Early Sunday morning saw me picking up two ecologists - one South African botany type, one American savannah dynamics type - and taking them for a jolly trip through Serengeti to Grumeti on the western edge. Due to last minute failings on Friday afternoon we still hadn't got a definite plan formulated for the trip, but with a couple of mattresses in the back anda box of food we thought we'd be able to make something up and stop for the night at the research centre in Serengeti en route, to arrive here Monday morning at coffee time. And so began an original trip with one passenger familiar and the other completely new to Tanzania - the first rains had arrived overnight in Arusha, but we soon lost them and entered dry, dry, dry lands to the south. A brief stop to spot the wildlife from the viewpoint over Manyara was a good start, then Ngorongoro was a good view - highlights for one botanist were the Kikuyu Grass growing by the viewpoint. Followed by a long discussion of tree - grass interactions at high altitudes in East Africa until we hit the plains at Olduvai for lunch. Carrying on into Serengeti proper we stopped for a mid-afternoon caracal on the plains - very nice! But for me the new experience was having to keep stopping to find grass - I never throught I'd drive through Serengeti looking for grass...
Found some though!
Next highlight was acheetah, and then sorting accommodation in Seronera, which thanks toa fortuitious meeting of one of my guests and some one doing researh in Seronera who recognised him was soon solved and we sat down to toast the sunset and forage in the local hoteli.
Monday morning saw us up with the zebras and off, passing the river and hippos en route reminding us why African's don't swim...
(Shame you can't sell it too!) And then on to our modest lodgings: here's my room...
And straight into discussions. TIme has now passed and more has happened, but it's late and I'lll be up early again tomorrow, so enough for now!
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