Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks: Oct 12-17

After the midsemester break, the wanafunzi went on safari with our Tanzanian ecology professor. That's right, we get course credit for this! He did made us write a paper in the bush. Mine was handwritten, and probably had food stains and mud on it, but I got the job done. I wrote by the light of an LED headlamp, and could hear the hyenas walking through our campsite the whole time. I must admit that my concluding paragraph was a little bit rushed. Nothing makes you miss an air-conditioned, camera-monitored college computer lab like a group of aggressively territorial face-biting predators roaming through your camp to drink from puddles and eat up the puke left behind by ACM's occasional amoeba victims.

ACMers waiting to enter Lake Manyara National Park.

Zebras.
A troop of baboons. I think baboons should travel in platoons, but evidently scientists don't like to rhyme as much as I do.
Elephants. Tembo! Alternatively, Loxodonta africanus.
Twiga!
Buffalo and friends.
Arriving at Lake Manyara Hot Springs. The water was indeed hot, and smelled like sulfur. There are flamingos in the distance, near the shore, along with probably ten other bird species.
Giraffes necking. Contrary to popular belief, they're not canoodling. These are two males fighting. However, good necking will get you the ladies. Female giraffes tend to favor males who are successful in neck-to-neck combat.
On the way to Serengeti, we passed through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and stopped by the crater for a picture. Look at this guy!
Ngorongoro will get its own post later, so check out pride rock:
Hyena! Always cool to see, except when you're staring one down on the way to the choo in the middle of the night. Generally, hyenas are big wusses, but they've been known to injure or kill humans, and rabies is a legitimate concern if you sustain a bite. Regardless, no one wants to see their beady eyes in the night when nature is calling.
Got milk?
Egyptian Geese.
More Zebra. They form these small multifaceted groups to keep an eye on predators.

Speaking of predators, these lionesses did not have hunting on the mind that day. Fun fact: male lions don't hunt much if they can help it. The females are typically the ones going out to bring home the food.

A leopard chilling out in a tree. There were dozens upon dozens of safari vehicles in line to see this guy.

More zebra.

Our Serengeti campsite.

On the way to the hippo pool, our Ecology prof said something in rapid Swahili to our driver while we were stopped. Without explanation, he started careening down the road (dirt and gravel, mind you) at at least 80Km/H. We found this guy and some friends just as they were crossing the road. He didn't seem to like the attention, and took a few steps toward the car while trumpeting loudly. For a second, I thought I was going to need to change my shorts. But the picture is here, and so am I!

The legendary Serengeti Hippo Pool. Hippos spend the daytime in the water to stay cool. They suffer from photosensitivity problems, just like me! At night they come out and eat grass. We couldn't see that, because vehicles are not allowed to drive in Serengeti after dark. That's fine with me, because hippos are one of the most dangerous animals in the world. They're aggressively territorial, sensitive to their own vulnerability on land, and routinely capsize small boats and kill the occupants in human-populated areas.*

*(Fun fact: On land, hippos can run up to 18 mph, or 30 Km/h. That's faster than you!)

Hippos mark territory with their choo (poo). The pool smelled as such.
Hippo yawn.
Very old Maasai rock paintings.
A Serengeti kopje (pronounced KO-pee). These geological curiosities dot the plains in certain parts of the park, and provide ecological conditions supporting animal and plant species quite different from surrounding areas - including the incredibly adorable Rock Hyrax!
That's it for Serengeti/Manyara highlights! Next up: Tarangire field camp!