Safari

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Hi all,
Last Fri to Mon I went on Safari. I went with the group I arrived with and we decided to go sooner rather than later to avoid the rains. All in all, we visited 3 national parks, the Serengeti, Nogorogoro Crater and Lake Manyara. We also stopped off at a Massai village on the way. There were 5 of us, a tour guide/driver (Ben) and a cook/spotter (Ottman). The Massai village was amazing, got to shake hands with the chief (who has over 30 wives and 124 children) and look around their huts. When we arrived we told most of the Massai warriors from the village were out hunting a lion that had just killed one of their calfs! It wasn't a totally traditional village (as was apparent by the Massai on the motorbike we saw on the way), but few are these days. Managed to pick up some souvieneers, which I bought off the women at the village.
From there we headed to our camp site. The following day we made our way up to Nogorogoro crater. On the way we saw troops of baboons as we headed up through the rainforest. The views of the crater was incredible and the photos don't do it justice. From there we headed into the serengeti and began the game drive. Not long after we entered the park we came across the wilderbeast/zebra migration and Ben managed to get us right into the middle of it. We spent the night at a campsite in the middle of the serengeti, was hard to sleep knowing lions and hyenas were literally next door (you could hear them in the night). Got up early Sunday morning to catch the sunrise. After that we managed to see all of the big 5 within about an hour, not to mention a cheetah, giraffes, topi, impala, tree climbing lions and pretty much everything else. After our camp was packed up we headed back to the crater. Saw 2 black rhinos in the crater which are an extremely endagered species. Other highlights were the hippo pool, and giraffes fighting. Next day we headed to Lake Manyara national park. Its one of the smallest in Tanzania but didn't disapoint. Less open plains and more rainforest, so managed to see many different types of monkeys, also saw a monitor lizard and the usual wilderbeast, zedbra ect ect.
Overall I was really impressed with the safari, Ben and Ottman were really proffessional and knew what to look out for and when, not to mention the food, which was delicious.

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Comments

[Nigel and Julie]

Looks great!
Hi Ben Looks like you are having a great time and the pics are fabulous, James says the baboons are cool. Hopefully you will get stuck into teaching soon. Best Wishes Nigel and Julie