Zebra
Swahili  Name:  Punda Milia
Species:  Equus quagga (?)
Lifespan:  up to 40 years (in captivity)
Serengeti
Also called Burchell's Zebra, this close cousin of the horse is one of the most common animals you'll see in Tanzania.
Zebras tend to hang out in large groups, as they are very social.  They will protect each other, coddle the sick and elderly, groom each other, and surround an injured zebra to ward off further attack.
Zebras eat grass, mostly, and will eat tall grass, whereas the other ungulate species will not.  In addition, they will eat leaves and shoots from time to time.

Ngorongoro
Nearby Ngorongoro Crater was full of zebra as well, and they frequently are mixed in with other ungulates- wildebeest in this case.  With so many around, it's no wonder they are an important food source for a large list of predators, even though they put up a mean fight.

Malanja Depression
The Malanja Depression is adjacent to Ngorongoro Crater.  It is a comparatively shallow bowl, and we passed through it driving from the Serengeti.  We had expressed interest in getting out of our vehicle and doing some walking, so our guide arranged a walk for us here (as you are not allowed to hike in Ngorongoro Crater itself).

We had a guide with a gun, just in the slight chance we ended up in danger- something that in hindsight would have made me feel very guilty if an animal was killed simply because we wanted to take a walk amongst them.

The walk started out in dense fog, with a few ghostly zebras showing through.  However, by the end of the walk, we had descended through the fog deeper into the basin, and could clearly see herds of animals and the far wall of the basin.
As the fog cleared, we could see animals everywhere.  As I said earlier, wildebeest mixed freely with the zebras on the plains.
The zebra's stripes are a form of camouflage.  Though easily visible in daylight, at dusk and dawn, they are much harder to see and it is more difficult for predators to determine their size or the distance to them.
This grouping of zebras was on the path directly in front of us, though they soon moved on.  They don't let you get too close, and keep a wary eye on humans.  In fact, I frequently got pictures of their back ends as they moved away from us.
The Malanja Depression was a nice little hike.  Once the fog had cleared enough for us to see into the distance, we had a beautiful vista opened up before us.  This depression is part of the path for animals that move in and out of Ngorongoro Crater.
Here is a final view of the Malanja Depression, with zebras, wildebeest, and a third animal that I can't quite make out in these pictures- probably an antelope of some kind.
Rhinoceros
Swahili  Name:  Faru
Species:  Diceros bicornis
Lifespan:  35-40 years
Weight:  1.5 to 2 tons
Ngorongoro
Rhinos are one of the most endangered species in Africa.  Hunted to near extinction, the remaining few are preciously guarded.  Ngorongoro Crater has a small population.  We did not see any in the Serengeti, and I'm not sure if they still exist there.

They are mean tempered and have poor eyesight.  However, their sense of hearing and smell help make up for it.

Aside from man, they have few predators, except perhaps an angry elephant.  This one does seem to have been in some fights, judging by the deep gashes in it's side.

This is a black rhino- white ones are exceedingly rare.  They eat a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, plant shoots, trees and bushes.
We spotted this rhino twice- the photo above was taken later in the afternoon, while this one was the first sighting, which was also our first sighting of any rhino.  Always there is a lot of excitement with the first sighting.

Notice how the wildebeest and zebras non-chalantly graze all around the rhino- they are not a threat to each other.
While we were shooting pictures of this rhino, he up and decided to lay down and take a nap.  Time to let the food digest, before waking up and spending the rest of the day foraging.  That large mass requires a lot of food to keep it going.
After the excitement of spotting our first rhino, we spotted a mother and her baby moseying around.  Typically, a baby rhino will stay around it's mother for 2-4 years before moving out on it's own.  I like this photo- in the distance are two ostriches.
Here is a close-up of the baby rhino.  I've no idea how old it is, perhaps a year or so.  It as about half the size of it's mother.
A final two views of the mother baby pair, as they kept wandering further and further away from us.  Something that was very typical was that we would spot an animal, and by the time we pulled over and stood up to take the pictures, the animals were moving away from us.  Squeaky brakes didn't help :(


Tanzania