Heinzlmeir Haven: The Serengeti...'endless plains'

Our drive from the Crater to the Serengeti was LONG. We drove that day for about 10 hours. We stopped at the Masai Village, the main gate for a boxed lunch and then the game drive began on our way to our camp...which was a loooonnnnnng ways away. Still, it was so interesting and our driver and guide, Nickson was an excellent teacher.

Wildebeests for miles and miles

Our tent. This I did not expect. Let me tell you, this camp is literally in the middle of the Serengeti--all the animals are wandering around day and night. So I wasn't so worried about the day, because we were almost always driving around with Nickson. When the first night came (and yes, we had to be escorted to our tents after dinner here too!) It was a windy night and I was so exhausted that I became pretty delusional. I was sure an elephant would storm our tent...because someone told us that a while back, an elephant DID in fact wreck the back of one of the tents trying to get the water they hang up for showers! So I'd doze off, then the wind would blow through the canopy flaps and slam against the side of the tents and I'd wake with a start and would start shaking! I was so terrified! I eventually fell asleep and though I know it was a dream now, at the time, I was sure a herd of elephants were stampeding around the tent and I even peeked out the front zipper and saw a baboon riding on the back of a rhino that was in with the elephants! That was the longest and most terrifying night I can remember! The young men who were our attendants, got a great laugh the next morning when I told them about my night. It was a joke for 3 days...even though the following night I had calmed down and took a sleeping pill and put in my ear plugs. The reason I didn't do that the first night is because I was sure that if in fact the elephants stormed the tent, I HAD to be ready to run the other way. If I was knocked out with a sleeping pill and not able to hear anything...I'd be dead.

This baby Wildebeest was lost. He was bleating away and we just wondered how this could happen because apparently the mother's are very protective and this rarely happens. The babies will attach to anything that moves if they can't find mom...and so he did...we drove off and he started running after us calling out to us. It was so sad. A couple miles down the road, we saw a herd of adults and thought maybe the mom was there...but what could we do?

Heartebeest

In the evening before dinner, they would make a campfire for us and we'd sit around until they called us for dinner.

Maribou Stork

Dinner under the main tents.

I have lots of great giraffe shots...that I'll put up later. For now, I just love this one. We were all thinking "where are you going?" The direction he was headed led to no where! He was an old guy (the old giraffes are darker in colour) so maybe he's got Alzheimer's