Entry 2: On Safari

Campsites have been extremely basic. Especially the amenaties. Most have no toilet paper or hot water and some have had no water at all. Some toilets as expected consist of just a hole in the floor with two footplates as a guide!! The night we spent camping in the SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK had no facilities at all after dark and a couple of steps away from your tent was all that was advised if you needed to relieve yourself in the night, this was due to the fact that Lions, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant, Rhino and Hyena (to name a few) wandered freely in the area. Indeed, we heard Lion, Zebra and God only knows what else through the night...........unnerving but Brilliant!!!
The Safari's have been absolutely amazing. We've game driven through the Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti. Both of which are nothing short of breathtaking, and I would highly recommend them to anyone who can handle the severely rough ride you have to endure to arrive at either. We both agreed that that the Ngorongoro Crater was the highlight and somewhere we will never forget. I could spend a whole month trying to describe and recapture the prehistoric beauty of this place for you all at home and still not do it an ounce of justice. It's the natural world's equivelent to Jurrassic Park (minus the cheesyness).
The BIG 5 for those of you that aren't aware (Mark, they're different to what we thought!) are the 5 big animals that pose the most threat to man. These are:
LION.
RHINO.
ELEPHANT.
BUFFALO.
LEOPARD.
(although for Tab, Cassie and Sam it will always be the BIG 3........lions, tigers and bears)

The BIG 5 can all be found in The Crater, however we unfortunately fell short by 2 with no sitings of the ever elusive leopard or one of only 21 rhino in The Crater. The pictures (when we eventually find somewhere where we can download them for you) will not capture what we saw here or the feeling this place gives you, they will only serve as a reminder............I for one was sad to leave. It maybe a ridiculous comparison as they are both so different but for those of you that have seen the GRAND CANYON (which I thought was also amazing) well this place knocks the socks of it.......................it's just so alive!!!!!!!!!

We did actually see a Leopard right at the end of our Serengeti safari so that has left us just the Rhino short of the big 5........we may yet get a chance in South Africa??

We were also privaliged to see a 4 lioness attack on a herd of gazelle which took about 30-40 minutes. Unfortunately the attempt failed but it was intense viewing.

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