The Tarangire and Lake Manyana parks had both been stunning, amazing and exceeded my expectations by a mile, but there is something rather special about the name Serengeti. So I woke up full of anticipation for the day ahead.
Deo arrived right on time and asked me if I was ready for my African massage. I had no idea what he was talking about. We were leaving at 8.30am, so there was no time for any beauty or relaxing therapies and besides, I was way too excited to enjoy an hour of relaxation.
What he meant of course, was the road we would be taking on our journey, wasn't really a road by any normal definition and was going to be very very bumpy.
I didn't care, I was going to visit one of the most iconic places on earth.
We headed out of town (time to buckle up) but very soon turned off on to the track and began our ascent to the rim of the Ngorongoro crater. The road wound slowly upwards offering spectacular views and the thing I'm most paranoid about in the world, long drops with no barriers.
As we climbed higher, the scenery changed again and became dense forest. You could feel the drop in temperature and it became quite misty which gave the whole area a kind of eerie feel.
We arrived at the gate to the Ngoronoro conservation area ( this one isn't called a national park) and Deo went off to get the permits and payment sorted. Apparently there are still people who try to do the whole Safari thing alone - without a guide, but having seen first hand what is involved, I think they are mad. There is all sorts of paperwork involved, but the most complicated bit, in my humble opinion is the timing. Each park has strict limits on when you can enter and exit and if you are staying inside one, as we were in the Serengeti you have be sure you leave within your allotted time or you will be charged for another day ( and it's not cheap). Factor in the sheer size of the Serengeti, the fact that there are very few recognisable landmarks and the state of some of the tracks, means that the chances of you a) getting lost and b) completely underestimating how long it will take to get to the gate in time are almost 100%. Anyway, I didn't have to worry about any of that because I had Deo.
Once through, Deo explained that the forest around the rim was home to many elephants. Apparently getting down there - and back up was a bit tricky for them, so the family groups stayed put, while the bulls braved the descent to the crater. If they were around, we didn't see them. Actually for a while we didn't see much at all as it continued to be very very misty.
As we made our way around the rim, the mist cleared and the forest became less dense, giving tantalising glimpses of the crater.
Deo stopped the car at a designated viewing point so that I could get out and take in the magnificent view. It literally took my breath away and I asked if we could spend a few more moments there, because I just wanted to drink it all in.
On our way back from the Serengeti, at the end of the week, we will be heading down into the crater itself, so that will be something to look forward to.
As we moved down to a lower altitude we started to see Masai people, standing by the road, sitting under trees and tending herds/flocks of cows, goats and sheep all mixed in together. We passed several groups of young teenage boys wearing Black robes and with their faces painted Black and White. Deo explained that they have been circumcised (without anaesthetic) and it is a rite of passage for these young men. They wear these robes proudly and you definitely not allowed to take photographs of them.
We arrived at the main gate to the Serengeti just in time for lunch. Deo suggested I might like to do a short walking trail up a large hill while he did all the admin, then he would meet me on the other side and have the table laid for lunch.
Well it looked a bit steep to me, but I certainly didn't want to come across as a lightweight, so with my camera slung jauntily over my shoulder (I took both long and short lenses - just in case), I started the climb. This was one of those trails that has rocks and boulders as steps, so you really have to watch where you are putting your feet. Well you do if you are 65, smoke too much and normally take a long walking pole for this type of terrain.
So I had to stop quite often, and as a young family went hurtling past me, leaping from rock to rock l just pretended I was admiring the view - not trying to catch my breath.
The view from the top was lovely and definitely worth it, especially as I saw a very unusual little lizard, but going down was much easier.
At the bottom, I grabbed us a nice table in the picnic area ( plenty of shade is always a bonus) as Deo was still tied up doing the paperwork.
Eventually he showed up, with the lunch hamper and we tucked in to another gourmet lunch.
You can tell Deo has been doing this guiding malarkey a long time - he knows everyone. There were loads of guides milling about, taking care of their guests and dishing out their cardboard lunchboxes ( snigger snigger) and every single one of them came to say hello to Deo.
Totally stuffed with food and feeling nicely relaxed after a glass of wine or two, we set off on what has to be the dustiest, bumpiest ride, I've ever experienced.
These "roads" throw up an amazing amount of dust and it's not too bad if you are the only vehicle on the road as most of it flows behind you. But when you encounter another car/van/lorry coming the other way, you need to wind up the windows really fast or risk turning Orange. ( and no-one wants to look like Donald Trump). It was even worse if we found ourselves behind a slow moving vehicle. We needed to get past, because I had important game drives to do, but if we got too close so Deo could spot an opportunity to overtake, we were literally eating dust (windows down) or sweltering in the heat (windows up).
Initially, I was a bit slow on the winding up front, but by watching Deo, I managed to get a rhythm going and after a bit we were winding those windows up and down in perfect synchronisation.
By now the landscape had changed again, wide open plains with mountains in the background and groups of antelope dotted around.
There are way more species of antelope than I realised and many of them live in the Serengeti, so I made it my mission to learn which ones were which and try to spot them.
So here we go with..... Know your Antelope!!
I'd got the Impala nailed already - there were plenty of those in Tarangire and were easily identified by their "Macdonalds" bum.
The Waterbuck were the ones that had visited my lodgings, so I could recognise them.
The small rather pretty ones with a stripe - Thomson's Gazelles
Slightly bigger and without the stripe - Grant's gazelles
Bigger, with horns shaped a bit like half a heart - Hartebeest
Large with a big Blue patch above the hind legs - Topi
Enormous cow shaped ones - Eland
Tiny little ones - always in pairs, because they mate for life - Dik Dik
There are others I believe, but these are the ones I saw.
We went through another entrance gate proudly proclaiming the word Serengeti ( no paperwork this time) and I have to be honest, I was getting a bit confused. " I thought we were already in the Serengeti", I said. "We were" confirmed Deo. Apparently one is the border between the Serengeti and Ngorongoro - the other is the gate to the National Park
We drove on the main road for a bit and saw ostriches, even more antelope, some giraffes (one doing the splits) and then turned off down one of the smaller tracks that wind their way around the area.
To be honest it's a bit of a maze and I reckon, even with a map it would be impossible to work out where you are. Thank heavens for Deo, who informed me we were now in Leopard country. Well this was an unexpected bonus, but I'm nothing if not a realist. There are some animals you can almost guarantee you will see and the Leopard isn't one of them. So as we were searching the trees looking for a tail or paw hanging down, the radio suddenly burst into life, with lot's of excited chatter.
"Hold on" instructed Deo, we need to go quickly. I knew there was no point in asking him where ( see my last post for the reference), so I did as I was told and hung on for dear life as we flew ( literally) over the bumpy roads.
In the distance I could see a very long line of vehicles, all with people standing and pointing cameras and binoculars at what looked like an empty plain to me. As we got closer I spotted a group of Zebra some way off, all munching away and minding their own business.
Surely this couldn't be what all the fuss was about?
We joined the end of line, popped the roof and stood up. "There - do you see her" said Deo, pointing into the distance. "I can see the Zebra, I replied. "No - those are the prey.
Look over there". I pointed the binoculars in the general direction he was pointing and by using a systematic sweeping system, left to right, up a bit, right to left, repeat, I eventually spotted my first lion (not in a tree). She was moving slowly through the long grass towards the zebra, the only problem was, when she crouched down into a low stalking position, I lost her and had to hold the bins very steady, guess the speed she was moving at and move them them in what I hoped was the right direction.
Deo, of course, was following the action using the naked eye, so either my eyesight is a lot worse than I thought, or he has world class eyesight genes.
Anyway as I was engrossed in my little game of find the lion, Deo spotted another 2 lions way off in the distance but in totally the opposite direction. They appeared to have come to watch, because they certainly weren't providing any assistance.
I reacted as anyone would and swung the bins around to get a good look. These two were sitting bolt upright, watching the action carefully, clearly anticipating a nice dinner. I got a few photos but sadly my lens just wasn't powerful enough for a close up, so I gave up and went back to the stalker. Well I tried to go back to her, but with a massive plain in front of me and a lion who was clearly in low stalking mode, it was a hopeless task. Cue eagle eyed Deo, who once again, managed to get me pointing the binoculars into the right general area.
Fortunately she popped up again, just at the right moment and I was back on track.
.
By now, we'd been there for sometime and more vehicles had joined the line ( news travels fast here) so Deo borrowed the camera to take a picture of the "great Landcruiser migration".These lions have a lot of patience (unlike some of the guests who had clearly got bored and decided to give up), so we were there for quite a while. It was tricky though; the Zebra were a long way off and my camera kept focussing on the long grass at the front of the shot instead of the zebra.
In the end it was all over in seconds. The lion made her move and the Zebra ran for the hills. No dinner this evening.
I was quite surprised by how I felt about this. When I've watched documentaries in the past, I've always rooted for the prey, But now, having seen in real time how long it actually takes for the lion to get close and how much patience and discipline she has, I actually felt quite sorry for her. Especially as the 2 lazy buggers watching did absolutely nothing to help.
Still, it was a fascinating thing to watch and I felt very privileged to be able to see this firsthand.
We were still quite a long way from our accommodation - a tented camp, highly recommended by Soul of Tanzania and Trip advisor, so Deo suggested we start heading in that general direction.
On our way we saw some huge elephants, some marabou storks and then we came across a pride of lions assembled under a tree. Of course, when I say we, I mean Deo. Me and my shocking eyesight would have sailed right past without a second glance. He stopped the car and with endless patience, explained where I needed to look.
Once I'd spotted them, I couldn't understand how I'd missed them, because not only were they a large family group, but the youngsters were quite active. The little ones were play fighting and teasing each other while the older females rested. Deo says lions are quite lazy and from what I've seen, I would agree.
All of a sudden, a big old male extracted himself from the group, made his way to one of the females who was quietly resting and regardlessness of her feelings, decided it was sexy time!
Unfortunately they were partly obscured by a bush, so I have no photographic evidence of this, but all the time he was humping away ( less than a minute) one of the cubs thought that this looked like a super fun game and tried to join in.
I honestly thought all my Christmases had come at once. This was only my first day in the Serengeti and I'd already witnessed a hunt ( albeit unsuccessful ) and an amazing family group just chilling and playing and doing what comes naturally.
Well it doesn't get much better than that....... but it did.
The whole group gradually got to their feet ( paws?) and started moving - right towards us. I couldn't believe it. Talk about an incredible photo op.
I got some amazing pictures and best of all, because it was quite late, we had the lions all to ourselves.
Deo had already told me that no vehicles were allowed out in the park after 6 in the evening and we were getting perilously close to the deadline but still had to get to our camp.
"Don't worry, it's near here", Deo assured me.
We drove down the track where it was supposed to be. No sign of it. We kept going, both scanning the horizon for something that looked like a row of tents, which was tricky because it was getting dark and these things are designed to blend into their surroundings.
Eagle eyed Deo spotted the camp first ( no surprises there) and we both breathed a sigh of relief, until I saw the tents. They were small and not at all as they had been depicted in the picture. This was my first time sleeping in a tent since I was 20 ( I didn't like it much then) and that certainly wasn't in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by wild animals, so I was not a happy bunny. Fortunately one of the staff stepped outside his tent at the moment and gave us a wave, so clearly these were not the ones for the guests. We had actually come into the camp by the back entrance, so that was a relief. We then drove past some larger tents which were obviously guest accommodation, but still not as big as I was expecting. Seriously, if this is what was on offer there was obviously some very clever trick photography involved with the pictures on their website.
As we finally reached the car park, I finally saw the enormous tents that were exactly as depicted in the photos I had seen.
We were greeted by the team, offered a very welcome wet towel and a glass of juice, then as the lads carried all my luggage to my home for the next 3 nights, we were escorted into the main tent for a briefing.
The Kananga tented camp doesn't have any boundaries and is smack bang in the middle of lion country. It also has many other frequent visitors including Zebra, Hyenas and things that scrabble in the night ( more of that to follow ).
Basically the rules were simple - after dark, never go anywhere without staff member and once you are zipped in for the night - do not, under any circumstances leave the tent. They had helpfully provided a whistle in case of emergencies, but even then, the advice was to stay put until help arrived.
It was also essential to keep both the front entrance and the door leading to the little bathroom attachment firmly zipped up at all times. No-one wants to discover something that can give a nasty bite lurking in your tent once you are safely tucked in bed.
After some discussion about what time we wanted dinner and when would I like my shower, I was shown to my rather luxurious accommodation. Trust me, this was nothing like any tent I've ever seen. There was loads of space, two enormous beds with squishy duvets and pillows and a bathrobe. The lighting was powered by solar and a battery, so there was plenty of light, but all the camera. batteries, laptop, phones etc had to be charged in the main tent, where there were loads of sockets and even wifi.
The bathroom was a marvel of ingenuity, there was a proper flushing loo, a washbasin (only cold water) and just outside, completely shielded from the people and the animals was an interesting shower. Basically it was a large plastic bucket with a nozzle and a lever, with wooden boards to stand on ( no plughole needed).
Once I'd sorted out all my stuff, I was in desperate need of a shower and the boys arrived right on time to get it ready. They called out to make sure I was decent and then filled the bucket with lovely hot water. Even though my hair resembled something like wire wool (after all that dust), I wasn't sure how much water was in there, so decided not to risk a full shampoo & conditioner hair wash. The shower itself was glorious and definitely much needed.
Dressed and looking vaguely human again ( no make up as may eyesight is so poor, I need a halogen lamp in order to see what I'm doing), I popped my head outside the tent ready to yell for an escort. I didn't need to, the minute they heard the zip, one of the boys was there like a shot with torch in hand ready to lead me, complete with laptop, phone and all the camera batteries, to the main tent.
We had a wonderful dinner ( no idea how they manage to produce such incredible food in those conditions), caught up with the world via the wifi and exhausted from our very long, very exciting day headed to bed. (complete with torch wielding escort of course.
Once inside I checked my zips were all tightly closed, three times and got into bed.
I had no idea just how much noise animals and insects can make at night. Obviously I'd had some experience at Tarangire, but it was nothing like this. Mostly it was the noise of crickets with the occasional screech a distance away, but there was also a low harrumphing noise, quite close. I just couldn't work out what it was, but it didn't sound dangerous so I ignored it and drifted off to sleep. ( I later found out, that noise was the lions that wander around the camp at night )
At 1.30am I was woken up by a loud scrabbling noise right by my ear. It sounded like something was making a concerted effort to get into my tent and I have to admit I freaked out - just a little bit. I peered outside through the industrial strength net windows, but couldn't see any animals. Unfortunately I couldn't see any people either. I double checked all the zips were properly closed and as I got back into bed, gave myself a stern talking to. I reminded myself that this camp has been operating here for a long time and haven't lost any customers yet and as I've said before it would be very bad for business if a guest got eaten. These tents were clearly made of very strong stuff, so I shouldn't have worried, but in fairness, this was the first time in 45 years I'd slept under canvass, so I gave myself a break and promptly fell asleep again..........
Serengeti day 2 - coming soon