The Serengeti comes from a Maasai word Siringit, which means "endless plain" and yes, yes it was!
Zebra | Pundamilia at the watering hole
A zebra's stripes are like fingerprints, no two zebras have the same.
Wildebeest | Nyumbu at the watering hole
Called a "spare parts animal" because it has the legs of a giraffe, the horns of a buffalo, mane of a lion, tail of a horse, and ears of a wild dog.
Giraffe | Twiga and Baboons | Nyani in the swamp
Giraffes all have 7 vertebrae in their neck that allow them to reach high and low.
Male Ostrich are bigger and prettier than females because they are trying to impress the ladiesssss. No really.
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Lion | Simba with an Impala | Swala pala
On our first day, in the morning, we saw the only kill we would for the whole trip. It was this lioness who we think killed the impala for her cubs. If it was for her, she would have eaten it right there, because it isn't big enough to be anything more than a snack.
Elephant | Tembo
Elephants have large brains and thus are very smart. They use their trunks for sucking up water and putting it into their mouths, they do not drink through their trunks. They do the same thing with food.
Hiding Giraffe | Twiga
Giraffes walk with their legs parallel. Meaning that their 2 left legs are always forward at the same time. If they didn't, their necks would swing back and forth, so it a good thing!
The termite's biggest enemy is an aardvark. These are not aardvarks but I don't remember what they are. But they are cute. Termites bury the queen deep inside the mound, where she ways 500 eggs every 10 minutes for life. When a predator approaches, there are kamikaze soldiers who protect the queen at the periphery of the mound while the others bury her farther into the earth. Now that's love.
Asses of the Zebra | Pindamilia
Clearly they were upset with me about something.
Giraffes | Twiga crossing the road
Because the giraffes legs are parallel, they cannot walk up steep slopes like the Ngorongoro crater
Lion cub with female lions | Simba
Lionesses hunt for the dominant male and cubs, in exchange the male protects their pride
Elephants | Tembo
These elephants have their trunks up because they are smelling. They could be smelling lions, or even water, that is kilometers away.
Elephant | Tembo standoff
Elephants are the most destructive to the landscape. They often destroy trees, pregnant elephants dig into the sides of the trunks to get nutrients. If you had to be pregnant for 22 months, you might do the same.
Warthog | Ngiri
The name Tarangire comes from Tara (river) and Ngire (warthog). Naturally it is the river of warthogs. Which is why they were waddling around our campsite on the first night!
Impala | Swala Pala fighting
Impala males lock horns to fight, females don't have horns. They just follow the strongest boy.
Dikdik | Digidigi in the forest.
I am not positive this is a dikdik. However, it is freaking adorable, and I have a fun fact about dikdik. They will travel up to 10 km to poop because they know that the lion finds them because of the smell of their poop.
Not sure about this one.
Baboon | Nyani family
When there are lions around, baboons screech and squeal because they see the predator.
View overlooking Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is actually not a crater, it is a caldera. The top of this volcano sunk down to create it about 2.5 million years ago, and the result is a thriving ecosystem, with no giraffes.
Ewa and our Jeep at the crossing between Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Maasai are allowed to live in Conservation areas, not National Parks, because they have cattle, which are domesticated animals.
Lizard on a rock
This is a poisonous lizard that can change the color of it's skin. Not sure why it chose purple/pink but this guy scared the crap out of me when I was walking to the top of this hill.
Topi | Nyamera standoff with Cheetah | Duma
They just looked at each other. The cheetah wouldn't go for the topi because hunting goes by size, and the topi is bigger than the cheetah. But I am sure it looks delicious.
Hippo | Kiboko
Hippos sometimes look like they are bleeding but it is just a natural form of sunscreen that they produce to cover their thin and sensitive skin.
Mom and Young Cub Lion | Simba
I actually spotted these lions (I think this was the only thing I spotted the whole trip) while we were driving. The mother was digging furiously (we think for a rabbit) but to no avail. She stopped to rest and the cub actually started to help her dig. Still no luck.
Giraffe | Twiga
This one is darker than normal so we call her a Maasai Giraffe.
Lioness | Simba
Lions do not attack unless the odds are really high that they will catch their prey. You wouldn't want to be tired AND hungry out here would you?
Lionesses | Simba
So these two lionesses were pissed off at the male lion who was being a helicopter lion and telling them where they should and shouldn't go. So they decided to storm off. (true story)
Lion | Simba
This is the lion. He was annoyed. But he followed them.
He needed to take more breaks though.
The dominant male in a pride will only coexist with another male if they are brothers. If a new male comes in to challenge the existing dominant male in the pride, and he wins, he will kill all the cubs that are not his. Talk about insecure. The male that loses will go off alone and die within the year.
This is the type of tree that Leopard | Chui likes to hang out in. We saw leopards but not close enough to photograph. They hang out on the tree because they don't like to share their food. It's also convenient for an ambush.
Elephants | Tembo
So we encountered this elephant family but the baby elephant in the next photo was laying down quite some ways away from the group. We thought either he was sick and the elephants left him to die, or he is sleeping and the mother forgot about him (bad mother and not like her). Typically if elephants die like this the other elephants will bury the dying elephant in tree branches so they cannot be attacked. In this case, we were very afraid that this elephant wouldn't make it. But when we went back 2 days later he was gone, and no blood! So he survived!!
Wildebeest | Nyumbu and Zebra | Pundamilia
They wag their tails while they eat to let predators know that they are still "at attention" even though they are eating. Many herbivores do this.
Twinsies!!! Zebras can walk up to 60km in a day.
In a world of zebras, dare to be a wildebeest
Zebras | Pundamilia
This is what zebras look like when they see a lion. In fact, the whole hillside is still and just looking straight at the predator.
Wildebeest | Nyumbu and Zebra | Pundamilia are great friends
Skulls of Buffalo | Mbogo
Note that you can't remove these from any park though they are everywhere. Instead, we pay thousands for them.
Lion | Simba pooping
Not only does this lion have no tail, but her poop smells like... well it smells worse than poop. She probably ate a sick animal and needs to find some herbal remedies. Seriously, they do that.
Old Buffalo | Mbogo
Sharifu is nost afraid of the buffalo. If he is angry he will charge your car and do some damage. If this happens you are supposed to play head. Ha. Or be dead, I suppose...
Hyenas | Fisi in their den
This den was in an old aardvark next, which may have at some point been a termite house. The rest of the cubs are in the hole below this mother nursing. This is Ewa's favorite animal. Nasty!
Hyenas | Fisi
Hyenas do not know how to suffocate prey like lions and they usually like to piggyback on the lions' work and just have leftovers. But when they do eat live animals, the sick or weak ones, they just eat them alive.
Vultures feeding
Probably a lion/cheetah killing. Usually the hyena eats after the lion, then the vultures. The hyenas can eat bones and everything, but when they do they need to lay in mud to cool off their warm belly.
The wildebeest crossing at the Mara River
What a sight to see. They run in a concentrated straight line because it is harder for crocodiles to attack a single file line.
So wildebeest and zebra migrate together. The wildebeest need the zebra for their great eyesight. The zebra need the wildebeest because they are smarter and have good smell. Totally copasetic. Zebras are dumb. They could see a lion, go back to grazing, and forget the lion is there. Duh.
One of the wildebeest leaders got spooked by something at the water and had his clan retreat. They could come back in up to 2 days, but they do need to continue the migration.
Impala | Swala Pala
I usually don't condone violence but when impalas fight it makes me giggle.
Back to Wildebeest | Nyumbu walking in a straight line...
Cheetah | Duma
Literally could not care less that we drove in a circle around her. Literally... CHILLIN'
Carcass of a zebra
She had a great like. She ate and pooped many times. First she was killed by a lion. Then ravaged by hyenas, and then vultures. But who eats the lions and hyenas? No one. They don't taste good. They have no nutrients because they do not eat grass, they eat meat. So they just deteriorate and become part of the earth. Its the circle of life.
Elephants | Tembo marching
Elephants can run pretty fast but have no fear of lions unless they are with babies.
A lone Wildebeest | Nyumbu
In a world of wildebeest, dare to be a zebra
Giraffe | Twiga by the Acacia tree
Flattop Acacias are everywhere. The tsetse flies lay eggs on their leaves, which pleases nobody. African sleeping sickness seems to be no joke.
Crocodile waiting in the hazy swamp
Crocodiles wait for the wildebeest and zebra crossing to feed. They can wait up to a year, and swallow their prey whole.
Elephants | Tembo crossing the road
Elephants have tons of capillaries in their flappy ears so when they flap them, they are actually cooling their blood.
Bobcat in the morning
This is unusual because they are typically nocturnal. Bonus!
Family of Giraffes | Twiga
I have no idea what this is but it's cute
This is some sort of crested wren, it is the national bird of Uganda, with the salt flats in the background.
More Hippos | Kiboko
The birds like to eat the ticks off the hippos' backs. They pay rent in bird poop.
These are like the seagulls of the savannah. Scavenging everywhere. But pretty!
And last but not least, a farewell from this beaut!
