Serengeti Day1

An early start for a very very bumpy ride to get us to Serengeti National Park.Serengeti meaning endless land is one of the largest national parks

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First we climbed high to get to the rim of the Ngorongoro crater that is part of the conservation area (tribes are allowed to live here but not in the national park). As it was over 2500m high it was cold and we were in a cloud of fog. We quickly went down on the other side and saw the Masai villages with people in colourful shoukas walking with their herds of cows, sheep and donkeys. Along side then were zebras, gazelles; ostriches and giraffes prancing around. 

The lush green of the rim was slowly taken over the dry lands of the plans as we got to the entrance to Serengeti.

The one animal Jeevan and I are keen to see on our trip is a lion as we didn’t see one when we visited many years ago.

We had a game drive on our way to the campsite, we passed a digger (CAT) and Robyn joked if this was the only cat we would see and literally next to it was a lioness! So close to the road and so clear to see. She was on a hunt and we watched her creep slowly and stealthily towards the unaware Warthogs (Pumbas as we called them). She was so well camouflaged in the grass that they were a few metres apart yet they did not see her nor did the centurions of the Topis standing on the rock guarding their tribe. She pounced,  pumbas, gazelles and topis scattered in all directions as they all got away. It was like watching the Discovery channel. She didn’t appear too upset and didn’t chase anything. In a few minutes the pumbas came sauntering back, as per our guide they have the worst memories but are also very fast. 

We then passed a hippo in a pond and we managed to get a glimpse of its ears and eyes before it ducked down, those who didn’t get to see it were disappointed. Luckily 15 minutes later we came to a pond with at least 20 hippos swishing then tails, moving the poo laden water around and yawning. 

We saw numerous zebras, birds and varieties of antelopes and even managed to see a Svelt cat right next to our truck. Had Griffin not told us I would have thought it was a leopard as it had a similar colouring and built, it was gorgeous. We spied hyenas including a pregnant one. 

Giraffes are my favourite animals so I loved watching everything they did, running, eating, staring at us or wandering away.

Overall a very successful game drive and had us all in glee with happiness for all that we got to see. We were caked in dust by this time and the cold showers had Aanya screaming throughout as I washed her hair. 

Camping in the Serengeti comes with its own set of rules like the tents have to have space for animals to walk through, not walking alone to the toilets at night and leaving food out etc. A bit excited and nervous for the two nights that we are here.