Miss Lily

Three days in Serengeti National Park and Ngorogoro Crater is in my memories and will stay there forever.

 

Funnily enough our driver was named Simba after his great grand father who once bumped into a lion in the bush with a thorn in his paw. He took the thorn out and after that the lion shared some buffalo meat with him. ;)

 

It turned out that he deserved his name as at the first hour of our game drive in Serengeti we had 20 lions in the middle of the road! Ten adults and ten small cubs probably around two or three months old. Needless to say we stayed forever there just watching the activity as another female with her four cubs came around the corner only to be pushed away by the bigger pride. Incredible start of our morning. 

 

The game drive also offered big herds of giraffe, elephants, Grants and Thompsons gazelle, impalas, zebras and wildebeests. Everything in Serengeti is so much bigger than I've seen anywhere else. I did not recognize the impala because it was so big, even though it is known as the McDonalds of the savannah thanks to the M on their behind and the fact that they are in every corner. The elephants are well grown and the buffalos were monsters!

 

 In the end of the drive we saw our longed for leopard up in a tree, it was amazing to see it again but I had to try and take my focus away from the other cars around it in order to fully take in the cat. It always takes away from my experience when there is many people around but I should have been ashamed if it ruined the whole thing as it is the leopard we are talking about! :)

 

By the end of the trip we drove through the famous Migration that is thousands and thousands of wildebeests and zebras migrating to the Masai Mara plains after having their babies in the Serengeti. It is hard to take in the amount of animals you see in just a blink of an eye and we were all surprised that we had the timing right in the months of the year for it. They were a bit late (on Africa time you might say) this year which we are very grateful for. 

 

That night we spent at the rim of the Ngorogoro crater with buffalos gracing outside our tents at night. It was quite exciting sitting by the fire and hearing them chewing just meters away down in the valley. We headed off in the mist of early morning down to the crater and when the clouds cleared as we got further down we saw why it is called The Garden of Eden. The sun came through in small spots and gave a magical view of the forest on the edge of the crater and the lake. The first thing we spotted was a hyena and as we drove along the shore of the lake filled with thousands of flamingos we saw another one. Simba did not want to stop for that though.. He had his eyes further ahead on a dark spot in the grass. "Big Cat" he said and we decided to go with his advise and skip the hyena. In front of us was the most beautiful male lion I have ever seen with the thickest brown mane and dark fur showing his age and pride. He was laying in the grass surrounded by purple flowers like someone had told him that this is where the people want to take a photo of you. Gorgeous! 

 

We saw black rhino which was exciting since it was some people's first rhino and therefor we checked off the Big Five for all of us in the truck that trip. Elephants, hippos, buffalos in hundreds, zebras and wildebeests again, and many different birds to watch. Three different prides of lions were hiding in the grass in the distance and hyenas walked amongst the gazelles by the lake trying not to look hungry. 

 

Both the way there and back was filled with cows and their Masai handlers. Boys in all ages walking on the plains with their goats, cows, donkeys, camels and sometimes joined by a zebra or two. They are dressed in red tartans and with that together with their spear they scare away the lions and leopards that would think about taking some cattle for dinner. The women are dressed amazing colors and big earrings and bracelets. We were not allowed to take too many photos of them but I managed to catch some in action on the side of the road. 

 

I was afraid that I would have too high expectations of this park but needless to say it was some of the most incredible days spent in my life.