After three weeks of roughing it with daily trekking (see welcome to the jungle, dock of a bai, Gorillas in our midst, Kingo, and Kilimanjaro one, two, three, and four) and minimal bathing (see I am a stranger in this part of the jungle), we were really looking forward to running water, 6 days of being driven around to look at animals, staying in relative luxury, and relaxing a little.
The itinerary was to fly from Arusha to Lobo (the Northern part of the Serengeti) and stay there for 3 nights, then gradually move south taking in the Central Serengeti and the Ngorongoro area on the drive back to Arusha. 
Jesse has been on at least 5 previous safaris, and has in general had very good luck with animal viewing. He was therefore fairly jaded about run of the mill animals like zebras, antelopes, monkeys, etc that are very plentiful. I, on the other hand, was stunned to see so many animals – we nearly ran over some buffalo, zebras, and baboons landing at the Lobo airstrip! I took at least 4 pictures of nearly every animal we saw the entire time, resulting in about 3000 photos. I’ve extensively edited it down to only a handful of pictures of the most interesting animals.
We met our guide and driver, Max, who was entertained by my excessive picture taking.
On our drive to the lodge we saw a lot of mingling herds: Here is an alert zebra with some Eland (a gigantic, very shy, and apparently very tasty antelope), with some elephants in the background.
Hartebeest
Zebras were everywhere, and I couldn’t get enough of their stripes, and how like horses they were.
They liked to cuddle with each other
Each zebra’s stripe pattern is unique, like a fingerprint.
The giraffes were always impressive
This baby was the cutest, and we saw him for a few days in a row.
They never failed to lift their heads and just stare and stare at us whenever we drove past.
They often had their groomers with them.
We saw hippos in basically every body of water large enough to hold them. They were constantly getting into arguments over the deeper spots where they could be more fully submerged.
The ostriches were huge, and not scared of people at all.
Jesse spotted a rarely seen bat eared fox
I never failed to take at least 20 photos of each vervet monkey I saw, to Jesse’s endless frustration.
These secretary birds are so called for their feather hairdos and for the tapping motion they make with their feet to dig up grubs and insects.
One of the ugliest birds – the marabou stork
Dik dik were hard to spot but everywhere.
Gazelle were also ubiquitous…
As well as Topi, perhaps explaining why we only have a handful of pictures of each. Topis were particularly funny in the morning when it was cool, because they would bound around like giant hooved bunnies.
We saw a lot of spotted hyena, mostly in the early morning or late afternoon.
Many baboons, who were usually doing something kind of disgusting.
Warthogs (aka poombas)
We were lucky to find 2 cheetahs very close to the car. The first one walked right in front of our Land Rover…
And we watched the second stalk some gazelle for while after waking up from a nap, though unfortunately she gave up and didn’t catch anything.
We anticipated anything with a warm bed, a hot shower, and wifi would feel luxurious after so much time sleeping on hard ground and camping in the cold. However we were not prepared for the serious luxury of the Migration Camp, the place we stayed the first 3 nights. Jesse’s Tanzanian friend (who he met on a plane heading to Dar Es Salaam for a business trip, and who just happens to own a philanthropic safari company, Fair Trade Safaris) really hooked us up. It was probably the nicest place I’ve ever stayed.
We had a personal butler, daily turn down service with hot water bottles to heat the bed, 3 course meals 3 times a day (including a gourmet boxed lunch), and personalized notes in our room.
The camp was in the middle of the bush, so there was a lot of wildlife wandering through. There was a river with 60 resident hippos a few hundred yards away, and they often came up and grazed by the tents at night. For this reason (and the occasional leopard), we were not allowed to walk unaccompanied between our room and the main lodge at night, and needed to radio for an escort. There were also some hyraxes (which are actually related to elephants), who liked to lounge by the pool.
and a klippspringer family
There was a fantastic view of the sunset from the main lodge, which we watched while sipping sundowners.
The 2nd night there was a thunderstorm unlike any I’ve ever experienced. The thunder was literally continuous the entire time, lightning every 5 seconds, and the rain was an unceasing deluge lasting all night.
We were used to hearing the hippos tramping around outside our tent from the first night, but that night it sounded like someone was throwing pebbles and scratching our roof all night long. In the morning, it was revealed that these soggy hyraxes were taking shelter in the space between our inner and outer tent throughout the night, incidentally also using it as a toilet.
guess there’s only so much luxury that can be achieved in the middle of the bush…
round the world in sixty days 
I am overwhelmed! You have to publish a book, it’s all so impressive. Hugs, Bobo
LikeLike