching assistant who climbed both Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru last week - all excellent company. Passed over the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, which we’ll visit on the way back in a couple of days. On the way to Serengeti National Park we visited the museum at the Olduvai gorge, where the earliest humanoid footprints from 3.4 million years ago were found – really fascinating – you could look into the gorge and see the current excavations below.

On the drive we spoke to Isiah, our local guide and jeep driver, who told us some interesting facts about the Masai people, such as a local Masai man who has more than 40 wives and more than 80 children, enabling him to amass vast cattle herds due to the customary dowry system. An unmarried Masai man may ‘borrow’ another man’s wife for the night - the rules are very straightforward – both men simply need to be the same age! The Masai men do nothing but watch the cattle whilst the women do all the work – including building the huts, fetching the water and meal preparation. We reckon the Masai men copied the social arrangements of the lions, where the lionesses do everything, including all the hunting and raising cubs, the male lions do bugger all but they do look incredibly majestic whilst doing so. We also discovered that the Masai can be fined by their village leader for wearing non-traditional clothes, even if they turn up for the days cattle driving in the latest Marc Jacobs ensemble.

We also found out that lots of Tanzanian men, including our driver take mistresses. But they don’t refer to them as mistresses; they say "I’ve got a small house". Small House? Charming!

We reached the entrance to Serengeti National Park in the early afternoon, but we didn’t see many animals on the long drive through to the centre, apart from a few gazelles. At around 4.30pm, when the temperature is cooler and the sun less intense, all the animals became active - it was amazing – we saw lions, giraffes, zebras, hyena, tonnes of gazelles, and a male elephant on his own– we couldn’t believe it – every 4 or 5 minutes there’s something amazing to see. Everyone on safari aims to see the so-called ‘top 5’ – they’re the animals that were traditionally the most difficult to hunt - Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Rhino and Buffalo – we’ve seen elephant, lion and buffalo already. Hopefully we’ll see a leopard tomorrow and we’ll have to wait for the Ngorongoro crater for Rhinos as there are none here in the Serengeti.

The campsite was cool but because it’s in the Serengeti there is no running water or electricity – and most bizarrely no fences – so the animals can wander free! We drank the duty free vodka in the evening with 2 sisters from Manchester, Emma and Leeann. As we were going to bed our head torches caught some lights in the campsite kitchen – eyes – 4 hyenas on a raid!