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Tuesday 29th March 2016 – At 9am our driver, Halifa pulled up outside the hotel in a green Toyota Landcruiser which was to be our transport for the next four days. We loaded our bags into the back and drove to the office to pay. We tried two different cards but both came back as “Declined”. After a call to the credit card company we eventually worked out that the issue was with the card machine and not our cards. After a quick reboot of the card machine we were all paid and ready to go. We picked up our cook, Steve at the market where he had been buying last minute provisions and began the long drive to the Serengeti. We were barely out of Arusha though when Halifa was pulled over for speeding and given a hefty on-the-spot fine. After forty minutes of arguing our driver handed over the cash and we were on our way again. The road took us up along the rim of Ngorongoro where we had some spectacular views of the crater. As we drove we passed Massai villages, Massai tribesmen herding their livestock and the occasional giraffe browsing on a tree near the road. The Massai have not been immune to the seduction of technology and from time to time we would pass something delightfully incongruent such as a Massai on a mobile phone or riding a motorbike. We reached camp at dusk where Steve and Halifa put up our tent, one of the thick canvas domes that are so ubiquitous in African safari camps. After dinner we crawled into our silk sleeping bag liners and looked forward to our first full day of animal spotting.

Wednesday 30th March 2016 – On the way to the shower block in the morning Alysa passed a couple of large baboons casing the joint for food and three Marabou storks (huge scavenging birds that have the sombre air of the undertaker). On her way back three buffalo were sauntering through camp. After breakfast we began a day-long game drive. The weather was fine and we had the top of the vehicle up so we could stand and scan for fauna as Halifa drove along – great fun as you whizz along the bumpy roads, warm air blowing in your face. We were blown away by the sheer number of grazing animals that the Serengeti supports, especially wildebeest, zebra and gazelle. At one point Alysa spotted a lion on a rock close to the road. Despite being asked to stop several times Halifa left the road and drove right up to the lion across the rough savannah ground while we were still standing up, leaving Alysa bruised and shaken and making the lion get up and walk away. No doubt this is what he is regularly asked to do by other clients so we had to explain that our camera was quite capable of taking good photos at a distance and when asked to stop he should stop. From then on he was an excellent driver, stopping whenever we asked and only continuing when we said we were ready. One of my favourite animals of the day was the secretary bird; when I was about five it earned mythical status in my mind after I read about how it hunts and eats snakes. As we were returning to camp in the fading light we saw a group of wildebeest near the road. On some unspoken command they started to run, galloping across the road and into the distance. As more and more passed we realised we had only seen part of the herd; the rest were obscured by bushes. Thousands of animals passed before us, kicking up so much dust it became hard to see. Halifa said they were returning to Kenya as the rains hadn’t come and they needed water. After about ten minutes and with no sign of the flow abating we returned to camp – what a day!

Thursday 31st March 2016 – After a quick pre-dawn cup of tea we were bumping along on an early morning game drive. Alysa got some lovely shots of the sun rising over the Serengeti. We were in search of leopards. We scanned hundreds of trees as we followed an overgrown track through a riverine section of the park. Dik diks ran startled from the undergrowth whilst dozens of tsetse flies bit us mercilessly, clothing no barrier to the little monsters. Emerging from the bushes we followed a larger road to the hippo pool. There, dozens of hippos were squashed together; sort of a bad-tempered version of sardines. Every few minutes someone would lose their cool and the pool would become a writhing mass of blubber and noise before subsiding a few seconds later. After the hippos we continued on our leopard quest. Suddenly Halifa was off at high speed and we guessed he had heard something on the radio. A few minutes later we reached a group of vehicles and on a mound near the road sat a cheetah. As we drove on a couple of vehicles were stopped, looking at something in an umbrella tree. At first we couldn’t see anything but then through the binoculars we made out the unmistakeable rosette coat of a leopard draped along one of the lower branches. We couldn’t believe our luck; it’s hard to see leopards in rainy season and we really hadn’t expected to find one. Suddenly the leopard shot up the tree. The cause was soon clear; a lion appeared at the base of the tree and then climbed to the lower limbs. A second lion followed. After a few minutes they settled down to rest, the poor leopard trapped in the branches above. We drove on, wondering what the leopards fate would be. By now it was time to head back to camp for lunch. As we drove Halifa heard another leopard had been sighted about 15kms away. It was up to us whether we wanted to go and see it – of course our answer was yes! This second leopard was just as well camouflaged in its tree as the first and it took a couple of minutes with binoculars to find it. As we drove back to camp Alysa spotted a movement in one of the trees. It was a third magnificent leopard surveying the savannah beneath her. Alysa was so excited by now she was in danger of bursting. Back at camp Steve had cooked us a delicious lunch of mango salad, chips and vegetables. That afternoon we drove to Simba camp site, spectacularly overlooking the Ngorongoro crater. Over dinner Halifa told us about the good old days before the permanent kitchen was built and the cooks would have to defend their food from hungry lions. Tomorrow we would descend to the crater floor.

Friday 1st April 2016 – After crooning Happy Birthday for Alysa it was time for breakfast. Alysa was less enchanted by my attempt at an April Fools which involved hiding our camera. I returned from my shower to find her in a state of complete panic, the contents of our bag strewn across the tent. “April Fools” I beamed. Ngorongoro conjures thoughts of a lost world as you descend into the 10 mile wide , 600 metre deep crater. Although the abundance of animals is astonishing it is the unique feel of the place that makes it special. Wildlife highlights included seeing lions mating in the road, hyenas crunching their way through the bones of a buffalo carcass, a forest area replete with pretty white butterflies, a lake with thousands of pink flamingoes and a distant sighting of black rhino.
As we drove home that afternoon we tried to tot up all the amazing animals we had seen over the past four days:
5 banded mongooses, 1 slender mongoose, 1 small mongoose, 2 secretary birds, 3 Corys bustards, 3 barn owls, 1 black and white snake eagle, 1 tawny eagle, 1 Goliath heron, 3 leopards, 2 cheetahs, 1 side striped jackal, 2 black rhinos, 1 crocodile.
Lots of ostriches, warthogs, hippos, topi, Thompsons gazelle, Grants gazelle, impala, wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, elephants, lions, black-backed jackals, vultures, Marabou storks, dik diks, waterbuck, hyenas, giraffe, Egyptian geese, lilac breasted rollers, flamingoes and crowned cranes.
Back in Arusha we tipped Steve and Halifa $80 and $100 respectively and returned to our hotel tired but happy. That night we were to discover we hadn’t completed our trip entirely unscathed; Alysa’s tsetse fly bites had started to itch maddeningly and I was making frequent watery trips to the bathroom.