Finishing off the Serengeti

February 07, 2026

Our days in the Serengeti were long, dusty, exciting, and so fun. It never got old seeing any animal from a “pumbaa” to a lion. Fun new fact about warthogs- they are also nicknamed V8 because of how fast and powerfully they can run. We stayed at Serengeti Heritage camp for a couple nights which was in the middle of the park. It looked like it was there permanently and run by a Maasai man who formerly led tours. The Serengeti is truly vast, not like Ngorongoro where you are aware of so many jeeps around you. We spent most of our first morning looking for a leopard and wow did we see a couple beauties. Leopards are Alfred’s favorite and he was so excited to be so close. I loved hearing him say “wow”, like it still brings him wonder after 17 years. We stopped for lunch under a random tree and began plotting our music video that was super fun to make though it turned out curiously similar to Kristen Bell and Dax Sheppards video from over 10 years ago. We ate dinner with Alfred both nights at Serengeti in the dining tent. There were screens all around but it looked like there were more mosquitos in the tent than outside. Actually brought up an interesting friendly eye roll from Alfred when we took our Malarone. He said that malaria is way down in numbers over the past several years and that no one gets it anymore. Might be lower than the number of people who die from the black mamba, which I didn’t realize was incredibly deadly.

Funny story, on our drive Liz and I thought we smelled skunk and so we asked Alfred if he had ever heard of a skunk. So we described it and he said it sounded like a honey badger. So of course I had to send him the viral American honey badger video, which definitely did NOT hit culturally, even after 100M plus views on YouTube. On the second night the singers and dancers did a small performance- still wondering how humans can move their body in these ways!

Alfred really liked the video, a great parting gift and hopefully solidified our status as Americans- the clients he likes the most.

On our way out of the park we saw so many birds and actually became able to identify some- the northern white headed shrike, the white headed buffalo weaver, and the superb starling, which was featured at the end of our music video.

We did finally get to see lions mating on our way out also, they mate for 4-7 days every 15 mins or so. Yikes that’ll kill your calendar for a week.

We exited the park at a gate that didn’t look very traveled, probably because we were headed to Mwanza and not back to Arusha. We had do go through a lot of mud to get there but the amphibious jeep took everything with ease. We ate lunch at the park exit and Liz successfully thwarted a baboon who nearly jumped into the roof of our jeep! What a quick thinker! I froze and said “is that our jeep?” lol We then walked over to the bathrooms but they were locked, so Alfred had to find us a bathroom outside the park. We found one at a school that looked like it was under construction and a man very happy to welcome mzungu to his place. As I write this, Liz is educating herself on usage of a squat plate.

After exiting the Serengeti we had a long drive to Mwanza- a huge city nicknamed “Rock City” that sits right on Lake Victoria. We got in some great conversation about the education system, USAID, and country music. Lots of interesting perspectives there:

Education- originally developed to uplift and empower a community, but in both countries has become a symbol of status and hierarchy. Private school is almost a must along with university, and yet practical jobs are really competitive in the market. Alfred went to school for microfinance but then jobs were hard to find so he pivoted. I’ve heard a few stories of this. But I had never thought about the education system like that. Why has education become about being the best and not about making your community better and celebrating each individuals contribution to society?

USAID- I asked about if there are noticeable changes since aid was withdrawn. He said that while the aid did good things, Tanzania has the resources to help itself and so depending on foreign aid is not creating a sustainable system. This is a interesting perspective I hadn’t thought about.

Country music- he loves it! He like old country so I played the couple songs I have on my phone- Darius Rucker Wagon Wheel was the first one and he immediately shazam-ed it. We talked about black artists breaking into country music as he noticed that when the album cover pulled up. There is also a genre of Congolese dance music called Ningala that I need to check out now.

More amazing gravity defying motorbike cargo spotted on the way to Mwanza- a full bed (mattress and bed frame), multiple sack of potatoes, sheets of plywood, just some amazing stuff. We also saw the first stoplights we have seen since we got here, an effort made by a previous president.

I’ll end this post and save the Mwanza adventure for the next one!