Kilimanjaro - My Journey to the Roof of Africa

Safari (Day 2):

Tarangire National Park to Serengeti National Park

Sunday, January 20, 2013

It was very warm all night. I was either on top of my sleeping bag or I covered myself with it but I never zipped it up. I got up at 6:30 because breakfast was at seven. We ate fried eggs and crepes for breakfast. I liked that little campground; it was colorful and cozy.

At 8am we left for our long drive to the Serengeti. Two hours later, we reached the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where we had to pay a $50 transit fee. It seems that we have to drive through the NCA to get to the Serengeti. From here on, we were driving on dusty and bumpy dirt roads for the rest of the day. It took us about three more hours to get to the gate of the Serengeti where we had to pay our entrance fee. We saw plenty of wildlife en route: lots of wildebeest and Thomson's gazelles as well as zebras.

At one o'clock, we stopped for lunch at the gate picnic area. I ate by myself and after finishing my lunch, I climbed up to the top of the hill (per Robert's suggestion) to look around. There were a few big lizards up there. One of them was especially big and colorful.

I spent an hour outside the car before we were on our way again to look for more animals. Now in the Serengeti, we saw elephants and giraffes, plenty of birds, and we were lucky enough to see two leopards and about fifteen lions. Both leopards were resting on a tree. The first one was a little farther but the second one was close enough to take decent pictures. Then, we saw a lion resting on a tree and right after that about fifteen or so lions resting in the tall grass right next to the road. There were lots of safari vehicles stopped next to them. After a little while, they started getting up one by one and crossing the road between the vehicles. Now, I've seen four of The Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo). All I need to see now is the rhino. That will be the hardest though since there aren't many of them anymore.

After 8 hours spent sitting in the car, we finally got to our campsite just after 5pm. I don't like this campsite as much as the previous one. There is no nice dining room to sit in. I'm sitting outside by some concrete tables with a palapa over them. The bathroom facilities are actually really nice and there is a huge kitchen for the cooks to cook in. There is a small dining room that is set up for a big group that camps here. Ahmed set up our little table in the corner. The big group must still be out game watching because only their cook is here preparing dinner for them in the kitchen. This campsite is in the middle of the park and is all open. According to Robert, elephants, lions, and hyenas venture into the campsite at night. I better be careful when I step outside to pee at night.