Safari Day 1 pt 1

Finally, the much anticipated summary of Day 1.

We left around 7am. The first 2 hours consisted of exisiting Mwanza and heading east. The road was paved, and every 15 or 20 minutes or so, we had to slow down for a large speed bump. At these sites were small towns, with shacks extending back from the road, people bartering, and daladalas lining the street. It was early, even for Mwanza, but the roadsides were still densely populated. Many would see us drive by and glare; others would of course yell out Mzungu.

As we moved away from Mzungu, the buildings became much more simple in construction, eventually regressing into mud forms, often with straw based roofs. The dress looked the same, and even in these areas mobile phones were often visible.

We hit the park around 10ish. The gate was littered with small monkeys, playing with each other, jumping on our vehicle etc. After a short break for our driver Moshaka to show the gaurds our approval paperwork, we went into the Serengeti park.

We first saw wildebeasts, far off in the distance. We were quite excited by this, but we did not know they were so common ;)We also saw some gazelles. Baboons were next. And then we saw our first Giraffes. They were far off, but we stopped to watch. Little did we know that before we knew it, they would be standing 5 ft from our car.

We stopped by a small waterpool to watch some crocodiles and hippos. Then Moshaka announced we would be eating here, and we drove around to the other side of the pond, with just a thin line of trees separating us from the crocodile pool. We pulled over, still in awe of the vastness of the Serengeti, and the number of animals we had seen, and ate lunch.

To Be continued....