After an amazing morning in the Ngorongoro crater we headed down the north side toward Ndutu. As was the case most days we got a chance to take in the sites as we went. Unlike the previous days however we encountered a lot of wildlife. Prosper was not hesitant to pull a right turn off the ‘road’ and head straight into the bush to get a closer look at animals and plants. The ride down was stunning to say the least. We got a chance to see a bunch of giraffes, wildebeests and zebras. The most amazing part for me however was entering the southern part of the Serengeti which was absolutely stunning how it went on as far as the eye could see. It was an amazing feeling being in such a wide open expanse. I’ll explain the rest via captions.

A Whistling Acacia tree. When there is wind they whistle because the holes in the base of the thorns. The thorns are a defense mechanism, and the holes give a place for the cocktail ants to live which also serve as a defense mechansim as they come running out if you touch the branch. It was definitely a cool symbiotic relationship. We also decided that if you happened to fall onto one of these, it would be the worst day ever. Check out the video below.

The view from the first stop.

This is when Prosper decided to take a right turn over the embankment so we could get a closer look at some giraffes. There were about 30 of them in total.

Checking us out.

Sitting, relaxing.

Sitting down, not so graceful.

They all seemed to position themselves facing the same way.

Eating the acacia, apparently not worried about defense mechanisms.

They were not at all disturbed by us.

Gawking at us.

We took a lot of pictures of the giraffes.

In case you forgot what we looked like, oh and giraffes in the background.

Caitlin had that same smile for 12 days straight.

While watching the giraffes these zebras decided they wanted to be noticed.

Another jeep cruising across the Serengeti.

Wildebeests.

The only tree in the middle of the Serengeti.