The Endless Plain

Polly arrived from the east just after dawn. Below her was a land with no end. The Maasai people call it Siringet. It means the place where the land runs on forever. Golden grass rolled to every horizon. The first light caught her red head, her bright green body, and her small round black-rim glasses.

The Serengeti is made of grass. Long ago, volcanoes covered these plains with ash. The ash became rich soil, and the soil grows grass full of minerals. That is the secret. More than a million wildebeest walk in a giant circle here every year, following that grass. Zebras and gazelles walk with them.

Islands of grey rock rise out of the plain. They are called kopjes. Polly landed on the highest stone. The rock was warm, and she could see everything for kilometres. Below her, a lioness was sleeping in the shade, just like a house cat.

In the evening, dark lines appeared far away. Thousands of animals were walking slowly north, like a grey river. Polly found an acacia tree and closed her eyes. Tomorrow she would meet the river.