The Serengeti

The drive from the crater to the Serengeti is particularly rough – after an hour we came to a stretching halt, the driver looked under the car, dived back in for his tool kit, and emerged with the drive shaft in his hand. Fortunately, this was a Land Cruiser, and we continued on front wheel drive. It also gave us a brief opportunity to interact with some of the local Masai, who seem to emerge from nowhere as soon as you stop. They are allowed to live in the national park, and apparently you don't want to mess with them (for this reason they are often hired as security in places like Zanzibar). The area between the Ngorongoro and Serengeti parks is also home to many giraffe and sure enough we saw quite a few, although they were too far off for decent photographs.














Even before entering the Serengeti park gates, we drove past a herd of elephants with a couple of very small calves. After a quick stop at the gate, to take in the view from the lookout, we started our afternoon game drive. Our luck was definitely in as within half an our we found the notoriously shy cheetah. It ran off pretty quickly, but still was very thrilling to see.














Ten minutes later, we continued with the theme from the morning drive in Ngorongoro, but finding a pride of lions. This time they were photogenically draped on the top of a large rock. We couldn't help singing tunes from the Lion King. Not long after this we found a lioness with three cubs who were feasting on an impala who had clearly had better days. Ah, the circle of life...














Now, after numerous game drives Rich and I had yet to complete our big five full house thanks to the no show of the leopard. So, as our drive sped towards a reported sighting, I kept all my fingers crossed. Just as the light was starting to fade we arrived to find one relaxing in the grass not far from the road. There wasn't really enough light for good photos, but I was so pleased to finally see one that I'm not complaining.














Following a spectacular sunset, that conformed to all you expectations of what a sunset over the African savannah should look like, we set up camp inside the park. Whilst this was a true bush camp (i.e. no fences to protect you from the animals), the atmosphere was more piccadilly Circus thanks to the hundred or so other tourists. This, however, didn't deter the hyena which spread the contents of the camp bin around during the middle of the night.














Another day, another game drive and a reverse performance of the previous evenings stunning sunset. After some close up giraffe, who looked great in the early morning sun, we found what was perhaps the highlight of out Serengeti safari – two cheetahs. We thought they might be play fighting, but, a cheetah researcher, who next to arrive on the scene, and informed us that we were actually watching cheetah foreplay. Unfortunately they didn't engage in the act itself, which is not surprising as this is seldom witnessed.














The feline festivities continued with another lioness and two cubs followed a young male on a rock and a couple of lionesses unsuccessfully stalking a buffalo – frankly the buffalo seemed indifferent to their presence.














In a break from the all the lions, we got a hint of what it might be like watching the wildebeest ford the river during the great migration by watching a herd of zebra supposedly practising the same crossing in a waterhole – although they could just have been drinking then getting spooked and retreating at great speed.














On the way out of the park, I spotted a male lion resting in the shade of a tree only a meter or so from the road. By this stage the driver was so bored of lions that he would have driven straight past had I not shouted out. Given the vastness of the Serengeti (nearly fifteen thousand square-kilometres) and the fact it is contiguous with the Masai Mara with large areas completely inaccessible by road, it is really quite staggering how many animals we saw.