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Land Cruiser
Our truck for three days. Ryan and Tina in the photo with Jase.Day One: Start of the Safari
Another early start (eeek!) but cold showers sorted us out. Jumped into a Land Cruiser with Liz, Tina, Ryan and Nat for the start of our safari. There was a bit of a farcical delay trying to sort payments out, which the local boys saw as an opportunity to hound us with their traditional African wares.
Who's lunch? Stopped at the Ngorongoro Crater rim for lunch and it was bloody freezing! Got attacked by vicious ants that even run up Rach's leg and tried to bite her on the bum. Cheeky gits! Spent most the lunch break hopping around on one foot trying to beat the biting ants off. As we approached the Serengeti we saw baboons, Thomson gazelles and giraffes. In the Serengeti (which means endless) we saw hundreds of zebra and huge herds of wildebeest. The wildebeest make a fanastic grunting noise to each other, which is halfway between a cow mooing and a pig oinking.
Bumpy Ride Popped the top of the Land Cruiser and bumped our way around the National Park. Jase loved being free in the open air and enjoyed a cheesy Titanic moment (one for Mr.
Zebras
The zebras seem very affectionate and love to nuzzle up to each other. Silk!) Every bruise was worth it to see hippos, vultures and bonking baboons. We got really excited when we saw a shy leopard retreating to the trees, under the watchful eye of a beautiful owl. The finale for the day was finding a lioness with two cubs. They were very sweet and playful with each other. A bit of zebra leg was lying around, so we guess they were chilling out after dinner.
Lullaby Had a cracking meal in the very basic Serengeti campsite, which compensated for the awful pit toilets. Went to sleep to the sound of the Wildebeest singing us to sleep, ahhhh....
Day Two: Carry on Safari
Ridiculously early start to see the wildlife at their peak. True, the zebra and gazelles were skipping about and the wildebeest were play fighting all morning. It's a great time to be in the Serengeti because all the wildebeest and zebra are preparing for the Migration to the Masaai Mara. Apparently they are great chums because they eat different parts of the grass and one can see long distances to spot predators and the others can hear them approaching. There seem to be seas of zebra and
Lion Cub
Playful lion cub next to zebra kill wildebeest as far as the eye can see, there's about 1.5 million zebra and 1.8 million wildebeest. The landscape seems so huge in Africa, the sky looks bigger and bluer, the plains roll for miles and the stars fill the heavens.
Big Cats & Dogs Soon saw a family of hyena and then two mini prides of lions. One lioness had some really little cubs, that peered down to us from a high rock. They were adorable! Spotted a huge giraffe having a munch on a tree (they look really tall next to the zebra) and also espied a lonesome buffalo, now they are really big beasts.
Headed up to the visitor centre where we saw lots of cute rodenty creatures that are called something like "pyrex" (need to check the name) and little monkeys. Jase found a normal toilet, so was grinning from ear to ear!
Camping Weather
Journeyed up to the crater rim and erected our tent in the pouring rain. It was freezing cold and totally peeing down - just like camping in Wales. Took ages to fall asleep it was so cold, and we were a tad worried about the buffalo munching the
Lions on the rocks
Cute cubs gazing down at us grass outside our tent at midnight! The armed rangers were on hand to fend off them off as well as any wandering elephants.
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Manda
non-member comment
You can keep your ants!!
Hi Guys! Sounds absolutley brill, love the idea of the lioness and cubs but the ants, Rach, you can keep 'em!! The photos are fab, can't wait for the next lot, take care xx