The Serengeti is a very large park: 5,700 square miles. We saw some of the western and some of the central parts of it. Maximum speed limit in the park seems to be 50kph. We spent most of the day driving more slowly than that with the top popped up on a Toyota land cruiser.

Our guide, Baraka, was very knowledgeable and highly skilled at spotting animals, while driving a dirt road with a lot of ruts the size that demand you pay attention to them. Baraka knew where to find some of the animals, like the hippos. But much of the time Sandy, Vicky, and/or I would stand with our heads out the top and shout out if we saw something worth stopping for. For me at least, that often turned out to be a rock or a bush! In general I tried to adopt the rule that if Baraka hadn’t seen it yet, then it probably wasn’t something worth stopping for. But I wasn’t always able to contain myself! Game spotting is an amazing ability, that seems to be a natural ability coupled with about 15 years of professional experience. He is also a very smart, and quite a funny guy.

Serengeti Day Two