Into the Serengeti
An early pick up for us at 7.30 as the company bee eater safari's come to get us from snake camp. But it was another rain filled night and it poured and poured.... Just got heavier and heavier as it neared dawn. As I was the only one with a rain jacket, I got up to cook bacon and eggs in the rain,I'm so hardcore and I wasn't even ever a girl guide, in fact I was chucked out the brownies!
Under the cover of the tent I managed it, a tiny bit of cussing here and there while everyone else stayed in the tents. Then a mad dash into the safari vehicle and off we went, I was a drowned rat literally. The hole in the boys tents hadn't stood up to well in the rain and I few puddles inside.... Need to invest in a new one but they love it and it is so easy to put up. If only I'd found the patch kit before I left. A long long drive to get there... All in all we were in the car 10 hours... But we did a game drive before we made camp, or rather they made camp. But as I was just ready to say lets just go to camp we managed to see, lions, leopard, elephants, zebras, giraffes, and loads of other animals!!! So glad I didn't wilt.... Unbelievable to. Think you can see that many in one afternoon!!! It was just amazing, boys couldn't believe it. The Serengeti is very expensive but obviously there is a reason as there are just so many animals. The scenery is just so vast, Serengeti means endless plains and they are just that. In fact 15000 square kilometres, not the biggest park in Africa but one of them. Long grasses with the odd flat topped acacia tree on the landscape. Every now and then there is a rocky outcrop (called a kopje) which looks like simba from the lion king should be sitting on it. In fact we are in the lion king... Every warthog is pumba.... The animators did an amazing job as it really is the same! As they drive you around along the dirt tracks you just scan the horizon and you see hundreds of thousands actually more like millions of wildebeest, zebras.. Just so many of them. The wildebeest are unbelievable as far as the eye can see the horizon is full of them. Not quite migration time yet, too early. The rains haven't reached here yet, it is dry and dusty and hot, hot , hot... Just as we are heading back to camp we see a line of safari vehicles so we go and see what they are looking at, it's a leopard just wandering through the long grass and then lays down. After a while it meanders over to the tree and jumps up and lays down on the branch. It looks like it is performing for an audience! We get some good pix and then when too many cars have turned up we go finally to camp. The camps are really not much to write about, nothing special, there are showers and toilets but really disgusting to be truthful. Cold water but as its hot, that's not a problem, but the trickle of water means I can't wash my hair sadly. The loo's are french ones, boys not happy with squatting... Haven't seen those for a while! Victor our driver and Mandela our cook get everything ready for us and we laze around.. Makes a change! Safari tents on the ground tonight and we are warned not to have any food in then as the hyenas are everywhere, we've seen them already today so we know they are. Sneaky looking things they are. There is a big building where all the cooks cook in and everyone eats in. It has wire all round it so the animals can't get in, we meet a group of 5 UK reg Land Rovers with couples in all in their 60's probably travelling with a company called African Safari trek support who all make camp. They are travelling from Nairobi to Cape Town in 8 weeks. Our dinner was delicious and all was missing was a glass of wine! We went to bed and listened out for animals, I heard a lion calling but Ben was asleep by then. I awoke to find Ben shining the torch around the tent and apparently something had been scratching on the tent outside... I was too tired to bother so went to sleep again. Next day we were up for breakfast at 6am cooked by the lovely Mandela, sausages, omelettes, toast, tea and fresh passion fruit and pineapple... Off hunting for more animals all morning, we need to see buffalo and rhino to complete our big five now. We hit a jackpot as we turn a corner near a kopje and we spot a baby leopard in a small cave opening underneath it!!!!! It pops back in and we wait but it doesn't come back out while we are there.. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we couldn't believe it... We see plenty of everything else again and plus water buffalo, another tick... Giraffes, oh how I love them.... The way they run is so funny. Bird heaven of course, and they see all the favourites from last year. The lilac breasted roller is my favourite, the colours are just so bright. Hippos... I forgot them, but a poor show really as we saw so many last year it doesn't compare. As the pools are so small here, just not enough rain yet, so very muddy just how the hippos like them! Stinky to drive past... We return for an early lunch which was an amazing extravaganza cooked up on a gas bottle, puts my cooking to shame. We had samosa, pizza, meat kebabs, salad and fresh watermelon.. I ate too much and couldn't do my shorts up after