Day 215 - Tanzania, Serengeti - Lounging Leopard
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2008
1
158
164
Trip End
Jul 02, 2009
Where I stayed
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Cars were really comfy, nice to be out of the truck and split into smaller groups. 4 hour drive to Serengeti.
First stop was a little town about half hour outside Ngorongoro Crater. Whilst waiting for our guide Victor to buy the card thing we needed to enter the Serengeti, we where suckered into buying things from the zillions of Maasai who surrounded the car. Necklaces, statues, blankets... we stuck to a Maasai blanket which we managed to get for the bargain price of 6,500 (3 quid). Brilliant.
Entered the Ngorongoro crater and made our way up to the rim. Unfortunately it was low cloud cover so views were slightly obstructed. Nevermind, will hopefully be clear when we return.
From the cool misty jungle covered crater rim, where we were at about 2,300m we drove down towards the Serengeti which, as Jamie often said, was just one big field with a few animals running about. Quite apt when Seregeti translates to endless plain.
Temperature picked up straight away and we weren't too far in when we came across two lions chilling in the grass. One male, one female with zebras roaming just beyond. Would have been great had they been hungry. Pounce kitty pounce.
After lunch we drove around for a further few hours seeing everything - masses of hungry farting hippos lounging in pools, giraffes, more lions, 6 or 7 cheetahs, wildebeest, our beloved impala and the much sought after leopard.
When we arrived it was snoozing in a tree but soon decided to put on a show by climbing down the tree and then proceeding to walk straight passed the billions trucks lined up playing leap frog in an effort to get the best view.
It literally walked right below us, not a metre from the truck. I commented that if I were the leopard I'd jump up and scratched my claws down the side scaring the crap out of everyone on board. Oliver said "no you wouldn't, you'd bite the tyre then sit there grinning" hahaaa too true.
Hyped up from seeing the leopard we headed off to one of the many bush camps within the Serengeti. As they're not fenced Suzy warned us that should we wake during the night to pee we should shine out the torch looking for eyes - if they flash green they're veggies so no worries there but if its red you run. Thankfully I slept soundly through.
We were treated to a beautiful sunset followed by a sky full of a million twinkling stars. Dinner was provided so was great just being able to sit back and relax - no cook club, no dishes, no prep... just an open fire under the stars and a few quiet beers. Lovely.
Then it was off to bed to listen to the sounds of far off animals preying to god a hungry lion didn't come a wondering during the night. Meeeeow.
