Next up - Serengeti National Park xx
If you've checked my earlier post, you would have seen that our room at Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge directly faced the Ngorongoro Crater. That's exactly where we were heading to next.
The first thing that cauught my eye when we entered the crater was the landscape. Although a grey day, it looked picture perfect. Ngorongoro Crater is wide and relatively flat. Since there are no trees around, it makes it a bit easier to spot animals. The first animal we spotted was the wildebeest ... plenty of them actually. July is the beginning of the "Great Migration" in Tanzania. It is during this season that animals such as wildebeest and zebras move to different areas in search of grass and water. These animals also happen to catch the eyes of some of Africa's greatest predators such as lion, cheethas, hyenas, etc
They say that about 1.5 million wildebeests migrate every year. In the few hours we spent there, we were literally surrounded by them and a bunch of zebras.
Further away into the flatland, we spotted pink flamingos and water buffaloes. It is always a good idea to carry a pair of binoculars while going on a safari. Every vehicle has a path which they must take, and if you have eyes like mine, you will not be able to see anything. Thankfully, Dominic our guide has a pair of them.
So, this is basically how safaris work - if a guide spots something interesting, he alerts the other guides in the vicinity and everyone gathers there. We received one such alert and proceeded to go where 20 other safari vehicles were gathered. Apparently, a lazy water buffalo who couldn't catch up with his mates was gonna become lunch!
Everyone gathered around what seemed like an arena to witness a "kill" ... after all this was what we were here for. After what seemed like an eternity, with the poor water buffalo running into a lake and dodging itself from lions & hyenas, it won! It was a narrow escape! And we missed watching a kill :(
Next, we headed to the hippo pool. Although not very visible, we did manage to get a glimpse of a few of them lazing around in the pool.
Lunch was somewhere over the clouds ... well, atleast it seemed like it. This picnic spot was located at a higher altitude and it was freezing cold. Thankfully, a piece of steak (cold steak) packed by the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge kept us warm.
We did a bit of Serengeti National Park later that day before proceeding to our accommodation. I will tell you more about Serengeti in a separate post. Let me tell you about where we stayed that night.
For the first time ever, we stayed in a tent. This was at the Serengeti Heritage Luxury Tented camp. This camp was located in the middle of Serengeti National Park and consisted of about 15 tents or so. By luxury tent, I mean a tent that has a proper king sized bed with its own toilet. As first time "glampers", we did find a few inconveniences like no proper lighting, poor water pressure and lack of warm water. Basically, if we wanted warm water, we had to tell the staff to heat it up for us. But this stay was all about connecting with nature. Wi-fi was terrible, even though they mentioned that it was better near the dining area. Each time, we needed to go to & from the tent, we were escorted by a Masai warrior. Each of us were given a walkie talkie just incase we needed to contact the staff from our tent. Dinner was average, however, the BBQ organized for us that evening was excellent!
Next up - Serengeti National Park xx
24 Comments
10/4/2016 04:38:15 pm
Ugh! Close encounter! It would've been such an exhilarating experience if you did witness a kill but seeing the wildebeest getting ready for migration is already good enough. When I went on a safari in Kenya, the lions had nothing better to do than to be lazy under a tree. Lol.
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10/5/2016 08:44:27 am
Lol, well I think I am better off then. Hopefully, the lions will not be lazy when I visit Kenya and I'll get to see a kill there.
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10/5/2016 08:45:31 am
I so wish that one of those hippos came out of the water. I barely got a glimpse of them.
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10/5/2016 11:56:40 am
Hope you get a chance to visit Africa soon Allison :)
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10/4/2016 08:00:58 pm
It was a shame to miss the kill but I'm always kind of routing for the underdog. That's my kind of camping! A king sized bed and toilet!
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10/5/2016 07:51:28 am
It is so cool that you got to cruise around with so many wild animals around you! I would've loved this. Great photos, and can't wait to read about Serengeti :)
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10/5/2016 08:20:55 am
I had a similar experience in Ngorongoro. The way I look at it, we got the thrill of the chase without the gory bit! Can't wait to read about your experience in the Serengeti.
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10/5/2016 12:01:25 pm
You're right Cliodhna. Dunno whether I would have been able to digest it.
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10/5/2016 09:16:36 am
It's always amazing seeing nature at its rawest. My dad used to live in Tanzania back in the 80's and used to always tell me stories of the Great Migration and Ngorongoro! You photos are visually helping me piece together those stories.
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Shane
10/5/2016 01:54:00 pm
Such and thrilling adventure! Who needs wifi when you have all the entertainment necessary right before your eyes :)
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Sheena
10/5/2016 07:30:57 pm
That's so cool, I'd say that's as close as it gets! I didn't see a kill either in the Serengeti but I watched a leopard devour an impala in a tree on a night safari, that's not something I will ever forget :-)
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I'd really want to see hippos, I guess they are cool yet of course scary as well. I love the experience you have. Also, good to know how attentive guides are and made sure you'd experience to witness the kill. I haven't tried glamping but would also love to try that no matter inconvenient it will be
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