Monday, January 31 - Lake Manyara game drive
Tuesday, February 1 - Drive to Serengeti with game drive in the afternoon
Wednesday, February 2 - Serengeti game drive all day
Thursday, February 3 - Serengeti game drive in the morning, then drive to Ngorongoro
Friday, February 4 - Ngorongoro game drive in the morning, then drive back to Arusha
I wore my Garmin watch and will post the results so you can see where we were.
After driving in the morning to get to Lake Manyara, we had lunch overlooking the lake (seen below) and then began our first game drive. It was incredible! Baboons were everywhere and elephants and giraffes were right next to the road. Among the other animals we saw in Lake Manyara National Park were zebra, wildebeest, pink flamingo, hippos and gazelle. After our drive was finished we drove out of the park to our campsite, but since we were the only people there that night they gave us a room instead. This was awesome because it poured all night and we had a bathroom in the room.The next morning we left for our long drive to Serengeti National Park. We made a quick stop at a viewpoint looking down at Ngorongoro Crater along the way. It really does take your breath away when you see it for the first time.
We had time for a game drive in the late afternoon on the way to our campsite. We saw some lions laying in the grass, sniffing out a meal that was miles away. After the lions we saw a leopard in a tree with a fresh kill...a gazelle. Apparently, this is one of the more difficult things to see. Those two sights were the best of our afternoon drive.
We arrived at our campsite, in the middle of Serengeti National Park, and set up camp. We would be staying there for two nights. During the night you could hear warthogs and hyenas. We also learned that three weeks ago at the campsite a lion killed a buffalo 150 feet from the toilets. Both of these things were enough to keep Katie awake for a while both nights.
The next morning started with the most incredible sight I could've ever imagined. After driving out of our campsite, a few minutes down the road we witnessed 5 female lions and 21 cubs eating a giraffe it had killed in the middle of the night. We were within 20 feet. Absolutely amazing.
We also saw two lions mating and tracked the wildebeest and zebra migration later that day, along with many other things. The next morning we visited the hippo pool, saw a bunch of elephants and buffaloes, and even saw another leopard in a tree...this time with two cubs. It was pretty far away, but to be able to see leopards on two different days is pretty lucky. After our morning drive we headed back to camp to pack up and have lunch before making the drive to Ngorongoro. On the way we visited a Masai Village where someone from the tribe showed us how they lived and also had me do their ritual jumping with them and had Katie do their ritual dance. After this we continued on our way to the crater.
The night in Ngorongoro was a cool one since you camp at the rim of the crater. We were also awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of buffalo walking and grazing through the campsite. The final morning of the safari we headed into the crater at 6 am. This was our last chance to see two animals we hadn't yet seen...the black rhino and cheetah. I was holding out hope for the cheetah even though Duncan was telling me our best chance was behind us and the rhino is becoming extinct so this was also going to be difficult. We were the second vehicle into the crater that morning and before we even made it to the bottom there were two cheetahs laying next to the road. The sun hadn't even come up yet. I was really excited. Next, we drove through the forest section of the crater to find the rhinos but we had no luck. As we continued out of the forest we saw two rhinos in the distance in the middle of the plains. We ended up seeing eight rhinos total that day. Incredible.
We saw more lions, wildebeest and Zebra that day and my favorite photo of our trip was taken in the crater (below, left). When our morning drive was finished we headed up out of the crater and back to our campsite for lunch and to pack up our things. A few minutes after arriving, three elephants in our camp showed up to drink out of the camp water supply. They were BIG elephants. After packing everything up we headed back to Arusha to spend the night in the lodge where we began our trip. The next morning, Saturday, we flew to Zanzibar for four nights on the beach.
Zanzibar was very relaxing. Besides hanging out at the pool, we also explored Stone Town, went on a Spice Tour (since Zanzibar is famous for their many spices), went snorkeling, and visited the giant tortoises. Laying around never felt so good after being on the go for the last week. We flew from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday to stay the night before flying back to Istanbul at 4:45 on Thursday morning. Dar Es Salaam was kind of scary, especially with the power out for most of the night. After an early dinner we went back to our hotel, and locked ourselves in the room for the rest of the night. We were ready to go home. Finally, after a long flight, a taxi, a ferry, a train and another taxi, we were back home at school with a few days to relax before classes start again on Monday. It was a great trip. Seeing the animals on the safari in their natural habitat was amazing. There is no way we can go the rest of our lives without going back to the Serengeti.
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