Serengeti

The famous park

There were many strange walled off areas like this, with nothing inside. One of our guides said it was to mark that the land was owned by somebody. Property rights can't be very strong if it's necessary to wall off your land.Lots of Masai villages between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. It was an extremely rough, unpaved washboard road


At the Leaky site in TanzaniaOne of their water tanks was patched with a bit of wood and some caulk, but was still leaking


Jackson was a great lizard catcher


These Masai are all dressed in black, with white face paint. This is characteristic of the boys coming-of-age ritual, but apparently these particular ones are fakes set up for touristsIn the Serengeti


Having lunch. There were hundreds of safari touristsThis vehicle was one of the few that were not land rovers.


Peter with my sunglassesThis old outhouse had a sign saying "Counted 30 June 2012".


The lions were very close in the Serengeti


...and usually surrounded by a phalanx of tour vehiclesA cheetah


...And the cheetah's admirers


Delux - elephants trooping past the balcony


The pool, with an elephant watering hole behind it


Dessert timeOur early morning balloon ride - getting ready to get in the balloon




Hippos from the airOur shadow




We're practically skimming the top of the grass here - very lowOver the treetops


The ruts where our balloon was dragged as it landedOur balloon pilot (in tie) was an ex Portuguese army paratrooper


A great view, from the "loo with a view" (3 sided privacy enclosures for chemical toilets)This lioness looks like she just ate a meal, with the red around her jaw








Dead gazelle - the vultures were standing by


The walkway to our hotel roomThe Masai guards sat here at night, and threw stones at the elephants


Taking a walk around the areaWe got a tour of the facilities at the Four Seasons - this is their dry goods warehouse


The employee quarters were very niceLaundry


Generating plantThe walkway to one of the 2 bedroom "villas" at the hotel


Hippos actually moving around. Mostly we saw them immersed in the water


Kenny and JacksonFarewell dinner


Elephants knocked down a portion of the walkway overnight.


Getting ready to fly out of the Serengeti


Lots of little isolated villages out there


An unfinished building project, just the foundations are done