Serengeti Oldupai Gorge

It was time to say goodbye to the crater and make our way to the Serengeti.  Out of all the parks in the world this is the one that is most famous and I'm glad to say that Rhonda and I are going to really see it.  Most people only come for a few days and only in the center and we will be in it for more than a week and will be in the north, center and north. 

Our first way into the park was to aim for the Oldupai gorge which was created by an earthquake and volcano. What is interesting about the drive down is how the landscape changes into a dry desert like area. We stopped at a very interesting museum in the gorge.  A curator at this museum explain the history of how this site was found and how the Leakeys spent 30 to 40 years surveying and excavating this area. It was only after 30 years that Mary made the first major discovery which was of a skull that dates 1.75 million years old. Since then two other skulls and skeleton remain were found. This is where they profess that man originated from and at some point migrated to the rest of the world. 

After visiting the museum we moved on to the shifting sands. Their is a sand dune that moves 60 meters a year. We walked on it and found it moves in a crescent shape which is partly why it stays together. It also seems to contain magnetic qualities. Really cool. 

We had our first bush lunch. Tumainini parked near a tree where some Masai were hanging out with their cattle and we ate and just looked out at the view that seemed to go for miles. Amazing. 

Eventually we got to the north of the Serengeti in an area called Ndutu which is famous for its lion prides. My hope is we shall see some. 

Driving around would you believe we saw a lot of elephants.  At one point we stopped at a water hole where 24 elephants were. One bull that was there had to be as tall as Willy at the Cleveland Zoo. I was so touched to see them here too. Everyone is giving me a hard time about all the elephants we are seeing. I'm told I should start thinking of seeing leopards or cheetahs. 

But we did run across two beautiful lionesses. They were out in the open.   They looked very relaxed as they kept an eye on some nearby zebras. We think one of them had some nearby Cubs but we didn't see them. 

We are staying at an incredible camp the next two days.  They have stone cabins and wildlife regularly comes on the grounds. So far i have seen a giraffe, dik diks and genets. They also had a great fire pit that we sat around to watch the sunset. What a beautiful way to end the day.