At just before 9am our vehicle, driven by our guide/driver Thomas, arrived to pick us up. Benjamin, the manager of 'Arunga Expeditions and Safaris', informed us that our co-passengers had cancelled late last night and we would be a party of two. It looked like we would be having our own private safari.
With our bags on board we set off and were quickly leaving Arusha behind. As we neared Lake Manyara we had our first wildlife spotting, a giraffe grazing near the edge of the road; we were off to a good start!
Near the lake we stopped at a camping and lodge site to pick up our cook Suweda and some supplies. Before too long we were once again under way and soon arrived at the Ngorongoro national park, where we had a lengthy wait while Thomas got our permits. From then on it was goodbye to the tarmac roads and hello potholed, corrugated dirt tracks. The dust kicked up by the vehicles meant that having a window open was impossible, so between the bumps and the heat it wasn't the most pleasant travelling experience.
With lunchtime approaching we stopped at a picnic site on the craters rim and settled down to eat our packed lunches. We hadn't expected to have our own little circle of life battle between Marabou storks, a bird clearly from the imaginings of George A Romero, and our sandwiches. Not to mention desperately trying to avoid loosing our chicken legs to swooping Kites. Eventually eating our food while standing and keeping the lunch boxes firmly closed appeared to be the best option.
Having eaten our lunch and survived the experience, we left the crater bound for Serengeti National park. Along the road we spotted zebra, camels, ostrich and gazelle.
At approximately 2:45pm we arrived at the national park entrance and climbed to the top of a nearby viewpoint while Thomas got our permits. From the top there were terrific views over the vast plains of the Serengeti and we got our first look at an Agama lizard.
Back at the truck Thomas had put the roof up and we were ready to depart for an afternoon game drive through the park bound for our camp-site for the night. By the time we had reached our base we had seen countless animals. Vast amounts of zebra and wildebeest roamed the open savannah, clearly some of the wildebeest had decided against going to the Masai Mara this year!
Of the notable sightings were three leopards in a tree asleep (a common occurrence), a tagged lioness, a cheetah, some hippopotamus and a herd of elephants.
Arriving at the camp-site at about 6pm we set up our tent, with some assistance, showered and waited for dinner. No one came rushing to say that dinner was ready so we whiled away the time watching buffalo grazing close to the camp site. The camp-sites are unfenced, so it is quite possible for animals to wander in amongst the tents. A flash-light for the evenings is essential.
Having not really been told what to do regarding dinner, we eventually found our table and sat down to wait. Dinner seemed to take an awfully long time to come, but when it did it was considerably better than we had been expecting. Soup was followed by a huge portion of pasta, vegetables and stew. To round off the meal was a large plate of fresh fruit.
It has been a busy and tiring first day, breakfast is at 7am so an early night is called for.
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