Day 22 - FRI - 5/10/12 - Arusha : Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
The game driving was off to a good start with leaving the camping ground in local guided 4WD's at 7am for the Serengeti. Our 4WD had myself, Kearnsy, Martin and Danielle, Annaline, Gina and Sarah our tour leader and Halidi our driver. We game drove through to a small stop where our tour leader purchased some red bananas. They were sweeter than their yellow counterparts which meant they were much tastier. We drove through until lunch time but didn't spot much except 1 elephant, 3 zebras,
some monkeys and some baboons as we were on the outskirts of Ngorongoro Conservation area - meaning that man still lives together with the animals; that is that the Masai tribes living with the wild animals. We stopped before the Serengeti for lunch and walked to the lookout close by and we could see our dust trail all across the plains for many km's.
After lunch we continued through the conservation area and were told that the white pillars that were every 25m or so down the side of the road were indicators that you could not build in front of these pillars. This was because the vibration of the road would cause the house to crumble down.
In the second game drive we entered into the Serengeti National Park and saw many many animals. We saw 2 elephants straight away, followed by - gazelle, secretary birds, baboons, buffalo, ostriches, spider monkeys, topis and geese. The special sightings however were late in the game drive. We can across a whole pride of lionesses and their cubs, 5 lionesses and their cubs. They came right up to the side of the car and strolled past off the plain to the watering hole where they all had a drink, right next to 8 elephants and 2 baby elephants. They were all right next to each other!! Then the lionesses went back onto the edge of the plain while the 3 lions came up in the background, yawned and sat there while the cubs were playing with the lionesses. A lioness walked and rubbed on the lion - beautiful and amazing creatures to see in the wild.
On the way to camp we also saw 2 cheetahs lounging around on a termite mound, 10 hippos all in the water with one also yawning while there was a pale pink, purple and orange glow of a sunset which was the perfect backdrop of acacia, umbrella and sausage trees in the foreground. Right near the turn off to our camp site we saw 2 warthogs and their 4 babies - very cute!
Sleeping in a camp that is open to the wild is an interesting concept but after the great soup and spaghetti that had been made for us and the long dusty day I managed to get to sleep surprisingly quickly.
