Today, we began the long trek through the Ngorongoro Crater to the Serengeti National Park for the second day of the game drive. We traveled on a bumpy dirt road along the rim of the Crater, which is very lush and thick with vines, trees and tall grasses. The morning brought a thick fog over the Crater's rim, which blocked any views of the vast expanse of land and large herds of animals below. I would have to wait until Wednesday to see it.
After decending from the rim of the Crater, we reached very dry foothills and large open ranges filled with Maasai villages, cattle, sheep and goats. The land was extremely rocky and dusty and it was hard for me to imagine how the herds grazed in such a desolate place. However, the Maasai people have lived on this plain and tended their livestock here for over 400 years.
After we passed the foothills, we drove across an enormous plain. I could see nothing but dry, flat land for what seemed like endless miles. The roads were very primitive, which made for an exciting ride in the jeep.
Finally, after about 5 hours, we arrived at the gate to the Serengeti National Park. There was a visitor center at the gate and while Raymond organized the passes, I climbed on top of a rock to get a good view of the park. It was breathtaking and seemed to go on forever. There were large plains full of brown grasses, the occasional tree and rock formations.
We got the passes and made our way down into the park. There were about 40 other safari companies heading the same way. Within about 10 minutes of the game drive, we spotted 3 female lions cooling off in the grass. Two were lying down and the other began to move around a bit. She was pretty big and we could see them clearly as they were only about 30 feet away from the jeep. What a great way to start the afternoon's drive.
From the jeep, we could see thousands of Zebras, Wildebeests, Impala, and Thompson Gazelles. We ran across a huge herd of Elephants as well. Over 30 or so! Then we drove to the Hippo pool to see more lazy Hippos cooling off in the water. Raymond got a call on the radio about a cheetah sighting, so we were quickly off to another part of the park to try and catch them. No worries as the 4 cheetahs had no intention of leaving the shade of the trees where they were resting. We didn't get too close, but could see them quite well with the binoculars. Very Cool!
As we continued across the plain, Raymond was determined to find a Leopard, which are very hard to see. They are loners and sleep in the tops of trees, which makes finding them extremely difficult. Luckily, Raymond spotted a dead gazelle hanging from a branch in a cluster of trees. He knew the Leopard had put it there recently, so we began looking through the binoculars in each of the trees to find the hunter. Finally, after about 30 minutes of looking, we finally saw the Leopard. He/she was perched on a branch high up in one of the trees. We only saw it because its tail and hind legs were dangling off a branch. While the Leopard wasn't close enough to get a good picture, it sure was exciting to see one in the wild.
At the end of the second day, I'd seen 4 of the Big 5 and so many more animals. I was feeling quite lucky.
Tomorrow, we plan to head back to the Ngorongoro Crater and go down into it for the final day of the game drive...hopefully, we can see a Rhino!!
