Serengeti Safari

Two hours from Igoma lies the boundary of the Serengeti National Park.  We were privileged, as a team, to have the opportunity to travel to the Serengeti with a 24 hour pass to be in the park, staying overnight at the Seronera Lodge, which is located in the heart of the Serengeti.  "Serengeti" translates into "endless plains".  I've decided to write very little about this 24 hours and simply let you experience it in pictures.  I have to acknowledge my teammate Lindsay's beautiful panoramic and close-up shots, some of which I've included below.  Lindsay had a great camera with her and I'm so glad!! because she was able to capture some beautiful moments on film...much closer than mine ever would!

Hippo tracks...couldn't get over how close their feet are together!

Wildebeest.  We were present during the Wildebeest migration when 1000's of Wildebeest migrate from Kenya to Tanzania.

The absolutely stunning Lilac Breasted Roller

The thorn trees were really quite spectacular.

"By far, the most amazing moment was when we came alongside a large herd of elephants - the father, females and baby ones too!  It was incredible - they were about 100 metres from us and then we pulled forward so they could cross the road behind us.  Truly, a phenomenal moment and the moment when I realized we really were on Safari in Africa"

"It's hard to put into written word the expanse and beauty of what I witnessed in the Serengeti these past two days.  The land, the animals...just amazing.  We had beautiful weather and saw pretty much every animal we hoped for.  We even had a rainbow!  Today we saw the powerful lioness and her cubs, a male lion, a leopard lounging in a tree branch.  Just amazing!  It sounds silly, but I will watch 'The Lion King' in a whole new way!"

The beautiful Acacia tree

The Seronera Lodge's name was taken from the word "Serinonet", the name of a Maasai boy who was killed in this location by lions, so the story goes.  It opened in 1971 and is built entirely of wood and glass.  It is a site to behold architecturally, built into what are called "kopjes" which are natural rocky outcrops.  As I wrote in my journal, it felt so extravagant to stay here (although compared to North American standards it really wasn't).  For us though, having come from Igoma and eating eggs and rice as our staple most days, it truly felt like opulence to enter into the dining room with a buffet set before us with bacon as an option in the morning!  It was funny when we arrived at the Seronera past dark, we made our way to the dining room for supper and I think we all had a similar thought as we walked in....."what's with all the muzungos!?!"  It felt so strange to be surrounded by so many white people, but that was the reality...this is tourist central in the Serengeti.  We missed our friends from Igoma.

Those are not fake rocks that the gazelles are painted on...they are the natural rock formations or "kopjes" that the Seronera is built around.

The team begins to unwind a bit!