Olive Baboon

Nyani

Males: 60-100 lbs, females 30-44 lbs.

Lake Manyara

Common Wildebeest

Nyumbu

Males: 400-500 lbs, females 330-400 lbs. The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is home to 1.5 to 2 million wildebeests. During our safari, we enjoyed being in the middle of the migration of these animals, which also brings a resulting migration of predatory animals. It has often been said that viewing wildebeests in the Serengeti is like what the American buffalo herds were prior to their near extinction back in the late 1800s.

Thomson's (Swala Tomi), Grant's Gazelles (Swala Granti)

Gazelles are everywhere, especially Thomson's gazelles. Thomson's are easily identifiable in that they are smaller and have a black strip horizontally across their chest. Grant's are the largest of the gazelle family and have no such stripe.

Some Thomson's with the wildebeest herd going on forever

Some Grant's with ostriches standing guard

Hippo (does anyone really ever say hippopotamus?)

Kiboko

Males - 3,300-6,600 lbs., females 2,200-4,400 lbs. Hippos are distantly related to pigs, and have webbed toes. They are occasionally attacked by lions, and crocs sometimes take calves. However, their jaws can crush an animal with a single bite...so, they are usually left alone. I suppose there are a few deaths of other animals by being stepped on.

Warthog

Ngiri

Males 130-220 lbs., females 100-150 lbs. Both have tusks. 3 wart-like facial growths serve to protect the eyes and face from injury when sparring. We heard one squeal just outside our campsite in the Serengeti.

Coke's Hartebeest

Kongoni

Males 330 lbs., females 265 lbs. Both have horns.

Zebra

Punda Milia

Males 500-725 lbs., females 440-660 lbs. To answer a question often asked on safari ... the females have stripes that are browner. I was most surprised at the number of zebras - I guess I always thought they were not so numerous. They were everywhere, and their numbers in the Serengeti are in the hundreds of thousands.

       A young, and probably female (brownish) zebra

Topi

Nyamera

Males 265-300 lbs., females 240-265 lbs. Darker brown than the hartebeest. Both sexes have horns.

Impala

Swala Pala

Males 110-175 lbs., females 90-120 lbs. An incredibly graceful, beautiful animal. Males only have horns. We didn't see nearly as many impalas as gazelles.

  This rather large male had quite the large herd.

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