A day of travel.  In the morning we break camp and load our truck. We start to develop a technique in what to stack where inside and on top. 

Then we say a long and heartfelt goodbye to Henry,  the camp manager. When I asked him if I could leave my cellphone unattended while charging it outside on the terrace of the restaurant, his reply was simple: Yes sir, we are an honest country.  You can come back in an hour, or tomorrow,  or next week,  and it will still be there. 

His reply made me embarassed. I wish I could say the same about Holland. 

Now we shake hands for a long time, and he wishes me a long life,  long enough to meet again. 

And then we set off for Serengeti ! The road is good and leads through beautiful country. We are climbing out of the rift valley and driving into the Ngorongoro crater area.  The land stays green and fertile and leads through small villages where many people walk the streets.  Many Massai in traditional clothes, women in very colorful kanga's, children in school uniform.  Many people wear a sweater or jacket. Nights are cool here. 

At the ngorongoro park we have to pay to drive through to Serengeti,  even though the only way back will be through this same park, when we'll have to pay again. 

I feel a pang of panic, when the lady asks me for a pin number for my credit card. My card has no pin, because it has a chip. But this lady cannot process my payment without pin. Manager gets involved,  nothing helps. Finally Chruus saves the day, because he has a credit card with pin! 

We enter Ngorongoro and I find a youth wish fulfilled: how vividly I remember my highschool geography teacher, mr Arjen Brouwer, whose enthousiasm started my interest into geography.  

"And then you have the Ngorongoro as a prime example of a volcano that did not erupt, but the entire top blew off! Imagine, a kaldera with a diameter of 100 kilometer !"

Now we drive over the edge of the crater and at several locations we have a marvellous view over the flat round plain that forms the bottom of the crater. There is a large lake and it contains the largest concentration of large animals in the world. We will visit it on our way back!

The road continues, rough, unpaved, full of sharp ridges, like an old fashioned wash board.  

One unfortunate circumstance is that occasionally we pass some Massai, and all of them, without exception immediately start begging.  Women and children run to the road with outstretched arms and ask for money. Nothing is left of their pride and dignity.  They are completely spoiled by tourism. 

A sign over the road welcomes us to the Serengeti.  We drive much further until we reach the permit office.  We register buy a map and go on our way to Seronera. The distance is about 60 kilometer,  but the road is horrible. The 'washboard' surface is so rough that we go at walking speed, and I note with trepidation the beautiful sunset approaching.  

I try to speed up, until one of the six clamps that holds the roof rack onto the roof flies off. 

In spite of all regulations we get out of the car to look between the gravel, and find it back! 

Left and right we see antilope and gazelles. The sun sets, and we continue at a snail's pace. Suddenly we see an animal on the road in front of us. It moves at a fixed step, not affected by the noise and rattle of our car, bumping over the ridges in the road. 

It's a lion. 

We get closer and start to pass it. We film it and take pictures right next to it. Impressive. 

Then it turns night, when another clamp falls off. With a small rope we tie it to the roof rack, so if it falls off again,  we don't need to look for it. If only there were some tools in the car. 

In the pitch dark we continue (illegally,  you have to be in the campground or lodges by sun down).

Finally we reach Seronera, and with a sigh of relief find our campground.  It is dark, for there are no street lights, but noisy, for all the cooks for the organized travellers are preparing food in a caged building.  We pitch our tents and cook as the only white people with all the black cooks. It feels like the colonial days are back. 

When I try to move the car, the battery is dead. Trouble.  That battery should be full after a days drive. We start to worry we will not be able to reach the migration routes in the northern Serengeti. 

It is dark and I am tired. I'll have to tackle that problem tomorrow. 

We keep our shoes inside the tent  because we see hyenas around the camp