Rashid picked us up from our hotel promptly at a civilised time of 8am, we collected the others from their campsite and headed towards the Serengetti.
As with all things on a safari, we spent a lot of time on the road and it was a relief to finally get to the main gate, the downside was that it was the end of the tarmac roads and it was rough and dusty from here on out.
Ngorongoro Crater park
Once inside the park there is a long climb up narrow roads to reach the rim of the unpronounceable Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is an extinct volcano and the floor is alive with wildlife, but more about that later as we are off to the Serengeti today.
After what seemed like a lifetime in the truck we finally made it to the second gate in the Serengetti, where we were confronted by a quite amazing site – a giant lorry full of Germans. It looked like it was designed to carry chickens but it transpired it was an amazing converted vehicle that was travelling from North to South in Africa, and it also acted as their accommodation.
We noticed that Noa and Clara (our German pals) didn’t go out of their way to make friends with them, possibly because there was only one shower between 30 of them.
Along the highway we stopped to examine the museum dedicated to the discovery of the oldest known human remains ever found in Tanzania, and among the oldest globally, are fossils discovered in Olduval Gorge, which has been called “The Cradle of Humankind”. These remains provide crucial insights into the evolution of humans, particularly the genus Homo although it turned out older remains were found in Morocco and Ethiopia which spoils the story a bit.
Into the park before the Germans got moving, we didn’t want to be stuck behind that thing, we wouldn’t be able to breath with all the dust.
It wasn’t long before the animals started to appear. In the early stages Rashid gave us a long and detailed explanation of the many different types of antelope which was interesting for a while, but not for too long.
Our first lions
I have to admit that they looked enticing meals for lions. the antelopes (various types) were very fast and nimble, so they looked like quite hard work for the lions and not much of a meal in the smaller ones.
Ahead we noticed that the other trucks had stopped, and suddenly there in front of us was our first pride of lions. there was loads of them, initially it was a couple of females on the verge but soon there was a huge pride of at least 20 lions lazing about, in fact they reminded us of our youngest son who also lazes about a lot.
It was afternoon by the time we entered the Serengetti and it is a vast expanse of savanna grasslands that extended for as far as the eye could see, which was a long way as it was mostly flat.
By this time we had ticked off elephants and lions and the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to finding a leopard. Sadly this pursuit failed, although we spent an hour staring at a large rock (with about 30 other trucks) where, apparently, there was a leopard. I didn’t see it, but with my eyesight I could hardly see the rock it was supposed to be sat on, but apparently it is in this photo.
During the afternoon we learned that the lions all seem to have one thing in common, they are very lazy and sleepy. It could be that they just like their afternoon nap but in general, they don’t do much other than laze around, in particular the boys, who could do with a can of Red Bull now and again.
The girl lions aren’t much better, in fact they prefer to lay around in swamps keeping themselves cool in the afternoon sun. To be fair, there isn’t much shade and to get to it requires moving so why not just lay in the mud.
So that is the lions of the Serengeti covered, they were the highlight of the day but what a lazy bunch !
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