Serengeti

Up early for a 7:00am departure aboard 'Ella’ our tour truck.  Nomad Adventures has 47 trucks all named after dead musicians - ours Ella Fitzgerald.  The tour has a maximum of 20 and we were expecting that many people, as it is peak migration season.  We were very happy though to see only 8 people on the truck. 6 Australians and 2 from Switzerland. The first day was an eight hour drive to Arusha (including about an hour to cross the border into Tanzania and another hour stop for a cooked lunch).  Arriving in Arusha we had a quick lesson on putting up our tents, before retiring to the bar, where we got to know most of the others. They are mostly Lauren's age but are all very friendly and nice. We also had another (Italian) girl join us at breakfast the next day.

Our second day on tour we left the truck (and guide and cook) behind and instead headed to the Serengeti in two Land Cruisers with new guides.  The Serengeti and Maasai Mara are essentially the same National Park, expect the Serengeti is in Tanzania and the Mara is in Kenya. The animals move between the two following the rains and good feed as part of 'The Migration’.  Over the next few days we have seen many of the same animals as in the Mara, as the Thai T Shirt would say 'Same Same but Different’. We have seen Zebras, Giraffes, Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards, Gazelles etc etc. I hope that doesn’t sound boring because it has been just as fantastic as before.  We came across four lionesess stalking a herd of Gazelles. It was fascinating to watch them spread out to surround the Gazelles and they were so focused that they walked between our car and the one behind it. It was basically touching our car and walked alongside, right under our windows! Tracy managed a ‘selfie' with the lioness in the background. Once the lions pounced, the Gazelles were able to run off and get away.  After watching a kill it was nice to the Gazelles survive - though another kill would also have been good. We were also taken to a ‘Hippo pool’ where there were about 40-50 hippos. The problem with that is that they stink. Seems they spend all day farting and shitting into the water and the sulphur/ammonia smell was awful. There was a virtual ‘shit island’ in the middle of the pond. In the dry season, this river doesn’t flow very well, hence the build up of waste.

Camp life is interesting. To start with we could only  only take a back pack, so took a minImum of clothes, leaving most of our stuff in ‘Ella’.  The camp has no hot water for showers nor any fence. We have been told not to get up for the toilet after everybody is in bed and the camp is quiet as it isn’t safe. On the first night we did see a group of water buffalo after dark just barely outside the camp and throughout the night we could hear various animals nearby.  Despite the lack of facilities the meals we have had here have been first rate, with pepper steak, roast potatoes, mixed vegetables, coleslaw and more for dinner, with spanish omelettes, crepes and toast for breakfast. Very nice indeed.

On our last day we did another game drive before moving camp to the Ngorongoro crater.(Luckily here we have people who set up our tents before our arrival)  On this drive we saw a Leopard on a large rocky outcrop. Unfortunately not long after we arrived it jumped off the top of the rock into a crevice. We drove to the other side of the outcrop and settled in to wait, hoping for another look.  Whilst waiting word came over the two way radio that there was a lioness and 3 cubs walking towards the outcrop. We drove around to that side - along with all the other trucks and were rewarded with a close up of them all. The mother calmly walked between the trucks and climbed the rock, along with one of the cubs.  The remaining two were very hesitant to go between the trucks, so ummed and ahhed for about 10 minutes before walking through and joining the others. This of course gave us some great photos.

Camp that night at Ngorongoro included hot showers for a welcome change. Due to the sheer walls of the crater, the animals here don’t migrate.  This meant that the number of zebras and wildebeest in particular were far higher than in the Serengeti. We just missed seeing Lions kill a Zebra, but watched the aftermath as the lions ate, before Jackels arrived for a share, then Hyenas and Vultures. It was interesting to watch as the Jackals took small pieces and ate them immediately, whereas the Hyena took what they could get and ran off with leg bones or - in one case - the head, some vertabra and a couple of ribs.

Our drive back to Arusha took several hours, where we were given the news that our next day was a 6:00am start ahead of a 9 hour day on the road.  This meant a 4:30 wake up as we had to pack our clothes, take down our tents, pack the truck and squeeze in breakfast.

The roads are pretty good - the main roads at least.  Once you step off the main road it is dirt immediately, with the only paved/concrete areas being in petrol stations.  Side roads all seem to be dirt and the roads in the Serengeti - as in the Mara - were rough dirt at best and really rough tracks at worst.  The main problem on the highway is that every town is 50km/h with speed humps entering and leaving and police monitoring speed. Makes for a slow trip. We spent the night in Bulawayo, a coastal Tanzanian town.  The campsite was very nice with plenty of trees and the beach a short walk away. Unfortunately we had an even earlier start the next day, up at 4:00am for a 70km drive to Dar Es Salaam - 2 ½ hours in peak hour traffic.  Then a ferry trip to Zanzibar. I always thought of Zanzibar as one islands but it is made up of 50 island, the main one being Unguja.