Bonjour de la Suisse: Out of Africa - part two (Mbili): Serengeti to The Crater

Day 4 - We had another early start, leaving at 6:30 for our morning game drive. On our way out of the Lobo Valley, we ended up seeing the same leopard from two days ago in the same tree! He was happily sleeping away the morning, undisturbed by the 6 trucks pulled off the road watching him. Lunch was at the Central Serengeti Visitor Center, in the company of other travelers and rock hyrax, gerble-like animals that would love to share your lunch. While touring the grounds we came across a couple male baboons, which are much bigger and more intimidating face to face. We decided to keep a wide berth between us and let them finish their lunch in peace. In the afternoon we visited a hippo pool (quite smelly), saw another leopard, 9 more lions, and a ton of other animals and birds.

That night was the first of 2 nights of camping. We rolled into our camp in the evening and were greeted with fresh passion fruit juice and a cool towel (I was really getting used to this!) and introduced to the camp staff - Simon the camp manager, Timon the cook, and Rama our waiter. The camp was AMAZING, real beds, warm bucket showers, canvas basins outside our tent for washing our face in the morning, a roaring campfire, a dining tent, and the friendliest staff! We had the most delicious dinner after a happy hour by the campfire with Maiko.

After dinner we were warned about the camp dangers. ALWAYS carry a flashlight, survey the entire area for animals before heading to the loo, and always keep your tent zipper closed. "Oh, for mosquitoes?", I asked innocently. "No, for much more dangerous animals, like lions!" Needless to say, I didn’t venture to the loo that night, especially after we heard lions roaring somewhere outside! (I don't want to mention my other camp faupaux of spraying bug killer (like Raid), not bug spray, all over my arms, but my dear husband caught me before I got it all over myself!) But the camp was really great, especially the hot water bottles placed in our beds while we were off to dinner. What a nice touch! And this was only the "medium" level camping, I couldn't imagine what luxury camping is like!

Day 5 - We were awoken early with a friendly "Jambo!" and warm water for our basins. Soon we were on another game drive where we saw two more leopards, one was very close, up in a tree with a freshly killed gazelle. We also saw a lioness with a zebra kill and three cubs. They were resting under a tree about 10 feet from the road. They were SO cute. They were quite an attraction, with about 15 trucks around them at any one time. From another truck a man popped up and called out my name!! It was they guy I sat next to on the flight from Amsterdam! I couldn't believe it, he was supposed to be climbing Kilimanjaro, so I never expected to see him, but there he was, and he remembered me. Imagine that! We also saw our first cheetah, surveying the landscape from high atop a termite mound and half-heartedly stalking some gazelle, with no luck.

So far, every day we ate a box-lunch consisting of chicken, a hard-boiled egg, cheese sandwich, apple, 2 bananas, chips, chocolate, and a coke. But today we headed back to camp for a cooked lunch and a little nap, what a treat! After lunch we stopped off at a group of giant, ancient rocks, called Kopjes, which have pre-historic Masi paintings on them. Maiko surveyed the area and we got out of the truck and he led us up the rocks to look at the paintings and rock instruments made by these pre-historic people. It was neat, but we could tell he was a little uncomfortable. It was the first time we had been out of the truck, and Maiko did not have a gun. I was relieved when 10 minutes later we were back in the Landover. As we drove around the rocks, we saw 3 lion cubs not 100 yards from where we had been on the other side of the rocks!!!! The problem wasn't the cubs, but the fact we didn't know where the mama was! Later we saw some more very old rock paintings from the Masi tribe, but we surveyed these from inside the truck!

On our way back, we saw 9 more lions, 6 of them cubs (for a grand total of 18 lions in one day)! We stayed and watched them for about an hour, but the park requires you to be at camp by sunset, so we had to leave them. I was bummed, but our timing cold not have been more perfect... just ahead on the road we saw one of the rarest cats in the Serengeti, the caracal, small, shy, nocturnal cats. We actually saw 3 of them! Maiko had only seen one once before in the 9 years he had been a guide! Still dumbfounded we rolled into camp and again we felt like we were in the lap of luxury. Hot showers, drinks by the fire, good company, scrumptious meal, and a surprise bottle of champagne from the safari company! Nice touch. Soon we were sleeping to the sounds of the bush.

Day 6 - After breakfast we said goodbye to our great camp staff and we were headed to the southern Serengeti and out of the park. On our way we stopped to watch 4 lionesses hunting some warthogs. They got away, but this was one of the coolest things we had seen yet, watching them hunt was really amazing. Once out of the park, the landscape changed dramatically (almost every day the landscape changes dramatically, but this was really different.) Not a tree or hill in sight. This is where the wildebeest migration goes through in February, when all the calves are born. Now, all we could see was the yellow of grass, but during the migration, all you see are wildebeest.

We stopped at the Oldupai archeological sight and museum, also known as the "Cradle of Mankind" and is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world. After, we headed to a Maasai Boma village, where we were shown around, danced with the villagers, and sat in on a local kindergarten class (K, I thought of you).

Soon we were headed into the Ngorongoro Crater which is abundant with wildlife and often called the 8th wonder of the world. At lunch we were warned to keep our food inside the box, since the monkeys have no fear and will steal your food. We thought we were being careful, but in a flash of grey, G's chicken was up the tree with a happy little vervet monkey!! Unbelievable!! We spent the rest of our lunch time taking pictures of the little bandit. That afternoon we saw rhinoceros, another cheetah, more lions, hyenas, jackals, and all sorts of other animals! We made our way out of the crater and on to our lodge, the Ngorongoro Farm House, which is a working farm. It was lovely (like everywhere we've stayed), but we were so tired that after a quick dinner we were fast asleep yet again.

Day 7 - Today we spent the whole day in the Ngorongoro Crater, which was fantastic! On the way we drove through a very misty rainforest on the first paved road we had seen all week (a gift from Japan). Down in the crater, it was a slow morning, although soon we hit the jackpot, a pride of 10 lions lounging by a river. One was sleeping so close to the road that another truck almost ran her over! The rest of the morning we were surrounded by a huge heard of wildebeest and zebra, which were so close we could almost reach out and touch them!

We had lunch next to a little beautiful little lake, full of hippos. There were no monkeys to bother us, but there were these large birds, called black kites, circling overhead. Maiko told us we had to eat in the truck because the kites would swoop down and steal the food right out of your hands! We headed his warning and ate inside. In the afternoon we saw a male ostrich doing a mating dance (followed by the act itself), 8 more lions, more rhinos, and tons of hyena. We made our way up the dusty road out of the crater and were headed to our next lodge, the Kirurumu Tented Camp.

The lodge was beautiful, overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Each tent is off on its own and pretty secluded. There are Maasai guides to escort you to your tent. We enjoyed a little pre-dinner drink and were entertained by a local band at the lodge bar (we were becoming quite fond of the local beer, Safari). There weren't enough tables at the open air lodge restaurant, so we shared a table with a very nice couple from the Netherlands, who were great company. We were exhausted (as usual), so it was off to our tent (with our escort) and soon we were asleep.