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Dust and dismemberment, that's what you will see along the road to Serengeti, Forgetting where I left this blog off at. We arrived in Ngorongoro National Park staying at a very nice lodge with a pool and poolside bar service. We woke to the early morning barks of some kind of dog fight and off into the crater we went. The view from the top is almost better than the view once inside. You drive along the crater with peaks here and there of the lost World below.
Passing through the entrance gate we are greeted by Masi herding their cattle down into the crater for a day of grazing. We zigzag our way down and are greeted almost instantly by the wildlife here in the crater. The main food groups Gazelle, Zebra, and Wilbeast, Water Buffalo and anything else that sits still too long. We watched a Rhino that was laying down for way too long, talk about boring and got caught in a dust devil tornado. The Lions were out lounging around and the huge birds tried to steal our lunches again. All in all another great visit to the crater.
Back on the rim we showered at our Rhino Lodge washing off a days' worth of dust. Finding the bar and a large fireplace we kicked back and retold stories to other "Adventurers" each trying to outdo each other stories. I poke fun at them and tell them we saw a "Dung Beatle" and were happy with that. The dinner that night was the best so far with "Beef??" and a hot arse sauce that I am paying for today. After downing four Safari beers I am well soaked for a nice sleep. Each day we are woken up by a new noise be it chickens, motorbikes, dogs fighting and today my favorite a family of four next door who were having a long discussion in a foreign language I am sure on "why are we awake at 5:00am again".
Time moves slow when you're awake early and nobody else is so I spent time drinking coffee and just watching the birds. Back on the road we were bumped, jarred, rattled and shook for two hours. Now the road at Fairhill Training seems like an airport landing strip compared to this road but there are no zebras and gazelle just deer. Once we arrived at Ndutu Conservation area we were covered by veil of dust, luckily Fairhill did prepare us for this so not so bad.
Today was Cheetah day as we saw a dozen of them, some with a fresh kill some laying in the grass and a exhilarating chase of a gazelle that had us first rooting for the Cheetah then the Gazelle who by the way won. We had an up close lunch with a Leopard and finished that off with a Hyena eating a baby Zebra (luckily it didn't look much like a Zebra by the time we saw it). We called an early time out as we were so dirty at this point and just wanted a shower and a beer (Coke for Joy). Back at camp (sounds more risky in Adventurer talk) we showered and found out the beer and Coke is costly in the Serengeti.
January 18, 2014
Well yesterday we saw our first kill and we were bummed. As exhilarating as it was it was also sad as a poor Gazelle mother lost her baby. We watched as two Cheetah boys played in the Ndutu Conservation area. Two Gazelle were watching and bouncing back and forth with a close eye on them. The two boys suddenly looked up and started walking towards a mound of grass and the chase was on. It lasted only 30 seconds but we were again rooting for the gazelle, but this time the cheetah won and in 30 minutes the gazelle was gone and we were sad as the mother gazelle ran back and forth in the back ground looking for her baby, Life and Dismemberment in the Serengeti.
Back on the road we arrived in what was on our last trip to Serengeti the highlight bit that was February and this is January and the grass is green and the rains continue. We drove for most of the day not seeing much in the way of animals, a lion here and there and a Leopard in a tree way off the road (yesterday we had lunch under a treed Leopard). We ran into a huge flock of Giraffe as we were leaving the park 22 in total. A quick stop at the farting Hippo pool and we called it a day and exited the park to our tented lodge.
Okay I prepared for this stay having my hair cut down to nothing; we arrived at the lodge being the only guests here for the next two days. The migration having moved elsewhere the place is empty and the beer is cheap. Too my surprise the tent has running water and all the hot we want! Beer is $3 a bottle and free Wi-Fi. I guess we will practice our arrow skills and look at the stars by our lonesome. Off to a village visit tomorrow we head to Madagascar on Monday.
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Northcoasters Loved the tree sleeper. Really good pic of the pride! Love our dust less safari.