Advertisement
Published: October 15th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Lake Masek Tented Camp
At nearly every tent camp, ours was the furthest away. After dark we were always escorted by a guard with a flashlight and some type of weapon. We hated to leave Lake Masek Camp because it was beautiful, but we needed to start the long bumpy drive to the Serengeti. After breakfast we sat on the large deck and watched the hippos as they surfaced in the lake in front of us. Several minutes later we saw an elephant family coming through the brush and parading between us and the lake. There were lots of animals and Maasai herders in the Ngorongoro Highlands. We drove through grasslands and acacia trees, making our own roads. While crossing a large dry river bed we came across another vehicle that was stopped to watch 3 female lions and 1 male lion. We got very close to the females and took some good pictures. Then we drove closer to the male who posed for pictures and then lay down in some grass about 10 yards from us. As Francis tried to drive on, we all realized that we were very stuck. There was no way to make it move, and we were only throwing mud. The 4-wheel drive can't be engaged until the front wheel hubs are locked--by hand on the OUTSIDE of the vehicle. Francis decided there was no choice but
to get out of the vehicle with a large male lion 10 yards from one side and 3 females 50 yards from the other side. We were watching so we could report to Francis if the lion moved. Instead, the lion was startled by him getting out of the vehicle, so he moved a little further away. Francis was able to engage the 4-wheel drive and hop back into the vehicle. We thought we were saved, but we still couldn't get out. Francis flagged down the other safari vehicle and he was able to push us out! Otherwise, we'd probably still be there! Before we left the area the females were looking at some hartebeests coming up the riverbed towards them. We positioned ourselves to see another lion kill. One of them stalked and chased a hartebeest, but it made a sudden turn and the lion couldn't keep up. We had the excitement of the chase without the gross and sad kill.
The road to the Serengeti was a gravel washboard! Francis tried to convince us that if he went fast enough we would fly over many of the ridges, but we weren't convinced. Then he tried to sell us
Elephant family
There are couple more elephants behind the bushes. We were sitting on the deck after breakfast. on the idea of receiving a free full-body massage as we were bounced around the vehicle. We ate our box lunches at the Serengeti entrance. It took all afternoon to drive to the north side of the park where we stayed that night. On the way we saw thousands of animals. The highlight was seeing our first leopard. He/she was lying on a branch of a yellow acacia tree. They are very secretive animals, so seeing one was exciting. We also saw a pride of 15 lions napping under a tree. There were occasional elephants, but at one point we came upon a herd of about 50 on both sides of the road and even IN the road. They were definitely up close and personal! The trails were terrible, and we were running late, so Francis was speeding toward the campsite scaring even Len! We arrived at Nasikia Mobile Camp just in time for the 6:00 curfew when everyone should be off the trails in the park. There were 10 tents and a dining tent. Since we were inside the Serengeti National Park, we had an armed ranger living at the camp to keep us safe. He looked like he
Kopje
This is a pile of huge boulders which came to the surface furing a geologic upheaval millions of years ago. There are lots of them across the Serengeti. The animals like to hide in them. was about 16 years old, and we wondered if he even knew how to shoot his AK47. This camp moves every couple of months in order to follow the Great Wildebeest Migration. There was enough solar electricity to power some lightbulbs for a few hours every evening. Meals were refrigerated and cooked with LP gas, and water was heated over a wood fire so we could have a hot shower at the end of the day. Compared to our previous places this was roughing it. However, we had real furniture, a toilet that sometimes flushed, and an outdoor cloth bucket shower. Who could ask for anything more?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.174s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 61; dbt: 0.1305s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb