Wowza. There is so much to say about yesterday. Long and beautiful! I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
My day started at 5:15 after getting less than 5 hours of sleep. Our journey for Serengeti was set to start at 5:30—we left around 6:00. I
t took around two and a half hours to get to Ngorongoro national park.
We stopped at some sight seeing points; this one here is by far my favorite! According to Lucas, this is the only “unbroken” cauldron inhabited by animals. Meaning the walls of the crater (which is actually improper terminology due to the nature of the formation—it is a cauldron, but whatever) have no gaps and animals migrate in and out.
Here’s another angle of the cauldron without my big face in the way. We didn’t, but many travelers go down into this vast space that stretches 12 miles across. Most of the time this landscape is dry, but the lush green I will be seeing over the next few days is a gift from the rain that fell these past weeks.
The Maasai people are the only ones who are allowed to permanently inhabit Ngorongoro conservation area. Passing along it was amazing to see these herders bringing their cattle to mix with zebras, wildebeest, and gazelles for grazing.
About anywhere you looked in these short grass plains you could see some sort of grazing animal. The sheer expansiveness of the space is intimidating and so humbling. No trees, no buildings, just a flat grassy plain that goes on forever.
Our final destination wasn’t Ngorongoro; the wonderful natural park stands in between Arusha and Serengeti, so we had to go through it to reach the big cat capital. And boy oh boy did our next stop deliver on that promise.
We were maybe a minute into Serengeti when I saw a little head peek up from the brush. What’s in this picture is what I saw, so I’m pretty proud of spotting this fine lady. We hung around this area for 30ish minutes, hoping for this cheetah to move so we could get some nice pictures. I’ll let you see for yourself.
Patience definitely paid off. There were a few other cars who drove by this special scene (for a good reason which you’ll see shortly) not thinking they would move from being bedded down. We were the first and last people watching these guys and I feel like I got some pretty special pictures. Lucas told me about how rare it is to see three cubs and a mother; lions and hyenas get about 80% of these babies, not mention the difficulty faced by the mother in providing enough food. Lucas got some really nice pictures with a good camera and I’m excited to see how those turn out. Anyways, not a mile down the road I ticked off another big cat.
Seeing these two cats back-to-back might have ruined the next two days I’ll be here. My impression is now “enter Serengeti and you’ll see the cats”. After these sightings we booked it, not stopping to see many other animals. Once in Serengeti it’s actually a bit difficult this time of year because the soil is in the perfect condition to allow for the grass to shoot up nice and tall. And the rain the past few days has been feeding it. We saw a bunch of gazelle in places that were open, a few towering giraffes and some imposing elephants, but I didn’t get any pictures because they were all far off.
Lucas had us stop at a friend’s lodge in progress. We were able to walk around the entire property and I was impressed to say the least. We didn’t spend too much time there because Lucas needed to see how things were moving at his camp—there are a few groups arriving today.
Lucas’ camp is called Land of Nature. I’ve never been on a safari, I don’t know what it should or shouldn’t be like, but this feels to fit any subconscious preconception I might have. The whole camp is natural. It just feels like it’s meant to be here.
Last night we took it pretty slow once at the camp. I think we were all tired and burnt out from the long drive and hot weather. Fortunately a heavy storm came and forced us into tents and we got some time to relax before dinner.
Um, so, yeah. This is where Lucas has put me for the next couple nights. I feel a bit spoiled, but I think this is one time where I shut up and accept the generosity.
Last night I slept about 9 hours. I was told that lions and hippos and all other sorts of animals make noise all throughout the night—I didn’t hear a peep. I slept deep until my alarm and woke up this morning to that beautiful view. Not sure what today holds, but I’d be a happy camper going home right now after what I was able to see yesterday!