When we first got into the Serengeti it was pretty late, but the sunset was pretty nice.
This is what quite a bit of the Serengeti looks like.
Although a bit dustier when driving.
The word Serengeti means endless plain. Reminds me a bit of home.
With all the dust and the heat there were several dust devils forming here and there.
There were several tree areas too. The leopards need somewhere to hunt and sleep.
We were out one day as the sun set and it was pretty awesome.
There are three cheetahs in this picture. They are right there by the tree.
Want to go for a walk?
They can spot you!
But they aren’t ready to hunt us. Something smaller perhaps.
Time for a walk.
Have to go find some dinner.
The people that didn’t do the hot air balloon got to see one grab breakfast.
They said it was over pretty quickly.
It is still a bit unnerving how well they blend in. We stayed in the jeep.
The Serengeti hippos are more active during the day.
The water isn’t very deep so they have to go for walks between the different parts.
Most still have a good time chilling in the pools.
It is important to get a good days sleep.
Stacking with friends is important too.
The birds hop around on the back keeping them tick free. While the ticks on the other side get drowned after several hours in the water.
In between hunting for the big animals and cats we saw lots of birds. We don’t remember the name of most so if you want to know there are some excellent guides out there.
Starting us off is this weird looking rather large bird. Not ostrich big but still quite close.
This little guy would not stay still. Kept flying back and forth between the ground and this little branch. Just before the jeep pulled away Kerri managed to get this shot.
Up in the trees we spotted a vulture nest.
Oh this is a lilac breasted flycatcher.
Here are more vultures, but black headed.
This little one was helping clean off a hippo.
This looks like some sort of hawk.
These guys were funny because they would fan their tail feathers in the tree like the birds back in Australia.
Not sure why this is but the foot suggests it doesn’t eat small insects and seeds.
There were a few pelicans around too.
We got to see a few of the crowned cranes again too.
The drive into Ngorogoro crater was not what we expected.
It was much larger and rainy in the morning.
There were breaks in the clouds revealing a dry plain.
We made our way down the side slowly.
Apparently elephants are good climbers.
They had a good view of the crater below.
The clouds come in every morning we were told which makes for a dramatic entrance.
There were so many animals. And our first wildebeests as you may see in the background.
Many many hippos.
And finally hyena. They just wander through the herds while the other animals sometimes stare at them.
Those are all wildebeest.
The clouds hang around the outer rim for quite some time. The only water is in a lake and a few streams running through the crater.
