The final feast of cats

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We arrived in Arusha later than expected. We had stopped off for a 40 min lunch break that turned out to be 2 hours because it food took that long to come! It wasn’t as if we had anything extravagant- it was chicken salad!!! Anyway we finally arrived to camp- which also happened to be a snake park. Home to some of the worlds deadliest and most poisonous snakes- and we were sleeping with them!!! Thankfully they were in tanks and kept away from camp. The reason they had them here is because this place is one of the only places in Africa that treats snake bites for free. Tents up and showered up, we packed our over night bags ready for our adventure into the Serengeti in the morning.
We got into our new vehicles- safari jeeps that we could pop the roof up on and look out and headed into the park. We drove for the best part of the day, passing people of the Masi Mara walking their live stock to water, small but hectic villages and the odd giraffe and elephant sauntering along the road. We stopped off for lunch just as we got into the park at a lovely little lunch spot.... or so we thought. The jeeps were all parked up and our guides standing watch for stray elephants. I thought elephants would be our only concern- not so. So there I was tucking into my chicken leg when out of nowhere swooped down this huge hawk/bird of prey thing, dive bombing me and my chicken! You will be pleased to know the chicken remained safely in my possession! This however was the start of it all. From that point until we left the lunch spot we were target practice. The bird actually managed to steal someone else’s food and then the boys were trying to film it on the go-pro. By this point I was back in the jeep, safe from the claws of death!
Onwards we went with the driving, this time we were actually on a game drive through the park. We had three sightings of lions, hundreds of zebras, giraffes and elephants before turning in for the night at camp. Tonight we were camping out in the Serengeti with hyenas for company! We decided not to sleep with the sides up this time but were both woken up by their howling and walking past our tent. I think I was more scared of them than the hippo!
Again up early the following day, we actually saw sunrise over the Serengeti and it was amazing- our first decent sunrise of the trip! Back into the safari vehicles and off to spot some more animals- we were told this was the best time of day to see more big cats and boy we were not disappointed. We watched a pack of lionesses lead by the male wandering off into the distance to seek shelter, turned the corner and there was a mum, dad and two babies chilling out in the long grass. We drove further on again, stopping momentarily to check the radio for a cheetah sighting, went to turn over the jeep again aaaaannnnnnnddddd nothing! Not even a splitter,zero, zilch! Our jeep had broken down in the middle of the Serengeti. If this wasn’t bad enough there was a possible cheetah close by!! A few back and forth radio messages, the normal walk around the vehicle, kick the wheels, stand and look under the bonnet thoughtfully before we squeezed into another vehicle with the boys!
Off again we did manage to see the cheetah- thankfully from the safety of the vehicle, not that it bothered her to much. She was laid by the side of the road looking quite worse for wear! Leaving her in peace we carried on and it wasn’t long before we pulled up alongside a trio of lionesses sunbathing. We were literally a few feet away from them. So close that when one actually turned and looked me straight in the eye- my heart may have stopped as I thought I was lunch! We headed back to camp to pick up our now fixed vehicle and grab some food before we were off on safari again!
This time we were treated to not one, not two but four cheetahs! The first was sitting under the tree on her own and we managed to get her running away on film! The second was far to exhausted to even move and the last two boys were bloodied from a recent kill! We also saw the holy grail of safari! A mufasa male lion, complete with big shaggy mane, chilling out on the top of a rock, so majestic. Our lives were literally complete! And then just as we thought we could take no more we saw our all illusive kill. A secretary bird managed to catch a snake, another secretary bird was trying to steal it off him and then out of no where an eagle/hawk thing swoops down and steals it from both of them- flying off into the sunset with his stolen snake!
That night we were camped on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater and they warned us it was going to be cold- but by god it was cold. We had blankets by the dozen and ended up hosting most of the group in our tent to warm up as we got back to camp. That night we had zebras just strutting around the camp- Jo did try to mount one for a ride but ended up on the losing side of racing stripes the remake!
For our final day on safari we headed into the Ngorongoro crater. After 20 mins wait to see a rhino that never showed we were off on the look out for something amazing to send us off. We didn’t have to wait long before we had a male lion trot past our jeep, then two lionesses seeking shade in the shadows of our jeeps. If we had stuck our arms out we could have touched them. Another amazing morning on safari! With all the excitement of the morning, it was a sleepy ride back to Arusha for our last night of camping, last night on the trip and our last night of our incredible adventure!
Back in the snake camp we had our last group dinner before sitting up chatting and reminiscing over some drinks. A few of us didn’t even make it to bed, staying up all night singing and drinking. A fab way to end the trip.
Crossing into Kenya was a complete blur and we were both still in our pyjamas. God only knows how we were allowed into the country! A small argument with a stuffy receptionist, lots of hugs and a few tears and we were finally heading home.
See you at home
Lauren and Jo

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Comments

[Deepak07]

Trip to Africa
Nicely described enjoyed reading it.